{"id":2161,"date":"2025-12-21T20:40:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T01:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/?p=2161"},"modified":"2025-12-21T20:40:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T01:40:17","slug":"stepping-into-the-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2025\/12\/stepping-into-the-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Stepping Into the Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span>he end of year up here in the Northern Hemisphere is dark. \u00a0December 21st<\/sup> is literally the pits. This invites a brief reflection on living in the dark, and its remedy of stepping into the light.<\/p>\n

Perhaps because of the December darkness, lights are top-of-mind.\u00a0 There is plenty of physical evidence that Americans are seasonally light-obsessed.\u00a0 How many lights can we put on a tree?\u00a0 How about your neighbor\u2019s illuminated yard inflatables<\/a>?\u00a0 University of Virginia celebrates the Lighting of the Lawn<\/a>.\u00a0 Charlottesville\u2019s Boars Head Inn offers the Winter Wander<\/a>, an illuminated walk with an evening drone show.\u00a0 In New York City, there is the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree<\/a> and the windows in Saks Fifth Avenue<\/a>.\u00a0 Lights draw us in; a fact not lost on retailers.\u00a0 And as satellite images<\/a> of North America at night reveal, the U.S. lights up the dark.<\/p>\n

But it is also useful to consider light in a different sense, illumination <\/em>or enlightenment.<\/em>\u00a0 What have you learned this year?<\/strong>\u00a0 It\u2019s an awkward question, because at this time of year, one just wants to have fun.\u00a0 But work with me here for a moment.\u00a0 If you are a student, you have probably focused on your growth in knowledge<\/strong>.\u00a0 For instance, facts, formulas, tools, names, dates in history, etc.\u00a0 If you are in the early-to-mid stage of a career, you have focused on building skills<\/strong> and proving your competence.\u00a0 This could include how to sell a product, organize a team, or give feedback to an employee in a way that actually builds her or him up.\u00a0 Universities know all about your hunger to gain knowledge and skills, and tailor university courses accordingly.<\/p>\n

But there is a third dimension, growth in wisdom.<\/strong>\u00a0 Outside of philosophy departments and courses in the humanities, university professors tend to find the subject of wisdom a bit awkward.\u00a0 How do you fit wisdom into a course on bookkeeping, organic chemistry, computer coding, or zoology?\u00a0 Anyway, a professor might say, the subject of wisdom is amorphous, hard to pin down.<\/p>\n

Yet there is no shortage of guidance about wisdom. Aristotle said virtue (wisdom) is the foundation for human flourishing (the good life.)\u00a0 The good life is the virtuous life.\u00a0 Living the good life requires knowing about the character traits necessary to practice virtue.<\/p>\n

In addition, many faith traditions have offered guidance on wisdom and living a virtuous life.\u00a0 Important religious holidays tend to emphasize lights and dawning in the sense of growth of insight, revelation, awakening, transformation, and enlightenment.[1]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I argue that of the three kinds of light (knowledge, skills, and wisdom), growth in wisdom is paramount.\u00a0 The lore of all fields of endeavor (e.g. business, law, politics, medicine, the military, etc.) is littered with spectacular failures owing the bad choices, bad behavior, and bad values, rather than bad knowledge or skills.<\/p>\n

So, where can you turn to gain wisdom?<\/p>\n