Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Intelligence and Wisdom

A trip to a forest resort the last weekend set me thinking about the differences and intelligence and wisdom. Nothing obvious happened to cause this. Our host just mentioned that he dropped out of college to live in the wilderness which he has now done for 32 years with his family. For all that, he seemed to be a happy. That set the ball rolling. So let me set out what I think about these two characteristics.

Intelligence is the ability to learning skills that allow for solution of specific problems. It is the ability to apply abstract concepts to some tangible ends or to discover further new concepts (that could also be considered a tangible end, but those who think of philosophy as unproductive are likely to differ). Intelligence manifests itself in smartness and incisive analysis. But these are only how intelligence expresses itself.

At its essence, intelligence is an outward seeking force. Given an intellect and a limited amount of knowledge, it seeks to push the boundaries of our understanding by adding new concepts and generalizations. It is the origin of rationality and of science. It causes progress (in the usual, materialistic of the word at least) – the evolution from monkey to man and from poor man to rich man. There is no point in asking Intelligence to stop. It is an ambitious force, and its march is relentless. It is its own fuel.  Its own fruits feed it to become ever greater. In a way, it is the yang that drives the world.


Wisdom is the ability to make the best, but not necessarily the most efficient choice, in a situation. It is not intuition (which is, IMO, another word for internalizing something so deeply that it comes without conscious thought – martial arts uses it, so does guitar playing), but rather an ability to judge the importance of things. It expresses itself in patience, far-sightedness, and restraint. Not that these qualities are deprived to intelligence, but wisdom is the true master of them. But these again are expressions.

On the other hand, Wisdom is an inward seeking force (Not in any mystical way, though). It tries to contract our world, reduce it to its basics. Intelligence wants the world and what lies beyond, but wisdom makes its business the setting of priorities. It allows us to stay focused on the things that truly matters to us. It is born of temperance does not invest its energy in exuberant causes. Neither is it bothered by trivial detail. Its nature is to be still. It is the yin of the world, stability incarnate.




Though either or both may be had in various degrees, it would not be correct, I think, to choose one over the other. We need one to control the other, one to move ahead and the other to restrain a headlong rush into madness. An intelligence tempered by wisdom or a wisdom powered by an intellect are formidable forces indeed.

Balance.

2 comments:

  1. I want my 5 minutes back! No mention of Star Wars at all, but still a great post!

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  2. :)
    It's like the ad that goes:

    "
    SEX!!!!

    Now that we have your attention, we exhort you to pay your taxes on time."

    A follow up post will discuss Master Yoda's teachings (Soon I hope).

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