Educated Beyond Your Own Intelligence

The other day my A/C went out. “Great, right in the middle of summer!” I spent a sleepless night knowing rescue was soon coming. In the morning I got the bad news. I would have to replace the system. They told me I had a good run on this system, but that didn’t cushion the reality. It was a big gulp! But while talking to the gentleman advising me on my new system, I received a blessing. He shared a quote from Arthur C. Clarke about intelligence. I don’t even remember how it came up, but when I heard these word, I wrote them down immediately.

“My favourite definition of an intellectual: ‘Someone who has been educated beyond his/her intelligence.’”
― Arthur C. Clarke

Beyond Intelligence

Oh Jesus, have I not met a slew of these intellectuals educated beyond their own intelligence. People so book smart that they are utterly useless to live actual life. I can’t tell you how many extremely educated people I have met that are rather stupid. Sure, they are filled with facts and figures but without any wisdom. Why is this? How could this be? Because learning facts doesn’t necessarily make you able to apply the knowledge, all the while deceiving you to think you can.

“The man was such an intellectual he was of almost no use.”
― Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

The deception of education is thinking you know. It is the original tree of knowledge but now we pay for it rather than just picking it off a tree. Education tricks us to think we don’t need the Creator. But just because we can spout volumes of facts doesn’t mean we can live life. Actually, what it means is we can play a good game of Trivial Pursuit. Or the game show Jeopardy might be our claim to fame but functioning in life….not so much.

“Intellect is not wisdom.”
― Thomas Sowell

Educated into Stupidity

I am not anti-education but when your only knowledge is sourced in education, you can actually be stupid. I have a relative who is one of the most educated people I know. They were so smart that in their spare time they would read through the dictionary to gain more knowledge. The sheer volume of knowledge they had was incredible. But when it comes to living actual life, they are an epic fail. In every arena of life they flail rather than flourish. It is sad.

“Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them.”
― George Orwell

Here is the truth. Wisdom trumps intellect and His knowledge eclipses educated facts. God’s mind far exceeds all the mental ingesting that could be had reading through several libraries. This doesn’t mean you remain unlearned, but when the Spirit hand feeds you your information it has Life. Whether the knowledge is common or spiritual, He has the power to ignite it into true Life. Why wouldn’t you want to join the school of the Spirit, allowing the Father to personally teach you. At that point it isn’t just teaching it is relationship.

Following the Spirit through the library is like a search for buried treasure. He reveals and unites the knowledge with Himself who is Wisdom. Wisdom is God’s application of information in His Life.