Intellect: A tool or the center of being?
I’m on day two of a twelve day contemplation/meditation explained in yesterday’s post. I’m writing daily, for twelve days, about twelve qualities of humanness, and twelve gifts we can give ourselves as we prepare for a wonderful new year.
Day TWO: The Quality of Intellect; the Gift of Transformation.
Yesterday, I mused about Intuition, and it’s under-appreciated place in our lives. Today’s topic, the Intellect, is perhaps OVER-appreciated. Many feel (and some scientists believe they have proved) that intellect is what “sets us apart from the animals.”
First of all, I’m not at all sure we are “apart” from animals in any real sense. We do process information differently from most of them, but that doesn’t, in my opinion make us “better” or “more evolved” or on a “higher plane” than they are. All creatures possess consciousness, and many animals have much better and refined senses than many of us humanoids.
What intellect does give us, combined with intuition, is the power of imagination. With imagination we can literally transform our world! It is a great blessing to be fairly intelligent. 🙂 Anything we can imagine, we can literally dream into being, and once we’ve done so, can communicate the knowledge to others. This is the purpose of intellect, I think: to create, and experiment, and bring ideas into being.
Sometimes we humans get carried away with how smart we are, and use our rational ability for very irrational things: power over others; control over the planet; and a sense of entitlement to resources. I take a few minutes today to savour the gift of transformation that the intellect allows. I plan and hope that I always use it to bring benefit to our earthly existence.
I wish you the joy of transformation today.
MusEditions 
I did an IQ test and that came out at, round about 84. That made me a “retard”. Some keep insisting that I do another IQ test, I tell them that I will, I do, and still score low. So I must be an idiot – which is very cool with me.
I have yet to take a Common-sense quotient test, that, I feel, would be a more enlightening result.
😀
The Cynic
December 23, 2009
Well, you are certainly proof that IQ tests don’t measure ALL kinds of thinking, Will!!! “Emotional intelligence” aside, there are ways of knowing beyond empirical comprehension—in my opinion. C-sQ test? You have THAT in abundance. 🙂
museditions
December 25, 2009
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