Thoughtful Life Blog Essays by Jake Mitchell. Wise thoughts and advice on wisdom, knowledge, information, self-awareness (becoming awake), future consciousness, and “Chasing the Habit Rabbit Down the Hole.” “All the knowledge in the world doesn’t make anyone wise... In my life, I’ve been chocked full of information and knowledge.”

What I Believe: An Idealist Deals with Reality by Christopher Ebbe. My goal as a person and a psychologist is to provide people with the means to perceive reality reasonably accurately, to have pleasant feelings and emotions as much of the time as is reasonable, to feel good about themselves much of the time and have a good relationship with themselves, to have some gratifying relationships with others, and to function effectively, so that they can reach their goals.

Consciousness Expansion – Self-Evolution using the S2 Model by Debashis Chowdhury. Standing at the threshold of self-evolution, it is enormously helpful to have a development model that applies not only to ourselves, but to our human civilization and ultimately to our ability to make our mark as a cosmic aspirational entity. The S2 model helps us identify many areas that we can improve going forward.

Being Fully Human by Chris Thomson. What is human nature and have we lost our capacity to realize it?

Creating Wisdom by Sajid Khan. A discussion of the difference between understanding wisdom and "being wisdom." A review of spiritual, philosophical, and psychological perspectives.

The Fourth Planet by Chris Thomson

Does Science Provide Us with the Methodological Key to Wisdom?. In this essay Nicholas Maxwell of University College London tells us where the founders of the 18th century "Enlightenment" went astray, and how the proper application of rationality can help humanity acquire wisdom. (Also available in .doc format.)

Daniel Goleman on Compassion. In this 13-minute TED video Daniel Goleman, award-winning author of Emotional Intelligence, opens our eyes to why those of us who value compassion so often fail to act compassionately.

Ethical Character Development and Personal and Academic Excellence. This very popular resource since 2009 is presented here in expanded and enriched form by its author Tom Lombardo. The essay is an insightful exploration of values, virtues, and character development. (PDF format)

Creativity, Wisdom, and Our Evolutionary Future. Here, author Tom Lombardo discusses the roles of creativity, heightened future consciousness, and wisdom in the future evolution of the human mind. (PDF format)

The Best Society. What kind of a society can help us become wiser people? This essay by Alan Nordstrom explores and expands on the thought "That society is best which best fosters the fulfillment of true human needs."

Do People Have Wisdom Naturally, or Does It Require Effort?. This is Part 4 of The Rosewood Report concerning discussions in July, 2010 by a small group of philosophers and psycyhologists about the capacities of practical wisdom.

The Developmental Task for Elders. In this profound and stirring essay, wisdom researcher and adult educator Richard Hawley Trowbridge makes the case that the final stage of human growth is, ideally, "the remaking of identity" through a clear understanding of the relationship between human being and cosmic context. (A PDF file. Also available in DOC format.)

A Look at the Stages of Life. This review of a book by Debashis Chowdhury deals with the author's expanded take on Ashrama, the Indian philosophy that addresses the stages of human life. It is a view that applies to lives in the West as well as India. Especially pertinent to wisdom development are the second-half-of-life stages from 50 onward.

Flaws In Human Mentality. This is a revised, and now illistrated, version of the popular essay by Copthorne Macdonald. See also the video on this subject.

Flaws in Human Mentality — The Video. Based on the popular Wisdom Page essay, this video is a 22-minute illustrated tour of the less-than-perfect hand that evolution dealt us, plus a look at the hopeful side of the situation.

CBC Radio "Tapestry" interview of Jill Bolte Taylor. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Harvard neuroscientist who had a massive left-hemisphere stroke. In the two videos below she explains how the stroke left her in a state of right-brain facilitated bliss, and how she struggled for 8 years to regain the use of her left brain hemisphere. In this 54 minute Tapestry interview (above link) she goes into more detail than in the videos.
          Stroke of Insight   Streaming video feed from the Canadian Broadcasting Company.
          (Also available for viewing in Flash [FLV] or Windows Media Player [WMV])
          Jill Bolte Taylor's 2008 TED Talk   Streaming video feed from the TED website.
          (Also available for viewing in Flash [FLV] or Windows Media Player [WMV])

The Wise Path. Are you working your way toward greater wisdom? If so, this highly informative website deserves a visit. An ongoing project of Leland R. Beaumont, the site focuses on personal development in the emotional, cognitive, and action spheres as well as the endpoint convergence of these developmental paths: wisdom.

Where's Wisdom is an insightful essay by Leland R. Beaumont that, with the aid of helpful graphics, explores both the personal growth process as one heads toward wisdom and the final destination: wisdom itself. (A PDF file)

Emotional Competency. Fundamental to psychological/spiritual growth and the development of wisdom is the understanding and management of our emotions — what Lee Beaumont calls Emotional Competency. His resource-rich website is home to many on-point, understandable essays that shed light on emotional and other personal growth issues.

Wising Up This short essay on Alan Nordstrom's blog describes the process: "to act wisely we must first comprehend (often through sad experiences) which alternatives will prove most gratifying, and then we must work to make them real or bring them into being."

Developing Personal Wisdom by Copthorne Macdonald. An overview of nine wisdom-fostering tools and activities.

How to Train the Aging Brain This NY Times article by Barbara Strauch has implications for, and presents insights into, the process of wisdom development. A thought-stirring article.

SOPPHIA — The 7 Dimensions of Wisdom Bernard Brookes's "SOPPHIA model organizes the plethora of competencies into 7 Dimensions of Wisdom, and provides a framework that facilitates coaching and self-development efforts."

What are the most effective ways to develop wisdom? What practices work? Which ones are a waste of time? What attitudes, ways of being, and ways of seeing are important to cultivate? And how do we go about doing that? Please share your experience with the rest of us.

Values, Wisdom, and Action is an article by Copthorne Macdonald in the World Wisdom Rising (Fall/Winter 2007) issue of the journal Kosmos: An integral Approach to Global Awakening. (Also available in PDF format.)

The 48 Ways to Wisdom. In these 48+ essays, Rabbi Noel Weinberg presents deeply insightful advice for those who are serious about developing wisdom.

Way #10, Honor the Wise Person. Rabbi Weinberg says, "An apprentice gains firsthand knowledge by watching how an expert works. So too with wisdom. Don't read about it in a book; find yourself an expert."

Review of Charles Halpern's book Making Waves and Riding the Currents. Subtitled Activism and the Practice of Wisdom, this remarkable book about a remarkable life is reviewed here by Copthorne Macdonald.

The Wisdom-Centered Life website. Richard Trowbridge's new website is a rich trove of wisdom resources. Check out the Cultivating Wisdom section.

Principles for the Wisdom-Centered Life by Richard Hawley Trowbridge. This helpful set of principles or maxims are one part of Richard's "Wisdom as Skill" course. (MS Word format.)

MAGIC Wisdom Guidelines is Tom Fox's tightly focused "crash course" in wisdom, presented in his 2007 Commencement Address at Saint Peter's College.

Personal and Societal Wisdom: Some thoughts on their nature and development   A text-with-slides transcript of Cop's 2006 talk at Orlando's University Unitarian Universalist Society.