It seems apparent that wisdom and understanding of life come after a considerable number of events, challenges, and achievements. However, the issue of the best way to gain this understanding – from personal experience or the experience of the closest one – remains relevant and open for many. The former position might be more appropriate as every human goes his or her own way and faces a plethora of particular and notable situations, from which he or she obtains the mentioned experience and forms a unique understanding of life. Pieces of advice coming from the third side – even from a family – are important and should be taken into account, but they cannot be the determinant of the way of living that is founded on personal perception.
There are plenty of essential values of being that all the wise people come to in the aftermath – starting from kindness and ending with honesty. Of course, the closest relatives might help one to get the thought that these values, or virtues, are something vital and fundamental. Nevertheless, to an exact extent, this thought will be delivered through their personal perception and experience, and the recipient may even understand them wrong. An in-depth comprehension of any aspect of life results from facing them personally when an individual feels and percepts these aspects in real life (Yang, 2014). Such an assumption is founded on the fact that people bear in mind the comprehension of life’s manifestation significantly when they are being involved in or interact with it directly.
To summarize, the above arguments seem to prove the suggestion that the best way to learn about life is through personal experience. The pivotal claim is that a person understands an aspect of living when he or she faces it individually. However, it should be admitted that a family’s rational advice may complement this understanding. Meanwhile, the main source of wisdom still remains personal experience.
Reference
Yang, S. (2014). Wisdom and learning from important and meaningful life experiences. Journal of Adult Development volume, 21(1), 129–146.