Apparently John Wayne said:
Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid.
My first reaction was not true - the reverse is the case.
But on reflection? Unintelligent people do not necessarily worry less because they do not know all the things there are to worry about. Life should be least hard for people who have what a friend of mine (who has one) calls a leader's IQ - high, but not too high. Tony Blair's not Wittgenstein's. On the other hand my friend's life is pretty hard. He is a true leader but has no-one to lead.
The 'signature' on my emails, taken from the strip cartoon Calvin and Hobbs, says:
People think it must be fun to be a super genius but they don't realise how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world.It may reveal too much about me.
I remember that a wise man I knew once told me there were three kinds of people you can't touch: very intelligent people; rich people; and people with a religious faith. Yes and no. It is easier to manipulate intelligent people than less intelligent ones and it is certainly possible to manipulate religious people and fools with money.
How do you view intelligence, do you think it has a relationship to depth of feeling? Can we use intelligence to make life easier? I think intelligent people, those with active, agile minds, are more adept at devising ways to mentally torture themselves. Or is intelligence the ability to be at peace with ourselves?
ReplyDeleteI've always favored the Charles Bukowski quote on this: "The problem with this world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts while the stupid people are full of confidence." Enjoyed your blog.
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