Intelligence vs. Intellectualism

Many people are of the opinion -- and it really is an opinion and nothing more -- that intellectualism is knowledge. These are people who claim to know things. However, their knowledge is not known at all; it's simply remembered. It's not actual knowledge; it's knowledge about something. And that, really, makes it not knowledge at all.

Hence, many people with very high IQs and who can solve all kinds of puzzles are considered "smart" but, really, are quite stupid :) when you actually look at them as whole people.

Intelligence is not dependant upon knowledge; intelligence is based on experience, and experience is far superior to knowledge. Experience deepens a person; it enlarges their capacity to BE. Knowledge, strangely, does the opposite: it clogs up their capacity to BE. That is why knowledgeable people are so afraid, deep down inside: because they think they know, but they don't really KNOW that they know. It's also why people who claim to know so much -- regardless of the topic -- are so impatient and at times condescending towards others; because deep inside they KNOW that they don't know, and so they need to pretend. And pretension is always aggressive; that is the nature of pretension. A truly knowledgeable person -- one who has experience instead of knowledge -- has no need to belittle or humiliate someone else. Someone merely pretending to be smart, however, must always do this because without such a defense, their incredible ignorance will be exposed.

If you want to be more intelligent, then you must open yourself up to more experiences. This doesn't mean that you run away from your "life" by planning one adventure after another. It simply means that you OPEN up -- right now -- to life that is happening around you.

Remember: life is not boring. Only you can be boring. Life is utterly mysterious -- really. So if you're bored, don't blame life; it's merely a symptom that your very approach to life -- your very orientation to life -- is flawed.