Very Smart & Very Stupid Too

Ask questions related to your individual process or life in the experience of yourself and mind - pertaining to thoughts, emotions, feelings, behaviours, habits etc. This thread is dedicated to those who'd like to understand more about the inner-workings of your own mind and then effects of this on your life and relationships.
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Arizona
Posts: 55
Joined: 03 Oct 2016, 14:36

Very Smart & Very Stupid Too

Post by Arizona »

This point has been coming up often for me. The point of having such great intelligence yet also being capable and having a history of extreme stupidity. Its annoying! , and has made me question my intelligence time and time again. I dropped out of school very early and i'm forgiving myself for that after seeing the school system I went to being ranked worst in the country. (I think the schools here have improved since then..)

Anyways, I taught myself practically everything I know, from writing to reading, to history, to stuff my parents should've taught me, all via my interaction with the internet. It was a bit rough but it came slow over time. I still have the habit of typing sentences in a reversed sort of manner where I type what should be at the end of a sentence, or group of words, first instead.

Recently I've realized that real intelligence mostly comes from the point of innocence, you can see this a lot in shows, and movies that play on this theme. Just one small example of this is Neo from The Matrix being called "not too bright" from The Oracle.

I suppose the crux is that innocence must also interact and express to be able to walk through the situations, and the side effect of this is enacting "positive change" in everything around it. With the world the way it is, this takes real guts to do and i'm not surprised so few can make it out unscathed.
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YoganBarrientos
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Re: Very Smart & Very Stupid Too

Post by YoganBarrientos »

Hi Arizona. So you do open different topics of discussion. Though I am going to focus just on the last point, which is something I can relate to and can share on.

"I suppose the crux is that innocence must also interact and express to be able to walk through the situations, and the side effect of this is enacting "positive change" in everything around it. With the world the way it is, this takes real guts to do and i'm not surprised so few can make it out unscathed."

Here it is important what your definition of innocence used in this moment. For me the definition that is most supportive for all life is the one that refers to our capability to be honest with each other, humble, caring, giving, sharing, willingness to question everything, being curious about everything, willing to learn anything, not having any fear, doubt or resistance etc...

While walking my process I have attempted living such points of innocence. I found that it wasn't enough to attempt to live such innocence with others, because I would react to others. So the solution I found was sorting out my reactions, so they don't interfere with my expression, or become my expression.

This is just my experience I am sharing, and so this is what I found.
Thanks
Arizona
Posts: 55
Joined: 03 Oct 2016, 14:36

Re: Very Smart & Very Stupid Too

Post by Arizona »

YoganBarrientos wrote:Hi Arizona. So you do open different topics of discussion. Though I am going to focus just on the last point, which is something I can relate to and can share on.

"I suppose the crux is that innocence must also interact and express to be able to walk through the situations, and the side effect of this is enacting "positive change" in everything around it. With the world the way it is, this takes real guts to do and i'm not surprised so few can make it out unscathed."

Here it is important what your definition of innocence used in this moment. For me the definition that is most supportive for all life is the one that refers to our capability to be honest with each other, humble, caring, giving, sharing, willingness to question everything, being curious about everything, willing to learn anything, not having any fear, doubt or resistance etc...

While walking my process I have attempted living such points of innocence. I found that it wasn't enough to attempt to live such innocence with others, because I would react to others. So the solution I found was sorting out my reactions, so they don't interfere with my expression, or become my expression.

This is just my experience I am sharing, and so this is what I found.
Thanks
Exactly, that's what I couldn't put into words. I'd like to call it something like maturity, but the way the word "mature" has been thrown around so much it's hard to place that word onto this. I was afraid my post was too much philosophy, because I tried to "sum it up". This response however, "nailed it". Thanks for sharing this.
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Leila
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Re: Very Smart & Very Stupid Too

Post by Leila »

Hey Arizona,

I suppose it depends on your definition of 'intelligence' and 'stupidity'.
Retaining knowledge and information is one thing - where one can 'knows' a lot of stuff, which is often seen as intelligence. And then there's the ability to absorb information, being able to apply it, seeing the relationships between everything you know and being able to create and move forward from that -- which is more of a 'creativity' which I find more important than intelligence.

As a person wanting to learn, grow and expanding - holding themselves as a creative process -- you will make mistakes, you will go through falls, and you learn as you go along. What defines a person there is not the mistake they make but what they do with it after it's happened.
You can't expand without making mistakes, you're not 'perfect' - that is why we are in a process of self-expansion, because we KNOW we don't have all the answers yet. Mis-takes are part of the process. If you're not making any mistakes, can guarantee you're staying in your comfort zone ;-)
Marlen
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Re: Very Smart & Very Stupid Too

Post by Marlen »

I agree with Leila completely and I had not looked at it with those words - intelligence and creation - but I'll take that approach as well which implies a common saying you'll read around here which is 'knowledge without application is useless' and many more from Bernard Poolman you can read here https://bernardpoolmanquotes.wordpress. ... knowledge/

In my case, I can definitely stand as a person that has previously 'admired' the kind of intellect/mind capacity to reason things and be very 'bright' if you will in terms of 'seeing' or 'reasoning' common sense even, like for example within reading/listening to all the material in Desteni and Eqafe, one can understand it to the T and create a clarity of it, but! if it's not lived and applied from the moment you get to understand it -stand underneath it as in integrating it - and live it, it becomes utterly useless, and that's a fact which will be demonstrated as the reality that you create or accept and allow for yourself.

There's no better way to 'prove' this but reality itself which is great, because if we dare to notice/realize this and stand up from it, then it will be a directive decision, one where we decide to change the course of our actions based on seeing that we are living out, and I also take Leila's point here which is a great, great reminder at all times:
Leila wrote:As a person wanting to learn, grow and expanding - holding themselves as a creative process -- you will make mistakes, you will go through falls, and you learn as you go along. What defines a person there is not the mistake they make but what they do with it after it's happened.
You can't expand without making mistakes, you're not 'perfect' - that is why we are in a process of self-expansion, because we KNOW we don't have all the answers yet. Mis-takes are part of the process. If you're not making any mistakes, can guarantee you're staying in your comfort zone ;-)
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viktor
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Re: Very Smart & Very Stupid Too

Post by viktor »

I would suggest that you redefine intelligence for yourself. What would it mean to live intelligence in a way that is supportive for everyone? For example, as Leila pointed out, knowing a lot of things is many times seen as intelligent, however, those very same 'intelligent' people are the same that follows orders blindly and make up the bulge of corporations and companies that seek profit above else and that depend on a loyal labor force with a high 'intelligence' to be able to compete. However, that is not intelligent in the sense that, it is not common sense to simply trust our superiors and follow orders,it is not beneficial for everyone.

Thus, a new way of seeing and understanding intelligence would be interesting and supportive. We really need to move forward from how we have used to see intelligence in the past, because that is more the ability to recite information.
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