Common Wisdom: 8 Scientific Elements of Living a Meaningful Life is a book that summarizes the findings of the Wisdom Project. This was a project that took place between October 2022 and April 2023, involving fifteen-to-thirty minute face-to-face internet interviews with sixty wise adults – aged fifty to seventy-nine – by Dr. Laura Gabayan.
The interviewees were nominated as “wise” by another person and scheduled a time to meet with Dr. Gabayan. Upon scheduling, they were given these ten below questions that Dr. Gabayan discussed with them:
- Why were you nominated for this study?
- In one minute, describe yourself, your life, and your life experiences.
- Was there a life experience/obstacle that served as your teacher?
- What ideals/mantras do you live by?
- When you think of yourself today, what values motivate you?
- In a typical day, what is very important to your way of living/happiness? What can you not live without?
- Gratitude has been found to be associated with wisdom. Was there an event that made you more grateful?
- How do you deal with the difficulties of life?
- What words of wisdom do you have for the younger generation?
- How did you gain your wisdom?
The project was designed based on the scientific literature on wisdom – in the fields of sociology, psychology, and geriatrics – that found that:
- Wisdom had an inverse relationship with age, so that individuals above age eighty may start to lose wisdom as they become less flexible and Wisdom was best recognized by another human being, not a test or a questionnaire. It took Dr. Gabayan numerous years to review this literature.
- Once interviews were complete, they were categorized into themes or common ideas that were present in the group. Even though these were people who did not know one another and came from very different backgrounds, they had similar themes.
Each chapter describes a theme identified in the interviews. The themes are below in order of prevalence with the first theme being most prevalent.
- Resilience
- Kindness
- Positivity
- Spirituality
- Tolerance
- Humility
- Creativity
- Curiosity
The findings of the project are fascinating. Wisdom is a state of being, a mindset. From a librarian that lives in the smallest home in her neighborhood to a CEO of many companies, I discovered that there were several commonalities in their approach to life, which I analyze and discuss in the various chapters. It was clear from my research that having wisdom is not related to accomplishments or wealth. It is a passion and love of life that results in meaning and depth. The findings of this project are priceless and timeless.
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