About Intelligence…

Everybody seems so intelligent to me. Everybody has such a unique knowledge of themselves and the world around them. All have learned from their lives and the things they have seen and heard and felt. And the things Professor Know-Nothing has seen and heard and felt is different from the things the genius ice dream man has seen and heard and felt. Some know what a sun pillar is: a big pillar of red sunlight between the black, black morning trees. Some know what a sundog is: a spot next to the sun, a mock sun, or a dog in the sun. Some know how to find the sun along cedar garden paths, and under strong rustic bamboo benches, or even just behind the wall paper. They never mock the ubiquitousness of the sun. It is their soul pillar. The silver tabby stretching out on the front step has seen the sun twitching between the leaves of the breezy trees. He knows what the sun looks like. The baby girl smearing ice cream all over her face has heard the sun in her mouth. She knows what the sun sounds like. She licks it and it crunches. It is cold. From their park benches, the mentally ill and homeless have felt the sun on their sleeping backs. They know what the sun feels like. They each know something different about the sun based on their own experiences with it.

Just because a mosquito knows the path of the sun and the footprints in the snow do not doesn't mean the mosquito knows the sun and the footprints in the snow do not. The differences in themselves and in their lives revealed the sun to them in different ways. One studies math. One studies science. One studies the sun. Each has a unique knowledge to offer the world. And just because the mathematician knows his numbers and the scientist does not, this does not mean that the mathematician is smarter than the scientist. And just because the scientist knows his nature of things and the mathematician does not, this does not mean the mathematician is stupid. And he who searches for the sun may know little of numbers and the nature of things but boy does he care about the wisdom of his spirit. Now the neon pizza sign glowing green in the black night , it has never seen the sun, but it has seen the perpetual clock of the friendly moon taking control of time and suspending night, dismissing day. Even it has its own unique knowledge and intelligence to share.

I always find myself more impressed by the things I don't know than the things I do, or the things I think others know. The things I do know I just take it for granted that I know them. But the things I don't know get me every time because I take it for granted that I know them, too. And soon enough I realize that I do not. You think you know what to do when the storm comes and the world around you crumbles. But when the storm passes you realize you truly did not. Everyday mistakes and moral error ensue. Out of all humility one cannot allow herself to criticize the moral errors of those who acknowledge their moral errors. Out of all integrity one cannot allow herself to criticize the everyday mistakes of others as she makes them too. And a moral error is subjective for what seems wrong to me may seem right to another. Everyone who believes what you believe is right. Everyone who doesn't believe what you believe is wrong. God woman thinks God man is smart because he believes what she believes. Devil man thinks devil woman is smart because she believes what he believes. Cat woman thinks cat men are smart because they adhere to what cats adhere to. So therefore intelligence is measured by how many people agree with you. And if you can argue you can make King Contrary agree with you. But can you make city cats falling out of apartment high rises believe in happy endings? Sure you can, if they land on their feet. So no matter how difficult life is - having no friends as a child, hating yourself as a teenager, having nothing but something else to do as an adult - life is also the granddaughter of fate, the gateway to learning, a garden of lilacs as long as you can land on your feet. Then it is rocks, hard as rocks for those who view hard times as hard times.

"But I can't argue," says the passive. It's not because he's not smart enough to hold up an argument; it's because he's too sensitive and will let people out-anger him. Anger has a louder voice than compassionate emotion or raw reason. Anger appears to always win the argument whether it is wrong or wrong. Simply because it's got a big mouth and can talk its way out of it. Happy endings are just a naked slave to to the sad beginnings that rain on them. Without sad beginnings happy endings could never shine on them. And the burden of noise and the deaf of quiet amid the everyday in-betweens leaves the spirit of every day looking for a purpose, a reason, a want to be alive. So when the bad mood snows and the bad attitude hails and the bad feelings storm just build a snowman. A snowman of patience and inspiration and inner freedom. Turn a bad experience into something happy. In times of mind war begin soul play. That is truly intelligent.

Elaine 07