What is wisdom? It is not just one thing and there is no universal definition for this notion. It is the complete chain of more-than-ordinary ways of being and existing. It is an interconnection with the whole world. There are different characteristics of wisdom and it can be expressed in different forms and at different degrees, so brief answer will only underestimate all the meanings of this concept.

It is possible to identify wisdom in short statements but they will just depict a part of truth, as wisdom in the concept very dual. So, wisdom involves seeing things as they are, seeing the essence not through the frame of reference; seeing and understanding deeply human and cosmic situation; knowing when and where to act and where not to act- perfect adjustment to the situation; ability to see and foresee different problems and avoid them.

In people¡¯s minds wisdom in usually connected with age. But it is more about common standards that are linked to each age and one can call a child of 6-7 years old wise, if he/she knows and understands, that is even more important, more that other children of that age. It is generally believed that wise people are very old, so wisdom comes with life experience and wisdom is age-related topic.

Wisdom needs solitude and privacy, as it comes from the inside of the person and in order to get it, wise people tend to be more detached than ordinary from the dictates and expectations of their culture and society. If a man doesn¡¯t keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. This is a perfect and bright illustration from Thoreau¡¯s Walden what wisdom can look like. It is living in your own world, listening to your heart, not being in-stream and following your own path.

Abraham Maslow referred exactly to self-directedness as a key factor of wisdom. Partially that comes from getting new information. Nowadays people¡¯s minds are overfilled with different information, and from this stream it is very difficult to differentiate answers that we seek, as all the knowledge that we get, we get already in interpreted, not primary way. So, wisdom results not only in absorbing information in different forms, but in putting of significant facts into appropriate contexts and viewing them from more helpful perspectives. Wisdom foresees such traits in the personality of a person: perfection, completion, wholeness, simplicity, justice, honesty, reality, self-sufficiency.

A person that strives to wisdom realizes that acquired knowledge is just revealing of something a person already knows for a long time. That person understands his divine nature; he understands his importance and accepts the fact that he is the energetical center of the whole universe.

There is an impression that wisdom is a kind of perfect thing, and wise person never makes mistakes and never has any problems. It is just an illusion. A person in called wise actually for that he assumes that there is no any problem in which a gift in not posted; and a person calls for them as he really needs those gifts for further development.

Going back to ancient times- Socrates in worth mentioned and Plato¡¯s Apology where he defends himself in court against his accusers. We are familiar with his personality only through the writings of his contemporaries (to be more accurate two apologies written nearly at time after his death by his two younger associates- Plato and Xenophon). No one was said to be wiser than he was, and his intellectual excellence was greatly stressed. But his moral excellence was also glorified.

He was the first philosopher to see the human¡¯s soul as a moral essence, improved by virtue and ruined by its opposite. He view was quite opposite to the previously believed one about a morally neutral life principle. His impact is very valuable as he stated that knowledge is a virtue. And the wisdom is to use it adequately.

So, the relationship between self and wisdom is unbreakable, as wisdom comes from definite understanding and perceiving of self; it depends solely on the person and not on some external factors