Godless Mom in the Bible Belt

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Intelligence, Blessing or Burden?

"The world is made for those who are not cursed with self awareness."

Annie Savoy said that. Actually, Susan Sarandon said it when she played Annie Savoy in Bull Durham. But, fictional character or not, there is truth to the sentiment.

Some of the most intelligent people I've ever known have also been the most tortured souls. There was Harold, my high school friend who seemed to pick apart and analyze the details of even the most complex problems with absolute ease. He also had a well established drug addiction by the age of 16. Owen, who memorized the world atlas by the age of 10 and taught himself to speak Japanese. He has wandered the world, seemingly without purpose, gradually pulling away from friends and family. Then, there was Laura, a mathematical genius who adopted the Amish way of life even though she didn't personally know any Amish people. She took her own life at the age of 22.

At the opposite end of the scale are the people who go through life blissfully unaware of their own mediocrity. I worked with a doctor in Phoenix who was about as deep as the water hazard on a miniature golf course. I don't think she ever gave any thought to anything more complex than whether she could wear the pink shirt with the black pants. Her favorite singer was Madonna, her favorite sports team was the Phoenix Suns, her favorite food was pizza and her favorite dog breed was the cocker spaniel. She was the embodiment of the flavor vanilla and an extremely successful human being. She had a full social life, a satisfying love life,a fulfilling career and a healthy opinion about her own self worth. She was the most boring person I have ever known. At times I truly envied her.

Is the world made for those who are not cursed with self awareness? Are those who think more deeply also cursed with feeling more deeply? It seems to me that with the ability to see the complexity of a situation also comes the ability to see the hopelessness in any attempt to correct a massive injustice. Perhaps we have hit a dead end where intelligence is concerned. To a certain point it can be an advantage but there is a very thin line between advantage and burden.
posted by GodlessMom, 7:31 PM

15 Comments:

Blogger Tom & Icy said:

Duh?
Posted at 10:19 PM  

Blogger The Lazy Iguana said:

I have noticed the same thing. I have also noticed that I tend to drink more than most of my friends. I would probably be an alcoholic, but I have to go to this plac called work. And I am too lazy to go buy more beer.
Posted at 11:07 PM  

Blogger dAAve said:

I acknowledge your points on the people you mention.

As a recovering alcohholic (almost 2 years) I was blissfully unaware of my own problems and the problems I caused others. I stayed too drunk to notice.

Today, I have an awareness of myself and my defects of character. Today I have an awareness of the feelings of others; this is new to me.

I think you may be getting self-awareness mixed up with intelligence. They are vastly different entities. As is ignorance. A person may have an IQ of 150, but be ignorant of many things whether book-smarts or spirituality.

Deep subject. Good post.
Posted at 8:46 AM  

Blogger Fred said:

I'm trying to think of something intelligent to write. Nothing yet.

It certainly has me thinking, though.
Posted at 10:05 AM  

Blogger Saur♥Kraut said:

HOW TRUE. How absolutely true. My son has an IQ which is higher than Einstein's, and both his father and I have very high IQs (as does everyone in both families). It is said that there is a fine line between genius and madness and I believe it. I've seen it.

I'm scared for my son, who is showing as much angst as I have over various issues. He is a soul who is not content with easy answers and over-analyzes at times. I try to help him moderate it. I hope I'll be successful. His father's sister went over the edge some time ago and is truly certifiably insane. His father's father had a nervous breakdown. Happily, no one on my family is mentally ill...yet. ;o)
Posted at 12:11 PM  

Blogger Lila said:

That's a great quotation, thanks for reminding me!

I think there's a lot of truth in it. And since I'm on Prozac, I must be smart enough to know. (Ha ha, just kidding -- except I really am on Prozac.)

All humans are cursed with too much self-awareness, in a way. I agree, to some extent, with Nietzsche when he called humans "the sick animal".

On the other hand, this curse/sickness is also the potential source of the most sublime heights of individual existence.

I think.
Posted at 2:54 PM  

Blogger grooveadam said:

Thank you.
Posted at 3:33 PM  

Blogger nigel paddell said:

At least in America, intelligence is mixed up with rudeness. If you let on that some people might know less than you, you may hurt some feelings.
Conspicuous intelligence is often mistaken for a lack of humility.
As a stepper, I have to agree with Higher Powered, self awareness is a real problem for me.
Dogs are happy because they have dog-sized minds. Simple people are happy because they have dog-sized minds. Smart people have so much more to consider and sometimes miss the fun of chasing after the shiny bouncy ball.
Posted at 3:56 PM  

Blogger Aerodynamicist said:

In my experience, intellegence is considered a social defect. In elementary school, I was "the smart girl" and very few kids would even talk to me; at least, not until it was time to assign group projects. It was an environment where adults told you you were a great student but peers made you feel that you existed to be exploited. I still have a lot of self-esteem issues tied to it, though I'm in college now, in a major full of those "smart kids." Children simply aren't being taught to think anymore; comparing my primary school curriculum to my sister's (she's 6 years younger than me) it's insane how much stuff has been eliminated because it's a little harder to understand and we don't want to make kids feel bad because they don't get it. This then leads to the kids who are exposed to more challenging ideas feeling guilty for being able to understand things, because our society, although full of competition, considers mental competition to be inconsiderate and rude. You can flaunt the fact that you won the basketball game, but Heaven forbid you imply you know more than someone else. That's my experience, anyway.
Posted at 4:10 PM  

Blogger TLP said:

Socrates: The unexamined life is not worth living...
Posted at 8:02 PM  

Blogger United We Lay said:

It's a difficult question. I think intelligence is a burden in some ways. Intelligent people tend to see the world in a different way fom others, and for that they are pushed aside from the rest of society. I think, though, the worst part is being intelligent enough to know you're screwed, but not intelligent enough to be able to do anything about it.
Posted at 8:45 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Intelligence and madness are linked. Look at the Autistic Savants.
Posted at 7:01 AM  

Blogger Zeppellina said:

I have known a lot of highly intelligent artists in past years, who were just too close to the edge.
Some, unfortunately, toppled over.
There is a fine line between genius and madness.
But high intelligence doesn`t guarantee common sense, and sometimes others can see the edge on the horizon, but the person concerned can`t.
It`s so tragic.
Very thoughtful post, godlessmom.
Posted at 1:33 PM  

Blogger RHIANNON said:

thank you for your incredibly insightful post. i found you through my friend "grooveadam" - i've bookmarked your blog - if only i could be so articulate.
Posted at 1:51 PM  

Blogger Urban Chick said:

hi GLM!!

"blissfully unaware of their own mediocrity" - i love it! true, too!

tortured souls are more fun, anyways

my bottom line is i cannot stick people who cannot think for themselves

UC x
Posted at 2:43 AM  

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