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What do you think is the difference between foolish and naive?
Jeffrey
Veteran
When I think of behaviours like drinking to excess in college party central I find that foolish.
But when I think of social anxiety and misconceptions the misconceptions don't seem foolish they just seems that I hadn't learned a positive wisdom to handle myself.
So foolish is when I do something I should have known better. Of course it is in hindsight.
But naive is just under developed.
3
Comments
I generally think of being foolish as not approaching a situation intelligently, and being naive as simply a lack of wisdom... as far as "intelligence" and "wisdom" can be said to be different things (at least they are in D&D!).
Yes I love DnD too <-- super geek
To me, naive mostly means not knowing better, not having the information or experience to be able to make a better choice. Foolish (to me) means having the experience and information, and making the bad choice anyhow.
BUT I don't think it's up to the rest of us to judge if someone else is naive or foolish. I think I make that mistake a lot, or I used to. Hopefully not as much these days. Sometimes, even if we think the action is foolish, it's something the person still needs to go through on their path. We can only judge it for ourselves.
I usually reserve the word Foolish for nonsensical or unduly risky behavior.
While naivety can mean not knowing better, I have met many folks who's naivety seemed too deliberately willful to easily fit within that definition.
If one's brain is uniquely wired or has chemical imbalances that create comprehension difficulties of or behaviors outside of social norm's, then the word I usually think of is challenged.
All three words though hardly fit the endless possibilities that any one person represents.
Foolish, to me, is simply being unable to make intelligent choices for your life, choices that will make you happy or that are plain good for you.
Whether you have the knowledge or not, the result is the same. You may have a bevy of academic degrees to your credit or never been to school at all, but probably due to some inner feeling of void, or lack of self-esteem, you find yourself repeatedly involved in situations that make you suffer by your own choice.
You see it every day: people who have nothing and people who seemingly have it all (at least what society usually considers all the assets that should lead to happiness) and yet can't help themselves out of their addictions, out of bad relationships, out of their personal feeling of inner angst.
And people in both stages of society who, on the contrary, can make skillful choices about their life because they are contented with their own selves and with what they have. No matter what life brings their way, they'll always meet both affliction and happiness in a self-assured stance.
Naif/naive, seems to mean something different in French than in English. In French, a naif/naive person is someone who simply is gullible, innocent or credulous.
Foolish in a Buddhist context is acting naively and expecting wisdom.
Crazy wisdom is acting without expecting to be thought anything but naive by the foolish.
Isn't that right right Mr Cushion? I think he's busy supporting the natural bodhisattvas . . .
I think someones cushion is deluding themselves if they believe only 1 yard covers them!
@Jeffrey
Matthew 10:16
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Victor 21:11
Naive is what I choose to be
in this world of Foolish men
Cause evil is just made you see
by giving into them
Dont waste your time trying to be
winning by any means necessary
Naivity is the turning key
That makes us prevail in the end
(weeell not crystal I agree)
A person who is naive, lacks experience, and has a certain amount of innocence;
A foolish person has that experience, but not the wisdom to implement it.
I like what @how has said but it goes a little further. In the dervish tradition, the Sufis refer to themselves as Idiots or Fools. This is partly because worldly wisdom is not considered wise by some mystics.
The equivalent in Buddhism is the 'unbalanced' compassion of Bodhisattvas and the 'crazy' wisdom unfoldings of Zen and other systems working from an awakened perspective. I feel this is very different from rogue or unskilful behaviour masquerading or excused as 'crazy'. It depends on the capacity eventual results . . .
. . . and now back to the definitions . . .
Foolish is being irresponsible
Naieve is not knowing what the word means.
Foolish, naive and nirvana are all the same thing. I can't grasp the idea.
You have grasped at being foolish. It would be naive to think you are being humorous. The nirvana we can leave out of your grasping . . . maybe that's the idea . . . :wave: