My letter of intent to the UBC

Proposed Program of Doctoral Studies

Motivation and Objectives
One summer night, over 22 years ago, I risked my life and illegally crossed the Romanian border into Yugoslavia to escape the terrors of communism. That was my first night of freedom. It was a night of a bitter-sweet freedom because even though I escaped communism – I lost the country of my birth. It was a night when I started to look upon myself as a person without a country, but at the same time – a citizen of this world.
My freedom was short lived because the very next morning I handed myself over to the Yugoslavian authorities asking for political asylum. After a short interview, they sent me to prison. It was during my imprisonment that I found out from other inmates (Yugoslavian criminals, thieves, crooks, and also people like myself who have run away from other East European countries such as Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union, Bulgaria, etc.) that we were imprisoned for “entering illegally and without passport into Yugoslavia”, and that the punishment for our “wrong doing” was to spend 15 days of prison.
After these days of imprisonment, we (the East European inmates) were brought into a large room, called by name, and divided into two groups of relatively equal size. One of the groups was to be handed on, into the care of UN Authorities; while the other group, was to be put in chains, and then sent back to the countries we had run away from.
When the prison policeman called my name - I stepped forward. I felt at that moment that my destiny was in his hands, and couldn’t do anything to change it. My biggest fault/mistake in life until then was of being born into a communist country. I was scared. I was terrorized of the thought of being sent back to the communists. I knew that my chances were 50/50 to be sent either way. I encouraged myself remembering that I had already beaten the statistics a few weeks earlier - when crossing the Romanian border. My chances of success then were about one in ten (the same as the chances of being shot and killed), and that my greatest chances were these of being caught, and then thrown into prison, where I’d have been “beaten to death”, brainwashed and tortured for very many years.
When the name of the last East European prisoner was called, and the two groups were finally formed - we were shown two doors. Each group was indicated the door on which to walk through. Each and every one of us knew that behind one of the doors was “waiting” - a destiny of freedom and we all hoped of going through that door.
When our group walked through our “destiny door”, our hearts were beating at their maximum. We were tensed and scared, but at the same time full of hope and expectancy. When we saw the United Nations people, welcoming us with their big smiles and open arms, our fears disappeared and were replaced by joy. I could not describe the magical moment of happiness, and the great relief we all went through at that very moment. That was a magical and crucial moment in our lives. I have personally felt that I made it - I have finally escaped the terrors of the communism. I have also felt that even though I became a man without a country – I still remained “a citizen of this world”… - and not any kind of “citizen of this world” – but rather – “a free and un-humiliated citizen of this world”.
A few minutes later, I began thinking about the members of the other group, my East European inmates – the men who wanted to escape communism, exactly as much as I did - and who were not as lucky as I was. I imagined them being sent back to their countries - to be punished, terrorized and unfairly treated for wanting a basic human right – the right to live free! At that very moment, I promised myself that I will fight communism, I will work hard, I will not quit and I will do something meaningful for the United Nations Organization and for the people of this world.
Since then, I’ve tried to keep my promise, each and every day of my life. I have studied hard, worked hard, and have made great sacrifices each and every day of my life. There were times when I was well feed and there were times when I was hungry. There were times when I was rich and I shared everything I had with the poor people of Romania, and there were times when I was so poor that I didn’t have anything to eat for days. There were times when I was feeding myself healthy foods, and there were times when I was starving myself to death on hunger strikes. Fighting the liars, the crooks and the thieves from the Romanian Justice system, the Romanian Health system and the Romanian Educational system (controlled still by the former communists), was not an easy task.
Beginning with that very special day (September 8, 1986), when I was given into the care of the UN authorities, I started to work hard, study hard, help the poor, fight for the human rights, fight for social justice (anywhere and everywhere I had the chance) - and begun to produce meaningful things for the people of Yugoslavia, Hungary, Canada and Romania.
Last year I returned to Canada (after working the previous 10 years in Romania) with two very clear goals in mind: 1) To do a PhD in Education at one of the best universities in Canada; and 2) To improve/upgrade the content of my 20 published books and 23 audiotapes, translate them into the English language and then make them available to the whole world.
To achieve my first goal, I’ve chosen to apply at UBC, since this university is one of the best universities in Canada, and one of the top 50 universities in the world. My long term goal is to return to Romania and continue my work in helping that country align with the demands of a civilized world. Education is one of the best and most important tools that can help the people of Romania awaken to freedom, democracy, civilization and globalization, after so many years of communism and dictatorship - and it is my belief that no other Canadian university can better help me prepare to achieve that goal/dream.

Personal Background and Preparation
My background is drawn from being a professional athlete and living the first 28 years of my life in the communist Romania; then risking my life and defecting from Romania into Yugoslavia; then living one year in Yugoslavia as a refuge under the United Nations care; then arriving 21 years ago in Canada as a landed immigrant; then getting an education (B. Sc. and M.A.) in Canada; then returning to Romania and using my acquired Canadian knowledge to open and run the “Mental and Physical Health Institute” (dedicated to helping the people of Romania not only stop smoking, drinking, and unhealthy eating, but also to open their eyes, minds, souls, and hearts to discover the benefits of freedom, democracy and civilization); writing books on social justice (3), wisdom (11), sport psychology (4), self-help (2), and recently returning to Canada to upgrade my education skills to better serve not only the needs of the people from my country but also the needs of the people from all over the world.
Throughout my life, I have discovered that wisdom is one of these qualities that brings people together; helps them live better lives; and brings with it peace, joy, harmony, friendship and happiness. This is my research area of long and continuing interest. During the past 6 years I have undertaken extensive research on conceptions of wisdom over the ages and published 11 books as the result. These books received great reviews from Romanian priests, lawyers, judges, and educators. I have discovered, however, that (a) wisdom has been the focus of relatively little research during the past century, and (b) as yet, there is no shared agreement on a clear definition of wisdom: researchers and theorists from the fields of education, sociology, philosophy, psychology and religious studies do not accept each others’ definitions.
Since wisdom is essential to individual and collective human well-being, it is important that this concept be better analyzed, researched and understood, so people from all over the world can cultivate and exercise “it” - in all their daily interactions; for the benefit of themselves, their families, their communities, their societies, and at the end - for the benefit of the world we live in.
Accordingly, the intent of my proposed doctoral studies is to help formulate a conceptual model of wisdom that (a) would consolidate and expand historical teachings about wisdom, and (b) could be used by scientists across disciplines and cultural boundaries.

Interests in Wisdom
My interest in wisdom begun many years ago, when I discovered that wisdom is one of the best attributes/qualities that one can use in passing on knowledge; be it in communicating, educating, consulting, coaching, writing, leading, motivating, etc.
However, before talking about how my curiosity to study and understand wisdom came about, I’d like to go back a few years, to the time (1993) when I was doing research for my MA at the University of Ottawa, and was guided by two of the best Sport Psychologists in the world; Dr. Terry Orlick (top 10) and Dr. John Salmela (top 20).
My research was supposed to measure and evaluate the mental skills required to achieve high levels of athletic performances. The premise advanced by Dr. John Salmela was that - elite athletes are better mentally equipped to deal with the demands of competitions than non-elite athletes. He suggested that elite athletes posses a number of fundamental mental skills, and these skills are absolutely necessary to achieve high levels of physical performances. These fundamental skills are: a) Foundation Skills (Goal-Setting, Self-Confidence, Commitment); b) Psychosomatic Skills (Stress Reaction, Fear Control, Relaxation, Activation) and c) Cognitive Skills (Focusing, Refocusing, Imagery, Mental Practice and Competition Planning).
Dr. Terry Orlick’s went a step even further and suggested that - elite athletes require all of the above mental skills/abilities/qualities, and that, the same skills required to achieve high levels of athletic performances (present in elite athletes), are in fact required to achieve all other top human performances. This meant that top classical musicians, top surgeons, top politicians, top businessmen, top educators, top actors, supermodels, astronauts, world leaders, and in fact people that excel in any human domain, have/hold the same mental skills/abilities as do elite athletes.
The results of many scientific papers and research conducted at the University of Ottawa by my colleagues and I supported these theories. The OMSAT (The Ottawa Mental Skills Assessment Tool) test, on which I was involved in the development and which continued to be corrected and adjusted (by other graduate students who came after me at Ottawa University) to measure these mental skills - has in time been validated and has recently been made publicly available. Now, anybody can take this test on the net. This test makes me very proud and happy in the same time. I am proud of the work I did 14 years ago, and I am happy that people from all over the world can now benefit from being able to measure their mental skills/abilities/qualities when taking this test. I am also very proud with the work I did after graduating, since these professors have greatly inspired me not only to be curious and continue to research these mental skills/qualities/components, but also to write about my findings and make these findings available to people from all over the world. That’s exactly what I did, and now my 20 published books have been already read by over 53 000 Romanians and one of them has been translated into Hungarian.
My academic interest in wisdom begun many years ago when doing research for one of my published books (Awaken the giant from inside), while studying the life of the people who lived on this earth, and did something “major” in their lives (leaving a “mark” on this earth, as a result of them being here). Through reviewing the lives and work of Aristotle, Plato, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, William Shakespeare, Beethoven, Thomas Alva Edison, Marie Curie, Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Mother Teresa, Bill Gates, etc., I discovered that these individuals had the same mental traits/characteristics/skills/abilities as the elite athletes I have studied many years earlier. I was not surprised by my findings, because I have expected these qualities to emerge. However, after completing my research and writing the book, I felt that there was something else… something that I was missing! At the beginning I couldn’t figure out what that “missing thing” was - but I felt and became increasingly convinced that there was something, and that something was “great”. My subconscious mind was struggling to give me the answer - but the answer wouldn’t come to me.
I must have felt the same way as when the first chemists discovered “strange relations” between chemical elements - but couldn’t figure out what that relation was. They observed that every chemical element, had a certain number of electrons, neutrons, protons, atomic number, etc., and saw that some of these elements were very similar in some ways, but still very different in some other ways, and couldn’t figure out a way to place them in a logical order. These “strange relations” were not clearly understood, until Mendeleev came, made the logical connection between these elements, and suggested the periodic table of elements.
In a very small and modest way I must have felt the same way as these first chemists, when they were struggling with their knowledge of chemistry. They saw something… they knew it was there – but couldn’t figure out what “that something” was.
My previous education, my previous knowledge and my previous experiences didn’t cover yet - “that thing”. My previous education didn’t make any reference and/or connection to this particular subject… yet – I knew that I have studied it all along. I had never taken any courses in that subject before. I felt that, what I was looking for was there; very close to everything I had studied before – but still, I didn’t know what “that” was, and didn’t have a name for it - yet.
The answer finally came to me. It came, however, a little bit late; it came a few months later, when my book was already published. The answer given to me by my subconscious mind was like a revelation. The answer came to me in the form of a word… a very simple word… a word that was much stronger than any other phrases, paragraphs, arguments and even books that I have ever written before. This simple word was spelled W-I-S-D-O-M. The magical ingredient that all these people (giants) had in common was called WISDOM, and this mental ingredient/skill/attribute/quality made them actually do, what they ended up doing.
The more I analyzed (and looked back upon) the life of these individuals (these so-called “human heroes” or “giants” that have lived on this earth), the more I realized how many similarities (in terms of mental skills/abilities) were between them and the Olympic athletes, world champions and elite athletes – on which I have done my research, many years earlier. That realization, really gave me the “missing link” of the puzzle.
The same mental skills/qualities suggested by Terry Orlick as required to achieve high levels of human performances - are required to achieve wisdom. In fact wisdom is something that most of the people who achieve high levels of human performances could (and most of them would) be rewarded - as a result of their hard and honest work, of their perseverance and persistence on doing what they set up doing, of their belief in themselves and the important things they believe in, of their humbleness in their interactions with the others, and of their compassion towards all the other human beings. These people could/should and finally would be rewarded with wisdom, sometimes on their “road of life”… sometimes when they will approach golden age. In fact – “the wisdom they will acquire” will be the result of their mental training over the years… - it will be the result of living their lives a certain way… and using these mental skills/qualities suggested by Terry Orlick (over 20 years ago), as well as by the sages that have lived on this earth over 2000 years ago (i.e. Lao-Tzu, Confucius, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Aristotle, etc).
Wisdom - supports 100% Orlick’s (1986) theory of “In pursuit of Human Excellence”. In fact, all the mental skills suggested by Orlick and Salmela as being required to achieve high levels of human performances, are required to achieve wisdom. These mental skills are nothing else but some simple wisdom tools… which “fit” very well under the umbrella of - wisdom.
Orlick and Salmela have further suggested that these mental tools are in fact some seeds (some mental seeds) that we should plant in our lives – before becoming capable to reap the rewards of high human performances. That’s exactly how Ardelt (2004), Carstensen (2007) and Clayton (1982) suggest on how wisdom is planted. “The seeds of wisdom are planted earlier in life — certainly earlier than old age, often earlier than middle age and possibly even earlier than young adulthood.” Monica Ardelt (2004) mentioned that the roots of wisdom can be traced, in most cases - to adolescence. She points out that many of the wise people she studied who scored high on her wisdom scale also reported considerable hardship earlier in their lives.
Throughout my research during the past 6 years I have discovered that wise people seem to have all the mental skills/abilities/attributes that successful people have/hold… Or, perhaps I should say it differently: “Successful people seem to have some of the same mental skills/abilities/attributes that wise people have/hold” (Successful people do not necessarily have all the mental qualities as wise people have – but they are very close… - they are in the process of becoming wise). Beside that, wise people have learned “many lessons” by going through difficult life situations and confronting tremendous challenges in their lives. They all seem to have “a great heart” and a tendency to always do good things. They do major things. Wise people have a tendency to give away, to give to others, to give to the world they live in (Buddhist and Sikh wisdom teachings).
These “giants” have learned from previous negative experiences and were able to step outside themselves and assess a troubling situation with calm reflection (Ardelt 2004). They have looked at their life difficulties and crisis as a problem to be addressed, or “a puzzle to be solved”. They have taken actions in situations they could have controlled and have accepted the inability to do so when matters were outside their control (Ardelt 2004; Orlick 2000; Salmela 1992). They learn from previous negative experiences (Salmela 1992).
These people have given something to the world they lived in… - they have made this world a better place to live in (Plamadeala 1993). They helped us, and the rest of the world live better. A general thread running through modern wisdom research is that wise people tend to be humble and “other-centered” as opposed to self-centered (Stephen 2007, Salmela 1992).
It is my belief that if they wouldn’t have been wise - they wouldn’t have done what they actually did. The magical ingredient which made them do what they ended up doing… which made them become what they ended up becoming, was – wisdom!
That’s how I began to become more and more interested on this subject. The more research I did - the more things I’ve discovered; the more things I’ve discovered - the more curious I became; the more curious I became - the more questions I’ve asked; the more questions I’ve asked - the more answers I’ve received.
On a more negative note, the more research I did on the recent scientific books and/or publications on wisdom, the more I’ve discovered the contradictions amongst today’s scientists when defining and/or talking about it. That was the time I’ve left aside today’s scientific literature and conflicts, and focused on the “pure science of wisdom” that was left behind by our ancient sages. I wanted to “get into the wisdom myself”; to “taste it”, to “feel it”, and to “see it myself”, without being influenced by any scientist. I didn’t want to be lead into a wrong direction. I focused on older books and all other resources that could provide me with the information I needed, to find out what these wise people said, what they did, and how they lived their lives.
I begun to be looking for wisdom everywhere and anywhere I could find it. I took the scripture and carefully re-read “Solomon’s proverbs” and “Ecclesiastes”, and pondered a lot about the wisdom I discovered there. I took my former father in law library (he was an orthodox priest), and researched all of his religious books; I took my mom’s books (she was a Baptist church member) – to look for wisdom; I walk into the biggest Romanian libraries and researched all I could find related to wisdom; I researched the Romanian folklore as related to wisdom; I look on the internet and researched wisdom. I talked with elders and asked them for old stories, quotes and teachings about wisdom. I was hungry about wisdom and sought it anywhere and everywhere I could find it. My journey so far in researching wisdom has been very much enlightening. The 11 published books on this subject (as a result of my research), present wisdom teachings, wisdom lessons, wisdom stories, wisdom quotes and wisdom sayings, not only from the ancient sages, but also from many other sages (wise people) that have lived on this earth from the beginning of time until now.
Since returning to Canada, I’ve continued my research in wisdom. Last year, I’ve approached Indian Elders and Chiefs from the North area of British Columbia, and looked for wisdom; I have later come to Vancouver and approached the “Church of Scientology” to see how they perceive wisdom. This year I have approached all Guardara’s Temple from the Vancouver area and meet several Sikh priests – looking for wisdom; Right now I am searching Buddhist religion and I am meeting with Buddhist monks to discuss wisdom. My intention is to continue my research and approach the Muslim religion and then the Hindu religion. Once I’ll be done with the “religious approach” research on wisdom - I’d like to look again at the work of the ancient philosophers (Confucius, Lao-Tzu, Aristotle, Plato and Socrates) and read once again their work. Once this research will be completed, I’d like to come back to the present time and read the conflicts between today’s scientists. This final step could be a great experience in learning for me. Even if I will not agree with all scientists upon their definitions on wisdom, I will still learn from them. Nobody put it better than Confucius who said this, over 2500 years ago: “Whenever walking in the company of three, I can always find my teacher among them (or one who has something to teach me). I select a good person and follow his example, or I see a bad person and correct it in myself.”

Research in wisdom
When Socrates was asked to define wisdom (about 2450 years ago), he said: “What is wisdom? I cannot find it? I cannot find ‘it’ in myself, or in any of my fellow citizens.”
When Aristotle came (about 2400 years ago), he claimed that the wisdom acquired with feeling, choosing, and acting well - is the moral virtue; and that wisdom acquired by teaching - is the intellectual virtue. He was one of the first philosophers to equate virtues with wisdom.
Throughout the past centuries, wisdom has been perceived as an ancient concept, as a virtue and as a desirable human mental skill/trait characteristic, and was taught and studied extensively in the field of religious studies.
In 1950, the psychoanalyst Erik H. Erikson, identified wisdom as a likely byproduct of growing older. If an individual had achieved a large amount of “ego integrity” over the course of a lifetime, then the imminent approach of death would be accompanied by the virtue of wisdom. Erikson didn’t define wisdom, but his observations left the doors open for the formal study of wisdom, and scientists from the fields of education, sociology, psychology, philosophy and religious studies have begun researching it. However, after 30 years of empirical study, scientists still don’t agree on defining it. The same scientists who contradict each others definitions - agree with each other in that “the journey of studying wisdom in many ways may be as enlightening as the destination.”
In 1990, Robert J. Sternberg, president of the American Psychological Association (APA), who edited “Wisdom: Its Nature, Origins and Development,” wrote “Wisdom is really hard to study — really hard.” In one of his most recent (2005) books entitled “A handbook on wisdom” he believes that “cultivation of wisdom is essential to the future of our society”.
The formal study of wisdom as a modern academic pursuit begun in United States in the early 1970s, when Vivian Clayton, a graduate student, working with one of the leading world psychologists, James E. Birren, was asking the question: “What does wisdom mean, and how does age affect it?” After several years of intensive research on these questions, she claims that “wisdom meant a lot of different things, but it was always associated with knowledge, frequently applied to human social situations, involved judgment and reflection and was almost always embedded in a component of compassion.” (Clayton 1982).
Between 1976, when she defended her dissertation, and 1982 (when she stopped researching wisdom), Clayton published several groundbreaking scientific papers to suggest that wisdom could be studied empirically. She departed from continuing researching wisdom, because, as she put it: “I was lost in the Milky Way of wisdom, and each star seemed as bright as the next.”
Soon after that (1984), Dr. Paul B. Baltes, a world-renown German psychologist, who had closely monitored Claytons’ initial wisdom studies, and has even met her several times “to discuss wisdom”, decided to continue researching “this mysterious thing” in Berlin. Along with Jacqui Smith, Ursula M. Staudinger and Ute Kunzmann, embarked on a program - “to take wisdom into the laboratory”, as they put it.
The Berlin Wisdom Project made a great impact on the people interested in wisdom; “wisdom publications numbered only two or three a year before 1984 but had grown to several dozen a year by 2000” (Stephen 2007).
Since 1984, researchers affiliated with the Berlin Wisdom Project have tried to come up with and develop a psychological test to measure wisdom – but this only happened 15 years later, when another German scientist, Monika Ardelt, professor at the University of Florida, who received a grant from the American National Institute on Health and Aging to develop a psychological test to measure and/or assess wisdom - had made this challenge possible. In 1990, while she was still a graduate student, Monika Ardelt wanted to identify factors that contributed to the acquisition of wisdom. Strongly opposed to the wisdom research coming out from “the Berlin Research Group”, Monika Ardelt begun building upon the framework of Vivian Clayton’s research. By 1997, when she received the above mentioned grant, Ardelt had already done extensive research in the field of wisdom and was well prepared to work in the development of the 3D-WS (Three Dimensional Wisdom Test). After intensive work, this wisdom test was finally designed, developed, tested and validated. Now, this wisdom test was published by “The New York Times Magazine”, at (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/magazine/20070430_WISDOM.html) and any person of this world (who wants to measure his/her levels of wisdom) can take it from this site - free of charge. This multi-dimensional wisdom test suggests that “wisdom can arise in ordinary people from unexpected background” and that “...these who rate high in wisdom, seem to be very generous - both financially and emotionally. These who rate low in wisdom – seem to be more preoccupied with the self.” (Ardelt 2004)
However, as one of the top world wisdom researchers, Monica Ardelt (2005) puts it: “We are not there, yet! Much more research is needed to understand wisdom.”

Doctoral program
I have chosen to pursue a PhD in Educational Studies at UBC in preparation for the challenges that I would have to face in working in three main areas: 1) Continuing to write books and pass on the acquired knowledge, to not only my Romanian compatriots but also to the rest of the world; 2) Work for the government of Romania, especially for the role of ministry of education; and 3) Representing the Romanian Government in the European Union.
I am in the process of developing a good relation with Dr. Daniel Vokey, who has expertise in Eastern philosophy, Buddhism wisdom and theory development. I have also discovered that one of my favorite professors from the University of Ottawa, who was in fact one of my advisors to my MA, Dr. Bruno Zumbo, works now on the Department of Education and Counseling Psychology (ECPS) at this university.
I have established a good connection and relation with Dr. Monika Ardelt, from the department of Sociology (University of Florida), who is one of the top world researchers in the field of wisdom, and with Dr. Ferrari Michel, from the department of Education (University of Toronto), who has done extensive research in wisdom as well. Both of these professors have offered to help me, guide me, and be my external advisors on my research in wisdom.
Since I am a team player contributing always to help our team become a winning team, I am sure I could find a good team/committee, to work with…. and come up with a great scientific project for the benefit of ourselves, our university, but especially for the benefit of mankind.
I have a profound sense of how important and precious a doctorate in education is, how it builds a sense of obligation to give back to society and the world. I could not express myself in telling you how happy this “giving back to the people of the world”, will make me feel… - for the rest of my life!

Proposed doctoral research
The more individual research I did throughout the past 6 years, the more I’ve discovered the contradictions amongst today’s scientists when defining and/or talking about wisdom. That was frustrating to me because I wasn’t really interested to learn about the conflicts and/or contradictions between scientists on “how” or “why” they define wisdom the way they did, but rather to learn about that special mental skill/quality which our ancestors have left us behind, and which we call today – wisdom! I also discovered that even though these researchers/scientists studied and analyzed that old mental concept/skill/tool called wisdom, using critical reasoning and logical thinking, employing the scientific method on their research, something still didn’t add-up. Something was missing. They ended up with different understanding of it and that’s how they came up with different definitions.
The intent of my proposed doctoral studies is to further expand our understanding of wisdom by developing an interdisciplinary and universal conceptual model of wisdom. To date, wisdom was being researched in education, sociology, philosophy, psychology, religious studies, but scientists from these fields do not accept each other definitions.
In fact, one of the top scholars in the field of wisdom, Dr. Monika Ardelt, from the University of Florida wrote in 2005: “Although wisdom research has gained in popularity over the past two decades, a generally agreed on definition of wisdom does not yet exist.” On another occasion, when talking about two other highly respected scholars in the field of wisdom, she acknowledges that no one really knows what wisdom is. “I like my definition, the Baltes people like their definition, and Sternberg likes his. There’s no agreement on what wisdom is, and that’s the fuzzy part. We’re not there yet.”

Research design and methodological approach
My proposed dissertation will take the format of a manuscript-based thesis and will have the following working components:
- I will explore the life, the writings and the work of 10 of the most significant thinkers that have lived on this earth from the beginning of time until now. These wise men (sages) will include: Confucius, Lao-Tzu, Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Jesus Christ, Buddha, Mohamed, Guru Nanak and the “Gods” of the Hindu religion.
- I will analyze what they said, what they did, and “the wisdom they left behind”.
- I will make an attempt to come up with a psychological profile of a wise person. This “wise person” will take common characteristics from each of the 10 wise people studied.
- I will develop a wisdom questionnaire and test about 500 elders from British Columbia on this wisdom scale.
- Finally, I will try to answer the question: “How wisdom influences intuition?” This question is important since “wise people” have always good intuitions. Ex: When Mendeleev suggested “the periodic table of elements” he also discovered that some elements in his table were missing (these that were not discovered yet at the time), and he left “empty spaces” for these elements. He had the intuition (the wisdom) that some new elements would be discovered and these empty spaces will sometimes be filled. He was right.

Contributions of research
This theoretical study aspires to serve practitioners, researchers and students who work not only in the education field but also in other fields where wisdom is sought.
I anticipate this research study will definitively improve upon the understanding of wisdom. Additionally, this dissertation will advance much needed awareness of the significance of wisdom in teaching/leading/coaching/motivating and all the other institutions of higher education.
Since wise people claim “the more one gives – the richer one becomes” and since in Education our role is “to give the best from us each and everyday to the ones we teach”, it is my belief that; if we will teach more wisdom - our students would learn more wisdom. The more wisdom they will receive from us – the more wisdom they will learn; the more wisdom they will learn – the wiser will they become; the wiser will they become – the better world will they build for the future of our human species. As one Buddhist monk (rev. Allen) from Vancouver puts it, “if people of this world would be wise, they will be compassionate. Compassion is the main ingredient in wisdom. Compassionate (wise) people never hurt or kill others. They have never started a war. If people of this world would be compassionate (wise) – there will never be any wars… anymore!”
Since wisdom comes from all over the world, what better tool could we have at hand to use, to bring us closer together and speak the language of compassion, goodness, harmony, peace, joy and logic? What better tool can we have at hand, in our intention of becoming citizens of the world - than to use wisdom in our interactions, in our teachings and in our offerings to others?
Wisdom is that important tool that can overturn traditional barriers that separate peoples, nations, and governments. Through wisdom we will better understand other people, other nations, other languages, other cultures and other traditions that are very much different from our own. It was again Confucius who said: “Guide the people by wisdom and control them by harmony and the people would have a sense of honor and respect.”
Wisdom is that “magical key” that would unlock not only the doors that hide inside the secrets of our pains, of our sufferings, of our frustrations, of our unhappiness… but also the doors that hide inside the secrets of our contentment, of our joy and of our happiness. By unlocking these doors and discovering the “secrets” hidden behind them, we should be able to use that knowledge (wisdom), to make this world a much better place to live in… a place where there will be no wars, where we (the people) will be kind and compassionate towards each other; a place where we will choose to give instead of stealing, to create instead of destroying, to persevere instead of quitting, to praise instead of blaming, to heal instead of hurting and to love instead of hating. By opening these doors, we will be able to make this world a much better place to live in; not only for us – but especially for our children, for our children-children, and for all the future generations that would come and populate this wonderful planet, which we call today - earth.

References:
Ardelt, M. (2004). Where can wisdom be found? – A reply to the commentaries by Baltes and /Kunzmann Sternberg and Achenbaum. Human Development, 47(5): 304-307
Ardelt, M. (2005). How wise people cope with crises and obstacles in life. ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation, 28(1): 7-19
Armstrong, C. (1980). The chemistry of persuasion. Fredericton: Armstrong and Associates.
Beyer, E., Valens, E. (1975). How we control others, how they control us. New York: Warner Books, Inc.
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