Understanding and wisdom: an occasional address given at a graduation ceremony at Curtin University of Technology 2 may 1991.An address coincident co·in·ci·dent adj. 1. Occupying the same area in space or happening at the same time: a series of coincident events. See Synonyms at contemporary. 2. with the author receiving an honorary doctorate from Curtin University of Technology, directed primarily to new graduates and intended to encourage them in the use of books and libraries, particularly public libraries. Such usage after formal student days are over, is in the interest not only of continued professional or intellectual but also of humane and ethical development . Reprinted from Aplis 4(2) June 1991 pp 71-73 ********** In the domed ceiling of the Great Hall of Manchester Central Library Manchester Central Library is a circular library next to the extended Town Hall in Manchester, England. The design was the result of a competition held in 1927 for a new library and town hall extension; the winner was E. Vincent Harris. is inscribed in·scribe tr.v. in·scribed, in·scrib·ing, in·scribes 1. a. To write, print, carve, or engrave (words or letters) on or in a surface. b. To mark or engrave (a surface) with words or letters. , from the Book of Proverbs Proverbs, book of the Bible. It is a collection of sayings, many of them moral maxims, in no special order. The teaching is of a practical nature; it does not dwell on the salvation-historical traditions of Israel, but is individual and universal based on the in the Bible, `Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding.' I first read that when was about twenty two. It seemed to me then--and still seems--not only to express a sound precept An order, writ, warrant, or process. An order or direction, emanating from authority, to an officer or body of officers, commanding that officer or those officers to do some act within the scope of their powers. Rule imposing a standard of conduct or action. for an individual life but also, by implication, the highest purpose of a major library. Understanding and wisdom Understanding and wisdom: what are they and what is the difference? I suggest that understanding is a high intellectual level of knowledge: the ability to compare, contrast and synthesise Verb 1. synthesise - combine so as to form a more complex, product; "his operas synthesize music and drama in perfect harmony"; "The liver synthesizes vitamins" synthesize combine, compound - put or add together; "combine resources" different pieces or aspects of knowledge and render them into a coherent whole. Understanding is different from, and more subtle than, knowing. It is mastery of a matter whatever the matter may be, from high scholarship to a practical craft. Wisdom is something different, and of a higher order. It includes understanding of the matter in question but it has an additional and essential ethical component. It comes from deep reflection on the experiences of life. A wise man or woman is one whose judgement others respect, not only in technical matters relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc his or her occupation, but also in matters of life and conduct. An intelligent person is bound, sooner or later, to ask fundamental questions such as: what is truth, or beauty, or goodness, or justice; is there a god and if so what is the nature of godship; what am I in the world for and what are my real aims in life; what are my responsibilities to other people? It is by worrying out the answers to such questions that sound personal values are acquired and, with them, inner stability and self confidence. A wise man or woman can, in Matthew Arnold's phrase `see life steadily and see it whole' and can make the decisions which have to be made in business and in life with understanding of the issues involved and with fairness, decency de·cen·cy n. pl. de·cen·cies 1. The state or quality of being decent; propriety. 2. Conformity to prevailing standards of propriety or modesty. 3. decencies a. , and sympathy for the feelings of those who may affected by them. Values Ethical values are relative, not absolute, values. Accepted values change from generation to generation and age to age. We no longer think it proper to offer a cup of poison to a distinguished teacher who encourages young people to think for themselves, as the Athenian government did to Socrates; nor do we think it right to burn people at the stake if they hold views with which we disagree. I think it was George Bernard Shaw Multiple people share the name Bernard Shaw:
prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Oxford dictionary, means `possessed of mental light, well informed, free from prejudice'. Rapid change It is a natural human trait trait (trat) 1. any genetically determined characteristic; also, the condition prevailing in the heterozygous state of a recessive disorder, as the sickle cell trait. 2. a distinctive behavior pattern. for young people to think they know better than their elders. Throughout history they have done so. As Alexander Pope said `We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow; Our wise sons, no doubt, will think us so.' But in past ages, ideas and knowledge changed only slowly, so the response to those changes, in terms of ethical values, from generation to generation was, in general, slow. But in the last five hundred years, and particularly in the last fifty, the changes, both intellectual and in our physical surroundings, have become more and more rapid. It has become and is becoming more and more difficult for men and women to absorb these rapid changes, adjust to them and thus to be and remain `possessed of mental light, well informed and free from prejudice', hence the widely perceived decay in moral values in the last fifty years. The remedy The remedy for that situation lies in becoming better informed and more free from prejudice, which means devoting more time, effort and thought to keeping our mental, and thence thence adv. 1. From that place; from there: flew to Helsinki and thence to Moscow. 2. From that circumstance or source; therefrom. 3. Archaic From that time; thenceforth. our moral and ethical values in tune with our rapidly changing world. It has always been hard to attain to wisdom, it is harder today than ever. So the more assistance in doing so that we can receive the better. And that leads back to libraries, and particularly to public libraries which cater for everyone including those no longer attending an educational institution. Public libraries Public libraries, as we know them today, were a response to social change in the middle of the nineteenth century which concentrated large numbers of people in the new industrial towns of England and America. They were intended both to extend the benefits which private libraries had always afforded to wealthy families and to scholars, to everyone; and also to support the then new industrial and commercial developments by offering opportunities for study in the new skills required by those concerned. That is still, or at least should be, their role today, though they now use more sophisticated techniques. Origins of libraries But the origins of libraries are much older. It is to the great library of Alexandria The Royal Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was once the largest library in the world. It is generally thought to have been founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, during the reign of Ptolemy II of Egypt. , established by the government of Egypt in the third century BC, that we are indebted in·debt·ed adj. Morally, socially, or legally obligated to another; beholden. [Middle English endetted, from Old French endette, past participle of endetter, to oblige for almost all that we know of the great literary and scientific thoughts of ancient Greece--of world figures like Homer, Demosthenes, Plato, Pythagoras, Euclid and many others whose works, due to invasions, wars and other factors, were lost and almost forgotten in Europe for the thousand years of the dark ages. They were studied, translated and copied by generations of Arab scholars, from whom they were rediscovered by European scholars in the fourteen hundreds. The genius of Greece lay in the arts and in speculative thought. That of Rome in the practical spheres of law, civil engineering and public administration. The coming together and interaction of these two complementary streams at the Renaissance, caused an intellectual effervescence ef·fer·vesce intr.v. ef·fer·vesced, ef·fer·vesc·ing, ef·fer·vesc·es 1. To emit small bubbles of gas, as a carbonated or fermenting liquid. 2. To escape from a liquid as bubbles; bubble up. 3. , almost like a chemical reaction, which burst the mould mould, n See mold. mould mold. of medieval thought and led to the emergence of the dynamic culture of modern Europe in all fields, the influence of which has spread worldwide. The whole history of the last five hundred years would have taken a different course had it not been for the library at Alexandria which collected, preserved and made accessible to scholars as much as has survived of the legacy of Greece. That is the most striking example I know of the contribution of a library to society, but all libraries, though with less impressive results, serve the same ends: to make available the thought of the past and the present for the benefit of the future. Sir Isaac Newton, the great mathematician and physicist, wrote in a letter to a friend A Letter to a Friend (written 1656; published posthumously in 1690) , by the 17th century philosopher and physician Sir Thomas Browne is a medical treatise full of case-histories and witty speculations upon the human condition. `If I have seen further than other men, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants'. Books and libraries still, as they did in Newton's time provide shoulders of giants for others who wish to be far sighted. The value of books and libraries Wisdom comes from constructive thought applied to observations of life. The more varied a person's experience of life, the greater his or her opportunities to acquire wisdom. But the opportunities of doing so in any individual's life are limited. Hence the value of books and libraries: to enable one person to share the thoughts and experiences of countless others, as told in their writings of all types from novels, through biography, history, the arts, technologies and sciences, to philosophy, religion and the social sciences. If you want to develop your skill and your wisdom--and for success in any occupation you will need to do so--take advantage of the advice and experience that authors are offering you, both in your own field and in the humanities as well. Books Books are like packets of seeds. When they are opened and their contents are read, new thoughts like seedlings germinate in the mind of the reader. The more he or she reads, provided that it is well chosen and appropriate, the more seedlings germinate and so a well stored mind results. There is another implication of this analogy. Librarians are not principally interested in and concerned with books, as is commonly supposed. They are at least as much interested in people because their function is to facilitate this process of germination germination, in a seed, process by which the plant embryo within the seed resumes growth after a period of dormancy and the seedling emerges. The length of dormancy varies; the seed of some plants (e.g. which requires matching the right seed in whatever form it may be, from a written text to an electronic image, with the needs of the reader. All other processes which go on in a library, however necessary, are but mechanisms to enable that germination to take place. And the highest satisfaction for a librarian is the knowledge that he or she has, directly or indirectly, given the reader exactly what was needed or desired, particularly if that was a difficult problem. So never hesitate to ask a librarian Ask a Librarian is Florida's Statewide Collaborative Live Virtual reference Service. Ask a Librarian began as a partnership between the College Center for Library Automation (CCLA) and the Tampa Bay Library Consortium (TBLC). for assistance, if you think that could help you. The library and freedom The word library comes from the Latin word `liber' meaning `book'. But almost like a pun pun, use of words, usually humorous, based on (a) the several meanings of one word, (b) a similarity of meaning between words that are pronounced the same, or (c) the difference in meanings between two words pronounced the same and spelled somewhat similarly, e.g. , there is another Latin word `liber', an adjective adjective, English part of speech, one of the two that refer typically to attributes and together are called modifiers. The other kind of modifier is the adverb. which means `free, not a slave, able to make independent decisions': an apt, if fortuitous, double entendre double entendre Noun a word or phrase with two interpretations, esp. with one meaning that is rude [obsolete French] Noun 1. or allusion al·lu·sion n. 1. The act of alluding; indirect reference: Without naming names, the candidate criticized the national leaders by allusion. 2. , to the freedom of thought and enquiry which libraries can afford. It is because of that freedom of thought that books and libraries have always been targets for destruction by dictators and those who would enslave en·slave tr.v. en·slaved, en·slav·ing, en·slaves To make into or as if into a slave. en·slave  ment n. the minds of men and women--which incidentally
demonstrates that they recognise that libraries are powerful social
agents.
This is Curtin University of Technology. Technology has been described as the study of the application of techniques in the service of mankind. Its practice therefore demands the application of both intellectual and personal, ethical values: not only understanding but wisdom. It is for that reason, because I am of a practical bent myself, that I have been a firm supporter of both WAIT and Curtin from their beginning. Only if both value systems are brought to bear on life today and in the future will the problems of professional practice be properly solved, the welfare of the community be advanced and the individual graduate lead a satisfying and rewarding life. I wish all you, my fellow new graduates of this University, the very best for your careers. I hope that life will bring you most of what you hope for, but don't forget the old proverb proverb, short statement of wisdom or advice that has passed into general use. More homely than aphorisms, proverbs generally refer to common experience and are often expressed in metaphor, alliteration, or rhyme, e.g. : Take what you want from life, said God, take it and pay for it. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion