My thinking is that wisdom is a bit more than knowledge gained by experience.
Having knowledge, and a modicum of intelligence, we can deduce or reason our way beyond that knowledge.
I wrote that before I checked the dictionary.

The very first thing I read in the dictionary was:
It is the ability to use your experience and knowledge in order to make sensible decisions or judgments.
So it is not such a mystery after all; is it?

Thank you David and Ipso for your input there, very incisive.

I believe wisdom is distinct from knowledge, although without knowledge you can not have Wisdom. Certainly not putting anyone down, Albert Einstein had great knowledge, King Solomon had great wisdom, both a function of their intelligence, but distinct in what they allowed each to achieve.

Wisdom allows one to work through the complexities of an abstract problem in life, by drawing on both knowledge and experience and with perception come to a meaningful and rational conclusion.

I give an example of wisdom in a story of King Solomon. Two women came to the king with an infant, both claimed to be the mother of that child, both want possession of the child. The king, without knowledge of who the real mother is declares that the infant should be cut in half, and each woman given a portion. One woman says, please your majesty do not do that, give the baby to that woman, With that the King gives the child to her, saying; only the real mother would give up her child because of love, rather than see it killed. That's wisdom.

A 15 year old can have more wisdom than a 65 year old i.e. like most of those in authority !
Age without sense is more destructive than sense without age !

Dear Paul,

The woman who was not willing to see the child cut in half might not have been the mother. She may have had compassion, and her compassion may have outweighed the desire to have a child.

There is a story about a rabbi who heard the complaints of an unhappy wife. He listened and said, “You’re right.” She was followed in by the husband. The rabbi heard the husband and said, “You’re right.” The rabbi’s wife had been listening outside the door and said, “How can she be right, and he be right?” The rabbi said, “You’re right, too.” Sometimes, you just don’t know

Wisdom is when the intellect controls the mind, overcomes its lower tendencies and makes the best use of one's knowledge.

Thus without knowledge, one could be stupid but one cannot even be a fool.

Not knowing that a share is about to collapse, is stupidity: knowing and still investing is foolishness.
Same with knowing that our bodies are mortal and our very lives will eventually be forgotten, but still investing in them and their memory.

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Dear Paul,

«King Solomon had great wisdom»

If he even existed, King Solomon is described in the Bible as a horrible tyrant who enslaved his people so he can build his spacious palace and the Jerusalem temple. Archaeology doesn't support this: if indeed he existed then he only built a modest palace and a modest temple in his small town which is now a tiny fraction of Jerusalem.

What most likely happened (if anything happened at all) when these two women came with the baby, is that Solomon lost patience and just ordered to kill the baby and what happened afterwards was unplanned.

It is also said that Solomon polished (not himself of course, his slaves!) his palace's marble floor like a mirror so he could see under the skirts of the ladies who came to visit him (legend says that it's not what we think, but rather in order to detect whether his visitors were human or Djinns because Djinn ladies have hairy legs...). You call that "wise" - I call that "cunning".

Solomon's father, David, presumably wrote: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" [Psalms 111:10]. That tyrant had no fear of God!

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Dear David F.,

«"Why" [life came about] is meaningless. It implies purpose. It implies a creator. It implies that we have a purpose in the mind of the creator....»

I cannot see why either is implied - can you?

«The "ultimate aim in life" I think is life destroying»

An ultimate aim does not preclude intermediate aims: even if there is an ultimate aim, who said that you are already sufficiently qualified to pursue it?

Dear Yuyutsu,

I was quoting Marie. She is dead. If you could reach her for comment on her words, I would love to hear about it.