On The Nature Of Intelligence

[Guest guest]

ON THE NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE

Can We Become Smarter?

 

-- Samach-Vav Part 23 --

 

We are now in a special 49-day period, recreating the journey of the Jewish

people 3319 year ago, as they left Egypt on their way to Sinai. At Sinai – the

greatest event in history – we received the Torah: A blueprint for life, which

manifests the Divine wisdom and will, teaching us how to broaden our horizons

and unite our lives with the immortal.

 

Accordingly, the Samach-Vav discourses delivered a century ago, address how the

in depth study of Torah expands our minds and connects us with the deepest

levels of the Divine.

 

In the coming weeks, as we prepare to relive Sinai on the holiday of Shavuot

(three weeks from now), this column will focus on the nature of intelligence,

the nature of the human experience as a whole, and how we can expand its

boundaries. This week’s column is the first of a two-part series.

 

*

 

What is the secret to intelligence? Is it smart genes, hard work, experience,

literacy, maturity or something else?

 

Wisdom is obviously shaped by many factors. It’s not enough, for instance, to be

born with a good mind if the mind is not used. Laziness can undermine the

benefits of brain power. A weaker mind that exerts itself can surpass a languid

brilliant mind.

 

A mind must also be cultivated and nourished through education and scholarship;

sharpened through challenges. Finally, experience is the ultimate teacher.

 

But what is the true nature of intelligence? How much is hereditary and how much

is acquired? How exactly does education and experience affect the mind? And

above all: Is there a way to become more intelligent? Can wisdom be nurtured?

Study and scholarship broaden your knowledge base quantitatively. But is there a

way to qualitatively enhance brain power, to sharpen your mind and think

differently, to open the minds creative channels?

 

In discussing the nature of intelligence we also must define what " smart " means.

" Book smart " is not the same thing as " street smart. " We find geniuses with the

highest IQ’s but no common sense. Conversely, some people are very intuitive and

have, what author Daniel Goleman has coined, " emotional intelligence, " though

they may be academically challenged. Intelligence, some argue, is also related

to language. A great mind will be compromised without adequate tools to express

itself. Some people may be highly intelligent, yet due to shyness or even a

handicap their abilities can be severely limited.

 

Our discussion today concerns balanced intelligence. Not extreme in one way or

another, but a synthesis of knowledge, methodology and common sense. The overall

wise man or woman, who has a good mix of all the features of intelligence:

Information, intuition, brainpower and practicality.

 

Is there anything we can do to become more intelligent? Not more knowledgeable,

which comes from reading and scholarship, but the intelligence how to use your

knowledge in productive ways?

 

To answer the question requires a review of how the mind works. Where do ideas

come from? You’re standing in the shower or strolling down the street, and

suddenly ideas pop into your mind. Where do they originate from?

 

Try to trace an idea to its source. You’ll come to a dead end. You can never

remember the moment before you became conscious of the idea. Why? Because memory

can only recall conscious thoughts, not the unconscious state that precedes it.

 

No wonder ideas are compared to flashing light bulbs. Seemingly out of nowhere a

new idea flashes into your mind like a light bulb bursting on when you hit the

switch.

 

So where do new ideas come from? What creates these flashes?

 

Kabbalah maps out the mind in the following fashion: The conscious mind, which

consists of three stages: first an idea (chochma), then its development (binah),

finally its conclusion (daat), originates from an unconscious state of hidden

wisdom. This hidden state – the collective unconscious – is like a reservoir of

water, a quantum-like state which contains the potential, and has the power to

generate, an infinite amount of wisdom.

 

The cognitive process, thus, works likes this: The unconscious mind releases,

drop by drop, ideas into the conscious mind. An idea therefore feels like a

flash – a spark being released from a larger flame. Our conscious mind feels as

if the idea came from nowhere – from " thin air. " In truth, it is being released

from a body of unconscious wisdom that contains the potential for infinite

ideas, which allows us mere drops from its wide ocean.

 

In between the unconscious " reservoir " and the " conscious " thoughts a

" valve-like " force – a type of filter – regulates the flow from the unlimited

source to the limited containers. Should the " faucet " break down and stop

controlling the flow of thoughts from the unconscious to the conscious, the

conscious mind would become flooded to the point of causing madness. Which

explains the thin line between madness and genius: Genius is a " valve " open to

capacity, allowing in a steady flow of imagination, bordering on the edge of

being flooded. Should the flow intensify just a bit more, the mind would go mad,

overwhelmed by the deluge of ideas as they come pouring into the conscious mind

without a chance to be absorbed and compartmentalized.

 

According to this theory of consciousness, the entire concept of human awareness

is turned on its head: Ostensibly one would argue that madness is being out of

touch with reality, while sober consciousness is being in touch. The truth,

however, is the other way around: Not only is sanity a limited state of

awareness, it actually is a form of blindness. Should we be completely aware of

the truths of the collective unconscious we would be unable to contain them. The

only way for us to remain intact is through limiting and filtering the flow,

allowing us to experience only a drop at a time, like raindrops that fall slowly

so that they can be absorbed by the earth, instead of flooding it. Insanity, in

a fascinating ironic twist, is actually closer to reality than sanity.

 

Yet, for us to survive and function " normally " in our defined and narrow world,

the essential truth must be suppressed and filtered; our perception must be

limited, our vision myopic, lest the pure awareness overload our circuits.

 

William Blake, who was deeply influenced by the Bible and mysticism, described

it well: " If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to

man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things

through narrow chinks of his cavern. "

 

However, our perception is not locked in an airtight chamber. We have many

reminders that offer us a glimpse into a higher state of being. There are doors

and channels that connect us with the hidden unconscious.

 

Intelligence – and for that matter, the entire human journey – is about

recognizing our limited perception and reaching, yearning for transcendence, to

expand our horizons, see beyond and experience the infinite.

 

Intelligence is not merely the ability to understand that which is obvious –

that does not require any special level of wisdom. Rather, intelligence is

defined by its capacity to recognize and perceive that which is invisible to the

naked eye, to go beyond the doors of perception and access the inner states of

reality, to expand and broaden the channels ( " valve " ) that connect the

unconscious and the conscious.

 

Someone born with natural intelligence has broad containers and an " open

faucet, " that allows in an ample flow of ideas and creativity. (Obviously, there

are many variations of intelligence; a wide array of " smarts " ). But, even a

great mind, deprived of effort and nourishment, will stagnate and atrophy. A

mind must be fed – with knowledge, education and inspiration. A mind must be

exercised – challenged, pushed and cajoled.

 

So how do we open or expand these channels? How can we reach deeper into the

subterranean caverns of the unconscious and draw its power into our

consciousness?

 

The most obvious way, most of us would reply, is through education and

scholarship. By acquiring knowledge, through reading, listening, probing, we

expand our minds and broaden our horizons.

 

But upon further thought is this really true? Acquiring new information, even

profound and radical ideas, only expands our minds quantitatively. Our

consciousness has not shifted to another dimension of understanding. We begin

our lives with a very limited scope; as we integrate more information, our

perspectives broaden. Qualitatively, however, nothing has necessarily really

changed. Our perception may still be just as limited, albeit wider but not

deeper.

 

What allows some people to actually " think out of the box " and discover a

qualitative paradigm shift – new dimensions of experience? How do we become

lateral thinkers instead of vertical ones? Solving a problem requires stepping

outside of the problem, as Einstein said, " You can never solve a problem on the

level on which it was created " (or " the significant problems we face cannot be

solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them " ). But how

do we step outside of the problem, when we (and our existence) are so much part

of it?

 

How do we access our imagination, which is " more important than knowledge " (as

Einstein also said)?

 

Based on the statement in the Ethics of the Fathers, " turn it and turn it for

everything is in it, " Samach-Vav explains that there are two primary ways to

" turn it " (hence the double " turn it and turn it " ) – to twist and extract deeper

levels of the unconscious and expand the channels of consciousness:

 

The first " turn it " is through exertion. The second and even deeper " turn it " is

through humility.

 

Rabbi Simon Jacobson

 

 

Visitor Comment:

Richard, 05/15/2007

 

Simon:

 

" Should we be completely aware of the truths of the collective unconscious we

would be unable to contain them. "

 

A profoundly interesting thought. The question that immediately arises is 'why

should this be so.' The answer undoubtedly has to do with what you perceive, or

certainly suggest, to be the nature of 'the unabridged truths of the collective

unconscious.' If the content is an infinite series of effectively

incomprehensible divine rules of the game, then surely the human mind would

explode - literally and figuratively - in an effort to assimilate and comprehend

such a body of work.

 

But the question remains - what exactly are the 'first elements' shared in a

collective unconscious? And, moreover, can a collective unconscious be

consciously accessed? Or are we simply passive recipients of the output of the

dripping valve of insight?

 

Obviously, you hint at the conclusion of your writing that there are certain

divine/human interventions/practices which facilitate the inspirational process.

Rather that scoop you - something one should not do to one's Rabbi - I'd like to

offer a glimpse of a path that, I sense, you will not travel in your next

installment.

 

The Hindu notion of consciousness incorporates two states of being/creation and

four mental states. Creation is divided into prakriti - which is to say all

things which are differentiated, whether existing in the physical or mental

sphere - and the Atman, which is the singular/collective G-d/soul at the heart

of every discrete human personality, and one with the Brahman, or the

externalized vision of the divine. The four mental states include awakeness,

dreaming sleep, dreamless sleep and tatriya - simply translated as 'the fourth

state' and available only through meditation. The Upanishads tell us that the

goal of all human existence, and the source of the greatest possible human

happiness, is to discover and experience the Atman from the perspective of the

fourth state. This can only occur - if it is to occur, and its occurrence will

vary largely from person to person - through regular, deep meditation. The

Upanishads go on to state that through closer and regular contact with the

Atman, the 'veil' of prakriti is gradually removed and a human recognizes G-d's

creation for what it truly is - an undifferentiated marvel. (Talk about

anticipating super string theory!) Since our bodies live within time and space,

we are hard wired to make only temporary forays into the fourth state, always

drawn back to the prakriti. But with repetitive 'trips' we will increasingly

'remember' what we saw on the other side and gradually incorporate this

knowledge into every aspect of our daily lives.

 

Clearly then, from a Hindu perspective, what we might call inspiration and

genius are evidence that a mind is getting past the illusionary restrictions of

prakriti and accessing the infinite number of unrestricted associations that

exist in the undifferentiated 'real' world of G-d's creation. And here's the

real kicker, at least from a Hindu perspective: You can't overload on this

knowledge. The reason is that increased exposure to the source of this knowledge

is itself a source of infinite serenity. To put it another way, the Atman within

each of us is more than capable of dealing with every possible permutation of

creation.

 

So what accounts for mad geniuses? The Rishis (4000-year-old-curry-eating

Rabbis) would suggest that the individual's ego is such that it refuses to

accept the true source of the constantly incoming inspiration. Yes, some people

can connect the dots of undifferentiated creation in a spontaneous,

non-meditative state. However, in continually attempting to experience what is

essentially Atman-esque in a purely prakriti environment, the individual

corrupts his/her 'accidental' encounter with the divine and, ultimately

experiences the equivalent of a massive spiritual aneurysm. Enter madness.

 

Looking forward anxiously to your next installation.

 

Best,

 

Richard///

 

~~

 

Hi Richard,

 

Thank you for your very insightful and well written piece. I find the parallels

fascinating -- only affirming the universal, unifying truths that connect us

all. To avoid getting too dense, my article didn't go into further detail

outlining the kabbalistic system of shedding our ego-consciousness and entering

the world of higher consciousness -- a system that consists of many steps, as we

climb the ladder.

 

Best,

 

Simon

 

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