I was recently in a book study with a group of spiritually like-minded people and we were discussing the difference between “knowledge” and “wisdom.”

So, as I often do, I went to get the definitions of the two words to see what I could learn:

Knowledge (noun):

acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation; acquaintance or familiarity gained by sight, experience, or report.

Wisdom (noun):

the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight.

Then I did a quick word search in the Big Book on my tablet to see what IT came up with:

Big Book’s use of “knowledge” in the first 164 pages (excerpts):

• “Bill’s Story” – “Surely this was the answer—self-knowledge.”
• “More About Alcoholism” – “He had much knowledge about himself as an alcoholic. Yet all reasons for not drinking were easily pushed aside in favor of the foolish idea that he could take whiskey if only he mixed it with milk!”
• “More About Alcoholism” – “But the actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge.”
• “More About Alcoholism” – “He was positive that this humiliating experience, plus the knowledge he had acquired, would keep him sober the rest of his life. Self-knowledge would fix it.”
• “More About Alcoholism” – “I saw that will power and self-knowledge would not help in those strange mental blank spots.”

Big Book’s use of “wisdom” in the first 164 pages:

• None

Hmmmm… I find it interesting that there were no references to wisdom in our basic text. So, let’s dig a little deeper…

Some things to consider:

• Knowledge is passive: You can gain knowledge by reading, studying, or memorizing facts.
• Wisdom is active: Wisdom involves applying knowledge to real-life situations with understanding and discernment.
• Experience is crucial for wisdom: Wisdom often comes from life experiences and reflection, not just acquiring information.

Example: Someone might have extensive knowledge about car mechanics from reading manuals, but true wisdom would be knowing how to diagnose and fix a specific problem on a car based on their practical experience.

QUESTION

So, then it would stand to reason that one of the next questions we could ask ourselves is, “Is it better to have wisdom or knowledge?” Well, can you really have one without the other? And which comes first? Wisdom and knowledge have quite a bit in common. Both words are primarily used as nouns that are related to learning. They’re listed as synonyms for one another in Thesaurus.com, and in some cases they may be used interchangeably.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM?

The word knowledge is defined first as the “acquaintance with facts, truths or principles, as from study or investigation; general erudition.” It is recorded at least by the 1300s as the Middle English knouleche, which combines the verb know (a verb that means “to perceive or understand as fact or truth; to apprehend clearly and with certainty”) and –leche, which may be related to the same suffix we see in wedlock and conveys a sense of “action, practice, or state.”

Knowledge is typically gained through books, research, and delving into facts.

Wisdom is defined as “the state of being wise,” which means “having the power of discernment and judging properly as to what is true or right: possessing discernment, judgement, or discretion.” It’s older (recorded before the 900s), and joins wise and -dom, a suffix that can convey “general condition,” as in freedom. Wisdom is typically gained from experiences and acquired over time.

While wisdom and knowledge are synonyms, the other synonyms for each word, respectively, don’t overlap much. And they give more hints at each word’s unique meaning.

For example, other synonyms for knowledge include:

• ability
• awareness
• education
• expertise
• familiarity
• grasp

Other synonyms for wisdom include:

• caution
• experience
• foresight
• judgment
• prudence

The primary difference between the two words is that wisdom involves a healthy dose of perspective and the ability to make sound judgments about a subject while knowledge is simply knowing. Anyone can become knowledgeable about a subject by reading, researching, and memorizing facts. It’s wisdom, however, that requires more understanding and the ability to determine which facts are relevant in certain situations. Wisdom takes knowledge and applies it with discernment based on experience, evaluation, and lessons learned.

A quote by an unknown author sums up the differences well: “Knowledge is knowing what to say. Wisdom is knowing when to say it.”

Wisdom is also about knowing when and how to use your knowledge, being able to put situations in perspective, and how to impart it to others. For example, you may be very knowledgeable about how to raise a baby after reading countless books, attending classes, and talking to wise friends and family members. When that precious little person comes home, however, most new parents would kill for an ounce of wisdom to help soothe their screaming baby … and their fears.

WHAT COMES FIRST? WISDOM OR KNOWLEDGE

So which comes first, knowledge or wisdom? There’s no chicken-egg scenario here: knowledge always comes first. Wisdom is built upon knowledge. That means you can be both wise and knowledgeable, but it’s likely you can’t be wise without being knowledgeable. And just because you’re knowledgeable doesn’t mean you’re wise.

As for how long it takes to achieve wisdom, and how you know when you have achieved it, that’s where things get murkier. Albert Einstein famously said, “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” So yeah, it’s one of those journey-not-destination things. There’s no limit to wisdom, however, and you can certainly gain degrees of it along the way.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Bottom line is that while they are similar in many ways, I am clear that the beautiful part of our 12 Step program is that we amass a large amount of experience along our journey and that, in concert with a personality change sufficient to bring about recovery from alcoholism, allows me the ability to embrace my teachability and know when and where to use that knowledge. I am grateful today that I am teachable and willing to share when God gives me the chance to do so.

In love & service,