Never get so attached to a poem, you
Forget truth that lacks lyricism, and
Never draw so close to the heat, that
You will forget that you must eat, oh
-Joanna Newsom
So often, people look to works of fiction - or to the writings of the great thinkers of the past - to provide a sense of reality - a sense of truth. You ask a young man about his political views, and he's likely to quote you some Marx. Ask another about life, and he'll quote you Hemingway. As someone about the human condition, and they'll tell you all about Nieztsche. Ask about love, and you'll get quotes from Shakespeare and Petrarch.
And I'm not pointing fingers - god forbid. Because then I'd have four more pointing at myself (actually - if you look at the finger pointing gesture, only three point at yourself - the thumb either points down [at the devil perhaps?] or up [god - i knew it!!!]). I do the same (though, I am very bad at quoting anything - I can read, and enjoy, just about anything - but ask me to quote something - even from something I've read a billion times (High Fidelity NEVER gets old, tellyoume), and I'm at a lost. Just not so good at that.
But - so many people seem to think that intelligence, and, god dammit... KNOWLEDGE lies in the ability to parrot back the thoughts of others. So - you can tell me exactly what Leon Festinger said about cognitive dissonance... so? Does that mean you understand the subject yourself?!? No, it does not. It means you read a book - congratulations - you're on par with just about every 2nd grader in the United States (the deep south doesn't count - for them, we say you're on par with every high schooler... but I digress).
I've found myself calling myself unintelligent, out loud and to myself, because I was not nearly as adept at quoting reputible sources as so many others - but I'm tired of it. I'm a (fairly) smart guy. I have my own ideas - though, I've come to learn through many discussions and readings, these ideas have been shared by many people - quite a few rather prolific, as it turns out.
The point is - intelligence, and human value, is found in individualism. Stop quoting texts, and trying to call the ideas your own. Instead, take a step back, observe the world, the universe, life - and try to understand it yourself. Come up with your own ideas and conclusions, and then compare them with the ideas and conclusions that those before you have come up with - you'll be surprised at just how satisfying that really is.
When you start struggling with the idea that the world - everything we think, feel, see, and hear, is either real or imagined (depending on your philosophical and ideological views on things), then you will finally be embarking on a journey of intellectual development.
Memorization, while quite nice in a classroom setting, is no substitute for actual intelligence.
And no - this is not aimed at any particular person (though, back in the way way back, the long long ago, I knew some people through my schooling who never had an original thought in their lives - yet considered themselves above everyone else.. .those fuckers. :-D God (or whatever diety you choose to believe - or not - in) you all.
*hiccup*
-chris
1 comment:
I was trying to think of a clever quote to support what you wrote...but I am failing. I too have trouble remembering quotes. There must be something though. Nice bit though, definitely true, it seems many people who think of themselves as "highly intelligent" are void of any original ideas. As Socrates once said... never mind. I must be too dumb to remember.
"(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)"
e.e. cummings. And yes, I had to look that up, and no, I can't explain it. It's from my favorite poem of his, of the few I've read, "anyone lived in a pretty how town"
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