Wisdom can be defined as “a developmental process involving self-transcendence. Self-transcendence refers to the ability to move beyond self-centered consciousness, and to see things as they are with clear awareness of human nature and human problems, and with a considerable measure of freedom from biological and social conditioning. This ability to move beyond a self-centered perspective is certainly an important component of wisdom. Consistent with this idea, … transcending the self is needed to move beyond ingrained, automatic ways of thinking, feeling, and acting, and to connect empathetically with the experiences of others.”
“Contemporary Western literature has revived (the centrality of self-transcendence to wisdom) through discussion of moral development as in Kohlberg’s seventh stage in which the individual begins to question the meaningfulness of existence as a rational being and the limits of formal operational thought to obtain the answer. This stage ... requires a transcendental experience and perspective. Likewise, the ability to see through illusion, through awareness of one’s own cognitive biases, has been advanced as a cornerstone in the development of wisdom. … overcoming cognitive limitations is not exclusively the province of childhood but involves a lifelong process of overcoming limited conceptions and understandings. … the process of seeing through illusion ultimately leads to recognizing the familiar self as illusory, consistent with the teachings of contemplative systems such as Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta.”
Le TN, Levenson MR. Wisdom as self-transcendence: What's love (& individualism) got to do with it? Journal of Research in Personality 2005; 39(4): 443-457.
“Egotism is in. For the past few decades, it has been okay to ‘look out for Number 1,’ with the assumption that ‘Number 1’ refers to an individualistic notion of the person – and then mostly in the immediate moment, without regard for the individual’s own long-term interests. Advertising and marketing campaigns feed our cultural obsession with egoistic pursuits, and political and economic forces help make many self-indulgent behaviors and expectations a perceived necessity. The burgeoning business of self-help books in pop psychology has contributed to the cultural endorsement of excessive self-interest, selling advice on how to be, or get, anything one wants.
What is wrong with that? To start, excessive self-interest is not entirely in the interest of the self … the problems of egotism include not only social disharmony but also diminished personal well-being, health, productivity, and self-esteem.”
Wayment HA, Bauer JJ eds. “Transcending Self-Interest: Psychological Explorations of the Quiet Ego.” American Psychological Association, Washington DC, 2008.
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