On Becoming More Clever (Please Share How)

[caspex]

We tend to hold thoughts in our mind to reach out to grab other thoughts that might or might not relate, so that we can connect them together into a web of interconnected thoughts, all representing concepts, to come together and form a more complex concept that may or not help in acting on the situation at hand. Or at least this is what I do when I try to come up with what to do in a situation. This is how I am coming up with what to write in this post. I have an overarching concept in my mind that I want to impress on this post. That concept, contains mini concepts that I am discovering as I write this post. 

What I notice is that someone who tends to be clever and quick is someone who has a larger capacity to hold these different thoughts. They can not only hold these thoughts together in a stable way but also be on lookout for other thoughts while simultaneously probing there situation for more data to work with. Often people who we call clever just have more experience regarding the situations and therefore are better at recalling strategies and lessons that they learned earlier. But what about those who are not experienced but still clever? We tend to call those intelligent and quick-witted. This is who I am talking about.

I am not clever, no, not in the slightest. I have been called a simpleton many times in my life, And that is because instead of connecting thoughts together to come up with what to do, I simply guessed based on what someone else I respected as clever would do, or would want me to do. So, naturally I wanted to start thinking for myself after finding this out. I wanted to be able to think ahead. But I hit a roadblock, it's that I can't hold many concepts in my head at once. I can hold a couple, at least enough to write this post, but not enough to deal with people and situations in ways any cleverer than an average man. So my question is, how do I increase my capacity to hold more concepts in my head? I am basically asking how to download(unlock?) more RAM into my brain.

IMO increasing this capacity is crucial to living a smoother life and also contemplating more efficiently. I am open to any holes you might want to point out in my observations regarding cleverness, so please let me know those as well.

[JonasVE12]

Would like some more RAM as well. I am often searching in my brain for the right words, especially in conversations. What I find to work the best is to relax my body and let go of this 'needing', and then most of the time it will come to me, maybe not in the form I wanted, but it flows and it is less mechanical if I just let go of tension. 

I think there is usually enough capacity to think powerfully present, but inner tension can occupy a lot of that capacity. 

I also struggled with cognitive issues and although it hasn't completely been fixed, I do feel like it has improved a lot. And so does my capacity for conceptual thinking. You want to provide your brain the right neurochemical building blocks that aid in neuronal communication. In the end, it is your brain that is doing all of the work. So I think that is fundamentally the most important area to work on. You just want to make sure your brain is clean from toxins, metals and has the appropriate biochemical contexts in order to thrive. That is key. 

I do believe some of this capacity is being limited by your genetics. I'm not sure. I haven't gone to the required depth to really find out what's possible in terms of increasing my conceptual and verbal intelligence. If I listen to Jordan Peterson for example, I'm often amazed at his verbal and conceptual intelligence. The information he holds flows so cleanly out of his brain, as if all the parts responsible for this are synchronized perfectly. 

There have been times I took stimulants and artificially increased my conceptual reasoning ability this way. It worked amazingly well. But it makes me wonder how I can naturally rise to that point, and I feel like it is all about creating the right biochemical environment for your brain to thrive in. And there is so much you can do for that. I have applied the most fundamental stuff to normalize my brain health, and thanks to that, my thinking feels a lot sharper and a lot more clean. But there is so much other stuff to try to get my brain to optimal levels that I want to explore for that.

And also, In the end, as you suggest, It all has to do a lot with your own experiences and how much data your brain holds. Someone like Jordan Peterson has decades of experience in researching and discussing politics and psychology, so he holds a lot of data. The more angles you are looking at something, the more your brain is forming interconnectivity and building holistic insight. And the more holistic insight you have, the more intuitively things will flow out of you. But yeah, I think your brains processing speed has a lot to do with the form it takes in your conscious mind.

It is also important to use the right tool for the job. It is often not your ability for conceptual thinking that is leading you forward in life. many people have unrealistic expectations of what their mind can solve or how it should function. As if you would be blaming your intellectual ability for problems you are having, but just not have solved because you haven't used the ability you already have in the right way to achieve your goals. 

Also ask yourself if you even understand what you are trying to write about, thinking about etc. Sometimes you just need to learn more about the thing itself in order to ask the right questions, come up with the right insights and thoughts, because there is just a lack of data present for the right interconnections to form to accomplish your goal in that moment. 

Getting more in your body, becoming confident, releasing lower emotions can also solve many seemingly cognitive limitations. 

Edited April 12, 2022 by JonasVE12

[Kalki Avatar]

I had this problem too in the spiritual path. It was one of the reasons I had to stop. 

I feel the key for this lies first in having experience and knowledge by itself. Second, how much energy can you hold in all aspects. Including source energy. The more energy you have the more you can spin your mind in faster ways. Which for someone on the outside looks completely normal, but inside you are moving extremely fast. Third, the amount of trust and ease you can handle for everything to flow harmoniously. 

Its not so easy. 

But ofcourse, there might be more factors I dont know. 

Edited April 12, 2022 by Kalki Avatar

[Breakingthewall]

The way to get smarter is to get rid of more stupidity. you are pure intelligence veiled by layers of stupidity. selfishness is stupidity. it is something concrete, real, that hinders intelligent perception, like a jelly that slows down your processes, that veils your perception. removes selfishness and the mind is a super conductor, it works without resistance

[Kalki Avatar]

@Breakingthewall Agree aswell. Godspeed knowledge from direct perception. 

[cetus]

6 hours ago, Swarnim said:

So my question is, how do I increase my capacity to hold more concepts in my head? I am basically asking how to download(unlock?) more RAM into my brain.

Ask Amy Schneider "Jeopardy" champion what her secret is. Her breath of knowledge on all subjects is nothing short of astounding.

[thisintegrated]

Be curious about everything.  Study everything.  Engineering, design, science, politics, geopolotics, music theory, animation, film directing, cinematography, vfx, cooking, etc.  literally everything.  If you're not interested in everything, you will fail.  If you are interested in everything, it will happen without you even trying.  If you have to try, you will eventually give up and fail.  Only those who are truly curious about everything can achieve what you want.

Edited April 13, 2022 by thisintegrated

[gettoefl]

mind wants to be full ... to be well informed, to be important and valued, to make a difference, to change lives, to like and be liked

heart wants to be empty ... to be fresh to be spontaneous to be sincere to create from scratch, to live to enjoy, to love and be loved

as for god ... it avails of both mind and heart, picks and chooses slowly and carefully to act consciously and deliberately

sometimes mind is better, other times heart is better

[The0Self]

This is related to having more working memory capacity -- the best way to increase this is meditation... Probably not all methods would be conducive to this, but TMI and noting of increasing detail of the breath would be. And the "dual n-back" game/app can improve working memory capacity to some degree but likely works best if also doing daily meditation. Many say the "dual n-back" effect on fluid intelligence is insignificant, but I at least felt noticeable effects from 10 minutes a day, and it even reliably produced more vivid dreams -- that made it worth it on its own, though it is a challenging and frustrating game (as is almost any rewarding endeavor; self inquiry, etc). But "being more clever" mainly just requires exposure and practice. In my experience, it seems when I'm socializing more, I'm more clever, and when I'm meditating more, I'm also more clever.

[SeaMonster]

Yup, it's basically a combination of working memory and abstract reasoning capacity.

The best way to increase it that I've discovered and tested on myself is regular intense physical exercise, especially team sports like soccer or basketball.  Meditation may help, but it's nowhere close to aerobic sports which simulate the early ancestral environment, such as the group hunt (which sports sort of do.)

Of course, there is a genetic baseline.  IQ is mostly genetics, but you can maximize it through sports.

 

[Rokazulu]

Cleverness is like a shooting star for me— a very rare and brief glimmer of light.

Perhaps talk more. The people we define as "clever" are just people who do that for a living.