INTELLIGENCE DELUSION
Written by
Brij Sachdeva
If a child is good at studies and secures a meritorious position, we say the child is very intelligent. But if a child is not good at studies, he may be good at something else but we call him unintelligent. He may be good at poetry. He may be good at talking. He may be good at mischief. Do you think that being mischievous does not require any intelligence?
Actually, we value things according to their social utility.
You secure a good job and you think you are intelligent. You talk very beautifully and you think you are intelligent. You are verbally articulate and you become a great leader. You become an entrepreneur and you run companies very well. You handle difficult situations with such an ease that everyone thinks you are intelligent. You are successful and you think you are intelligent.
In this society, to be successful you don't need any intelligence. You just need a certain level of strength of mind, confidence and ignorance. If you have these things, success is sure. And then starts a magic called 'vicious circle', also called 'vicious cycle'. A vicious cycle of positivity (a virtuous cycle) is created.
A vicious circle is a phenomenon in which A leads to B and B, in turn leads to A. Your strength of mind leads to success and your success, in turn, leads to more strength of mind. The more the strength of mind, the more the success; the more the success, the more the strength of mind. Now, the success takes charge and the success itself starts succeeding. You might have heard the proverb 'NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE SUCCESS.' It is not the man or his intelligence that succeeds. Man or his intelligence succeeds only once in a while. Mostly it is the success that succeeds again and again. And the same is true about the failure. 'NOTHING FAILS LIKE FAILURE.' It is not the man or his intelligence that fails. Man fails only once in a while. Mostly it is the failure that fails again and again.
What really do we mean when we say that someone is intelligent? Do we mean that others are not? We certainly don't mean that he is the only intelligent person on this earth. Of course, we mean that the person is comparatively more intelligent than others.
In this society, to be successful you don't need any intelligence. You just need a certain level of strength of mind, confidence and ignorance. If you have these things, success is sure. And then starts a magic called 'vicious circle', also called 'vicious cycle'. A vicious cycle of positivity (a virtuous cycle) is created.
A vicious circle is a phenomenon in which A leads to B and B, in turn leads to A. Your strength of mind leads to success and your success, in turn, leads to more strength of mind. The more the strength of mind, the more the success; the more the success, the more the strength of mind. Now, the success takes charge and the success itself starts succeeding. You might have heard the proverb 'NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE SUCCESS.' It is not the man or his intelligence that succeeds. Man or his intelligence succeeds only once in a while. Mostly it is the success that succeeds again and again. And the same is true about the failure. 'NOTHING FAILS LIKE FAILURE.' It is not the man or his intelligence that fails. Man fails only once in a while. Mostly it is the failure that fails again and again.
What really do we mean when we say that someone is intelligent? Do we mean that others are not? We certainly don't mean that he is the only intelligent person on this earth. Of course, we mean that the person is comparatively more intelligent than others.
When we say that one person is more intelligent than others, it is like comparing two icebergs by looking at their visible tips. You can go on comparing the tips of icebergs and judging their visible part. But the invisible part of an iceberg is so vast and significant that it can break apart huge ships in no time. Titanic, the largest ship ever, at the time of its entering into service, collided with an iceberg and was damaged so severely that it sank into the deep ocean along with 1500 people.
The intelligence of a person is like the visible tip of an iceberg. We can notice only the socially active utilitarian part of one's intelligence. If your intelligence is working more because of the richness of your totality or due to some other supportive environmental factors, it need not necessarily mean that you are more intelligent than others.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS INTELLIGENT, UNINTELLIGENT, LESS INTELLIGENT OR MORE INTELLIGENT. EVEN IF THERE IS, EVEN SCIENCE HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO JUDGE.
You may appear very intelligent because people value you. People never value others only because of their being intelligent. Intelligence, in fact, is the lowest value in our society. Money, confidence and ignorance are the higher values, in fact.
The intelligence of a person is like the visible tip of an iceberg. We can notice only the socially active utilitarian part of one's intelligence. If your intelligence is working more because of the richness of your totality or due to some other supportive environmental factors, it need not necessarily mean that you are more intelligent than others.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS INTELLIGENT, UNINTELLIGENT, LESS INTELLIGENT OR MORE INTELLIGENT. EVEN IF THERE IS, EVEN SCIENCE HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO JUDGE.
You may appear very intelligent because people value you. People never value others only because of their being intelligent. Intelligence, in fact, is the lowest value in our society. Money, confidence and ignorance are the higher values, in fact.
-Brij Sachdeva
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Brij Sachdeva