Blaise Pascal wrote, “All people seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every person, even of those who hang themselves.” Since perfect happiness ever eludes us here below, a more attainable end is to be happier. One aspect of being happier, within reach of us all, is to grow in love. But to grow in love we need practical wisdom.
What is practical wisdom? In the Summa theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas defined practical wisdom as “right reason applied to action.” The person of practical wisdom thinks well and acts well because this person knows how to love. Having a good goal in mind—to love—is not enough. How, exactly here and now, can I manifest love? The virtue of practical wisdom is the habit that allows us to determine what act manifests love in the everyday and concrete circumstances of our lives.
Practical wisdom is also necessary for the exercise of the other virtues. If we are to find the virtuous middle between extremes, we need practical wisdom to discover what the golden mean is. A courageous person is not a coward but also isn’t foolhardy. So when danger threatens, if we have practical wisdom, we know what to do in order to avoid both cowardice and foolhardiness. Temperance is the virtue that seeks the golden mean in bodily pleasures, including eating and drinking. The temperate person eats the right amount: neither too much nor too little. Practical wisdom is needed to know what falls between these extremes. If you are an Olympic athlete vigorously training for hours every day, you need to eat more than a sedentary librarian whose greatest exertion is reshelving the Oxford English Dictionary.
We need practical wisdom to choose well in our most important decisions. Should I move to Florida? Should I switch jobs? Should we have another baby?
Practical wisdom isn’t just about knowing what is right. Practical wisdom includes actually doing what is right.
But we also need practical wisdom for smaller decisions. How should I spend this money I got for my birthday? How should I help my family member who seems so depressed lately? How can I help my spouse today? Practical wisdom is about everyday life decisions, not just lifeboat scenarios that will matter in twenty years.
To make good decisions involves three parts. The first is taking counsel about possible means we could use to achieve the good goal we have in mind. So, let’s start with a good end: I want to teach my children about the faith. How exactly should I teach them? Singing hymns with them? Reading books to them? Having them read a book alone and then talk about it with me? Volunteering at a rest home with them? If I have undue haste, I may not even consider that there are different possible means I could use to teach them about what Jesus has done for us.
The next aspect of practical wisdom is choosing the right means among various options. Rather than being thoughtless, a person with practical wisdom exercises sound judgment about the fitness of the means. My kids hate singing, and I have a terrible voice, so singing hymns is out. They’re probably too old to have me read to them anymore. Volunteering at the local old folks’ home won’t work because the hours the rest home needs volunteers are when the kids are not available. So, it seems a good means is to have them read a book and then talk to them about it. Then, of course, I’d have to exercise practical wisdom again to choose which book I will ask them to read, as well as when and where we will talk about what they have read.
The final and absolutely fundamental aspect of practical wisdom is what Aquinas calls “command,” which means actually carrying out the good action. Practical wisdom isn’t just about knowing what is right. Practical wisdom includes actually doing what is right. A person who knows what to do but fails to do it has weakness of will rather than the strength of practical wisdom. Practical wisdom manifests the integrity of the agent whose ideals, desires, and actions are in harmony. The person of practical wisdom does not just have a theoretical idea about what would be good to do but rather makes that ideal into a real human action.
In the Renaissance, Piero del Pollaiolo painted an icon of practical wisdom as a young woman, seated on a bench and holding a serpent in her hand. How does this represent practical wisdom? Jesus called us to “be as wise as serpents” (Matthew 10:16). A snake slips away when threatened; so too the person of practical wisdom avoids near occasions of foolishness. But a snake may also strike swiftly if that is what needs to be done to defend itself. The person of practical wisdom knows when to flee and when to fight. In her other hand, the woman holds a mirror reflecting her image. The mirror symbolizes the self-knowledge needed for practical wisdom. As the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre wrote, “I can only answer the question, ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question, ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?’” The woman is seated, not running or even standing, because she takes due time in making her decision, avoiding undue haste in making a judgment. She is settled and calm in taking counsel, choosing the means, and carrying out the action.
How can we develop practical wisdom? “Prudence” comes from the Latin word providentia, seeing ahead. To do what is right in our concrete action, we need to look forward in order to consider the likely consequences of what we are thinking of doing. But we also need to look back in order to learn from our experience in similar situations. We also need to look around at various aspects of our proposed action to see what circumstances make a crucial difference in our current situation. Unless we consider the past, present, and future, we will not be able to find the golden mean of right action here and now.
We can grow in practical wisdom by learning from our experience. Thomas Sowell defined experience as “a fancy word for all the damn fool mistakes that you finally realized you were making.” That is why many spiritual masters recommend taking time at the end of each day to examine how it went. What gifts did God give today? What went well? Where did I fail? What was God teaching me? How can I improve tomorrow? To paraphrase Winston Churchill, all people make mistakes, but only wise people learn from their mistakes.
But because every individual’s experience is limited, it makes sense to learn from other people, especially older, more experienced people. We can look to the sages and the saints to learn life lessons that we can apply in our own lives. We can also learn from other people’s foibles, missteps, and tragedies about what not to do. When in doubt, we can talk about our proposed decision with an experienced and holy person to get feedback and an objective perspective on our situation.
As in all things, Jesus is the exemplar. He sometimes spoke, but other times he remained silent. He spoke in one way to the woman caught in adultery but in a very different way to the scribes and Pharisees. He was active among the crowds but at other times retreated into silence alone. Jesus is himself the wisdom of God made flesh, and he sent his Spirit so we too could share in this divine wisdom. So, the most important way to grow in practical wisdom is to pray for and be open to the divine gift of wisdom.