2014年6月13日,位于英国伦敦的左派报纸《新工人报》(NewWorker,由英国新共产党主办的周报)在网站上和印刷版(第6-7页)发表了英国学者AdrianChan-Wyles博士(释大道)撰写的文章,题目是:“People’sChina Leads the Worldin the Development of Wisdom Studies”(人民中国的智慧学研究领先世界)。文章介绍了智慧学的宗旨,意义和智慧学在中国国内的发展情况。报道原文可以在以下链接中找到。https://newworkerfeatures.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/peoples-china-leads-world-in.html
People’s China Leads theWorld in the Development of Wisdom Studies
By Adrian Chan-Wyles
In the 21st century, with the ever deepening process ofglobalisation and the development of information technology, human society isfacing new and challenging problems. Due to the unprecedented complexity ofthese problems, a superior and outstanding wisdom is required. But as thedevelopment of information is at its height, knowledge can be retrieved at anytime. The rapid development of science and technology has led tounprecedented material growth, and this in turn has led to an accelerated rateof development of education in modern society. There is now an urgent need todevelop the subject of Wisdom Studies so that society can benefit fully fromits presence.
ZhangjiagangWisdom Studies Declaration - 2013
THEHUMAN brain, through its capacity to think, analyse, assess, and logicallyorganise, has given birth to two great outpourings of the intellect, namelyreligion and secular science. The former is represented by a mixture ofimagination and environmental observation, whilst the latter abandons a priorithe requirement for imagination and strictly limits itself purely to theobservation of natural processes.
Althoughnow perceived as two very different entities, which of course they are,religion and science have shared, to a lesser or greater degree, the capacityto generate “wisdom”. The concept of generating wise thoughts issignified by the ability to produce optimum psychological functioning thatsimultaneously combines the observation of the environment, with specific innercognitive processes.
Inthe case of religion, the various phases of environmental change, such as thepassing of the seasons, weather conditions, natural catastrophes, the cycle oflife, conflict and so on, are used to reinforce the inner generation ofreligiously significant imagery. But in the case of modern science theenvironment is not just passively observed by a human mind standing in awe ofits presence, but is dynamically “measured” and “understood” by a mind thatactively seeks to reduce and remove imagination from the empirical process ofinformation gathering.
Bothreligious systems and modern science signify the development of the human mind(and its capacity to be “wise”) at various stages of its cognitive evolutionbut it is interesting to note that “wisdom” as a distinct capacity, appears tohave been a prominent biological and physical attribute of humanity generatedthrough the constant environmental pressures with regards for the need tosurvive as a species.
Whenwisdom is interpreted in this manner it becomes a perennial capacity that hasaccompanied human evolutionary development, but the origin of which most likelylies in humanity’s pre-human ancestry. As soon as a functioning brain is awareof the environment, (and its place within it), perception is transformed fromsubject-object dichotomy to a subject-object-other perspective. In other wordsfrom a strictly two-dimensional, instinctively governed existence, to athree-dimensional awareness that is able to “think” beyond, round, and throughits otherwise powerful instinctive programming.
Thisis wisdom as self-awareness. As a capacity of thought generation andthought organisation, wisdom has had the task of formulating contingentresponses to inner and outer stimuli, that is information derived from theexperience of psycho-emotional and psycho-physical states of being.
Wisdomanswers the question as to “what does this sensory information mean?” This is acontinuous path of human evolution that has no end, as it is an unfoldingprocess of the continuous refinement of the observation and understanding ofinner and outer processes. From this process has emerged the modernscience that has benefitted the planet, albeit in an asymmetric manner due tothe difference in socio-economic development around the globe.
Thewisdom manifested by those who live in economic poverty is of a more organicnature than those who exist in economically advanced societies, and whosewisdom is routinely augmented by technological assistance. In a poorcountry, the apex of wisdom may manifest as the ability to grow cropseffectively and make obsolete machinery function despite a lack of spare partsor replacements, and so on, whereas in a rich country, advanced wisdom buildsspace-rockets and devises ever more effective medicines, and so on.
Wisdomis a human-wide phenomenon that is not linked to any one culture, ethnic group,or society, and it is clear from the observation that many great civilisations,such as the Egyptian, Chinese, Indian, Babylonian, Greek, Roman, Inca, Mayan,North American Indian, Celtic, and modern European, amongst many others, haveproduced cultures and architectural constructs that contain an obviouslyadvanced quota of developmental “wisdom”.
Thisis why it is significant that on the 10th December 2013, agroup of eminent Chinese academics issued the Zhangjiagang Wisdom StudiesDeclaration, which simultaneously recognises the importance of the study (anddevelopment) of the theory of wisdom research, and the founding of theInternational Wisdom Society (IWS). This is an important recognition that willsee the subject of wisdom studies advance and gain a greater depth ofunderstanding. In recent years, knowledgeable people, both inside Chinaand abroad, have started paying attention to this issue, and have begun topromote awareness of the emerging academic discipline of Wisdom Studies.
Inthe United States first there was the famous Psychologist Robert J Steinbergwho led a group of scholars in a spontaneous research programme in WisdomStudies. Following this, there was the development of Wisdom Studies carriedout at the University of Chicago. In Europe there is the “‘Berlin Wisdom Paradigm” which has agroup of Wisdom Study researchers. In China during the last 50 years ofthe 20th century there was the famous educator Luo Jia Lun whoconsidered the relation between wisdom, learning, and knowledge. Heproduced a penetrating analysis of the three inter-related subjects.
Thefamous scientist Qian Xue Sen, (as far back as the mid-1990s), proposed a“Great Compendium of Wisdom Studies” school of thought. In the 21st centurythe famous educator Gu Ming Yuan, the President of theChinese Association of Education, developed the academic subject of WisdomStudies. Within China therehas been the development of the Chinese Wisdom Project Research Council,together with the emergence of the International Chinese Wisdom Society in Hong Kong, as well as the Zhangjiagang City WisdomStudies Project, and other similar academic institutes.
Asa consequence there have been a number of important academic conferences held,and many pioneering papers published on the subjects of wisdom, learning, andknowledge, which have led to the development of a practical curriculum designedspecifically for Wisdom Studies. The academic brothers Zhang Qing Lin and ZhangQing Song are credited with designing and implementing the first “LearningWisdom in College” courses, which have achieved many important results.
However,whether in China or the United States of America and despite the fact thatleaders in both countries clearly advocate the development of wise thinkingamongst the people, it has to be acknowledged that Wisdom Studies (and theability to “think” wisely) is an acquired skill, and that there must beappropriate planning if it is to be made socially acceptable and relevant tothe masses. In this regard, Wisdom Studies remains in its initial stageof development.
But now that there are “Wisdom Cities”, “Wisdom Tourism”, and “Wisdom Study Schools” serves toillustrate the success of the project and the willingness of people to embracewisdom. In fact intelligence is the facility people use when choosingtheir words and actions – and it can be said that Wisdom Studies encourages thedevelopment of a clearer (and superior) thinking process. Wise thinkingcan be used to tackle the most difficult of problems with an innovation that iscapable of producing new inventions. Amongst the workers, the use of wisethought is the foundation of the generation of all productiveforces. (https://newworkerfeatures.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/peoples-china-leads-world-in.html)