Introduction

The integration of all the five or rather six basic senses in order to project a somewhat reasonable judgment or projection of the reality is what I call the common sense. Seeing a barking dog and being able to acknowledge the fact that the sound you hear is sourced from the animal you see is an instance of common sense in its practicality.

Daily occurrences that we meet or interact with require us to use our common sense. Therefore, everyone has a common sense. Even the mad man has got common senses enough to escape an approaching car.

However it is a pity, such a pity that a wide spectrum of the populace in our country, institutions and even the most trivial social units in our society has found it a task to rivet the nodes of common sense into their day to day activities. Common sense alone, on a critical note, cannot act as a sufficient standalone prerequisite for man’s well-performance. Lack of the aforementioned has always proved to yield mediocre performance in whatever man would set out to do.

Simply put as the ability to learn and reason. Others define intellect as the ability to gain new knowledge. As a disclaimer, gain of knowledge is not supposed to be confused with conditioning or training. Else animals too would have intellect. But i tend to think that by the virtue of say a dog, being able to master a conditioning; then it must have intrinsically gained some sort of knowledge. For instance, when I ring a bell, the dog is conditioned to come for food. So, the dog has the knowledge of the ringing bell’s sound and can relate it to a previous nice taste (maybe of a bone) thus react by salivating or running towards the sound of the bell. Could this mean that by having this knowledge the dog is intelligent? Well, I stand to be corrected.

Knowledge and common sense alone is partially enough to steer once performance. Be it at work, school or even social activity; one stands a better chance of being best at whatever they do if at every instance of their common sense they can apply knowledge gained (intellect) or vice versa; (that is if from every knowledge gained, they apply all or most of the senses).

Despite the above being a comfortable niche for one to operate at, chances are that should a situation arise when a decision, choice or dilemma comes up they the man would get stuck, break down or lose bearing in whatever they are doing. The will to choose or make a choice comes in the crown that furnishes both common sense and intellect (or knowledge if you like). Chances of one turning into a brute are also high since it is through the will that one acknowledges that the right to swing ones fist ends when his neighbor’s nose begins to bleed. The will may purportedly be deemed as the avenues to once emotions or feelings. I can choose to do what I want and succeed at it at the expense of one’s feeling or happiness. I can choose the opposite too. The operation of all the three (common sense, intellect and wisdom) together produces traits in man that is similar to that of wisdom.

Wisdom is the deep understanding of things, people, places, ideas, events and concepts. Though relative, the ultimate result derived from various “wisdoms” lead to a singular conclusion. After a meal has been well cooked, Susan and Ken both sense (through smell) that the food X smells nice good. When they look at the food when it is served, Ken may say that an ingredient is missing or it looks ugly, Susan may like it the way it is. These two actions portray common sense. How? Both Ken and Susan are able to relate that smell they felt (previously while being cooked) belong to the food they see.

Let’s look at intellect. When they taste it, we see how the knowledge comes in. Both Susan and Ken have acknowledged, either by experience, passion or sensory relays that the food X is not for throwing or playing with or painting the wall with, but for eating. This is the simplest form of knowledge.

The will now comes in when Susan chooses to eat the food while Ken refuses to eat it because according to her it is sweet but according to him it is unappealing. Thus choice, the object of the will itself.

Wisdom then sets display in this way. Ken will from henceforth (maybe after several other experiences or just once) decide that food X smells a particular way and appears in a particular way then it is not fit for his consumption. Susan would obviously make a contrary opinion.

Opinions made after a prior response to a sense by knowledge over a justification of a will then begets wisdom.

By implication then common sense and knowledge all under the influence of the will is WISDOM.