Questioning and Acceptance
One’s first step in wisdom is to question everything – and one’s last is to come to terms with everything. – George C. Lichtenberg
These are not steps, in the traditional sense, to be taken in sequence.
Ideally one takes both steps simultaneously, throughout their lives.
I don’t mean to say you question “everything” in the sense you see yourself in a scary world you can’t trust, only that you continue to examine and test what’s in your world – your “everything.”
And coming to terms with everything is not acquiescence to that which is confusing, frustrating or challenging. It’s accepting things just are. Nothing has meaning until you give it meaning. That’s really coming to terms with “things.”
And, for the curious, life-long learner – the wise person – neither ends.