We often equate studying with intelligence. The more we study, the more of a subject we learn, the greater our intelligence…or so we assume.
So parents and teachers encourage kids and students to study more, study harder, study deeper…assuming that this will make them smarter.
But is this really true?
Studying can certainly help us understand a particular subject or discipline in greater detail, precision, and depth. Studying can give us the ability to think more intimately with a particular perspective on life. But can studying actually cultivate our core intelligence?
I’d say no. It doesn’t.
Why?
Studying doesn’t necessarily teach us to read between the lines. Studying doesn’t necessarily teach us how to think outside of the paradigms we are learning. Studying doesn’t necessarily broaden our perspective — in fact, it can very well narrow our perspective.
Wow..that’s deep.
Yes, it is. Studying is not a panacea.
What’s needed?
What’s needed, in my opinion, is cultivating our OWN intellectual frameworks — our OWN synthesis of knowledge — our OWN understanding and reflections. This is accessed through a systematic meditative / contemplative process.
Studying should be an adjunct to this creative process of building our own intellectual framework, exploring our own theories on life, and coming to our own conclusions. Studying should be an auxiliary process to aid and build off of the theories and frameworks that are naturally within us.
Studying shouldn’t be the primary source of our intelligence. Studying is second-hand intelligence…and if we rely on studying too deeply, our wisdom will be second-hand as well.
A lot of us are not able to identify with a core intelligence outside of what we learned. We may in fact be completely numbed to our innate intellectual perspective because of our schooling.
However, I feel, our value to the world comes from cultivating the innate intelligence within us first and foremost. Only then can then expand through the intelligence that we learn by studying material and disciplines of others.
Ranjeeth Thunga
rkt@perspectivemapper.com