My sapient father-in-law helped me get started in my career as a pastor some 40 years ago. I arrived in small town Manitoba with no knowledge of the Prairies nor the farming industry. Like most young pastors, I was energetic and optimistic about leading my new congregation to great things. I had a few ideas and plans to energize the church. However, the daily grind of writing a sermon each week, visiting the sick and dying, and getting to know the membership socially drove me back to the basics of ministry. It was Archie that taught me about farming on the Prairies, how to hold the hand of a widow whose husband was accidentally shot on a hunting excursion, and taking time to develop my recreational activities, but always being available when called upon to fulfill my pastoral duties to the congregation and community. This wise sage died earlier this month. But he shaped the man and pastor I would become.
Sapient means wise, sage, discerning. The word derives from the Latin sapientem meaning sensible, shrewd, knowing, and discrete. Like the Greek sophos it has a sense of a person well acquainted with the true value of things. It appeared in English in the late 1400s with the sense of possessing or expressing great sagacity. A sapient person has acquired keen and farsighted judgment based on wide experience and wisdom.
We human beings certainly like to think we are sapient. It is a fact reflected in the scientific name we’ve given our species, Homo sapiens. The Biblical creation accounts link our wisdom with being created in the image of God, the truly wise all-knowing One. The divine directive is to care and tend the earth, and all that is in it, with sound judgment and loving care, thus representing the Creator on earth. Modern history certainly shows how that mandate has turned out. Sapient humanity has failed to fulfill the divine mission because our wisdom has been corrupted and scarred. Yet remnants of the creation still reveal themselves in wise people and sage actions.
It is our sapient intelligence that we tend to use as a yardstick for measuring the intellect of other species. The main markers of sapient intelligence are the abilities to learn from experience, use knowledge to manipulate surroundings, adapt to new situations, and understand and handle abstract concepts. These markers represent a vast array of skills and abilities, such as the capacity to learn, remember, memorize, reason, perceive, and solve problems. What a world it could be if we humans were truly sapient, as intended.
Other species around us have some qualities of sapient wisdom, but none put it all into one package as people possess, even though we do it imperfectly.
Apart from humans, dolphins are well known to be one of the most sapient creatures on the planet. They are highly capable of both learning and mimicry. Dolphins have been known to use mud to create traps for fish and collect sponges to use as protection as they search for food among coral. Researchers found that during a construction project taking place in their waters, one pod of dolphins adapted by shifting their hunting locations. They also adjusted the time they entered the construction zone as to avoid the hours the construction work was taking place.
Even better than human toddlers, ravens have demonstrated their ability to handle abstract concepts and to plan projects. In one experiment, these birds made the calculations to choose a key from an array of objects that 17 hours later was used to open a box with a favourite treat. The sapient ravens chose the key 90 percent of the time.
Researchers have recognized the sapient ability of chimpanzees to think in abstract ways. Numerous studies have demonstrated that they can recognize themselves in mirrors, further supporting their ability to wrestle with abstract concepts.
Even a cursory exploration into octopuses around the world reveals several instances of them escaping handlers and causing mischief in aquariums around the world. Their sapient skills are less surprising when you consider that they have a larger brain-to-body ration than any other known invertebrate species.
And yes, despite our penchant for idiocy, as my father-in-law demonstrated, there are still some truly sapient human beings among us.
John would like to know if anyone has a sincere interest in a relevant word that he could possibly research for an upcoming column. If so, please send your requests to wordwisdom2021@gmail.com . Words will be selected according to relevance and research criteria. We cannot confirm that all words will be used.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
