What role do intellectual abilities play in understanding reality?

[Tristan12]

The two people that I follow and resonate with the most are Leo and Teal Swan. I really want to be at their level one day, and be a teacher like them, on the specific topics that I'm interested in. This feels like something I genuinely want and is genuinely right for me, and I'm not just trying to copy them. I feel like I have it in me to be able to develop myself to the point that they're at and to be able to teach at very deep and profound levels.

There are qualities and traits that they have that I want to develop within myself and blend with my own authentic style to be able to get to this point. The one thing that I've noticed that has been kind of a roadblock for me, and is the purpose of this post, is that both Leo and Teal have really strong intellectual abilities and are very intelligent. I think seeing this within them, as well as just seeing how intellectual a lot of people are on this forum have sort of created this standard in me that I have to be like that and that I have to be able to keep up with Leo and Teal intellectually to be able to be at their level.

I would consider myself above average intelligence, but definitely not anything crazy, and not at the level of Leo or Teal or a lot of people on this forum. Nor do I even have that much of an interest in intellectual topics - I love wisdom and understanding, but I can only handle so much overly intellectual discussion before it becomes dry and boring for me. I find my interest in those topics only really runs as far as its useful to me for creating something I want in my life, or if I can see that something abstract is leading to some higher purpose, like with Leo's videos.

I was thinking about this and I came to the conclusion that I don't think it matters that much If I'm not all that strong intellectually. I feel like I naturally have a lot of wisdom and am capable of a lot of deep understanding, and I realized that you probably don't need to be overly intellectual or intelligent to be able to gain understanding of reality (which is what I need to be able to teach). Contemplation is more about observing, grasping and making sense of your direct experience of something. It seems like it's more about your ability to understand and comprehend something rather than needing high levels of intelligence or being super intellectually sharp. (Also I feel like you're given whatever gifts you need to pursue your life purpose, and so if I don't have crazy intellectual abilities then I probably just don't need them.)

I think also part of the reason why I had this idea that I need to be super intelligent is because I see that Leo is that way, and since he has these really deep understandings of reality, I guess part of me sort of attributed that to his intelligence. It made me feel like I can't get insights at the level that Leo does because I don't have that kind of intelligence. I'm sure his intelligence does play some kind of role but probably not a whole lot for the understanding itself, because I don't think you need a whole lot of intelligence to be able to contemplate and understand reality effectively.

So in conclusion I feel like I can drop this idea that I need to be so highly intelligent like Leo or Teal or anyone else, and that it's just not necessary for gaining deep levels of understanding. I sort of answered my own question here lol but I'm interested to hear other's input on this topic, and to see what you think about this issue?

[Ninja_pig]

From what Leo says, I think gaining his level of understanding of reality has more to do with questioning and dismantling things you already "know" about reality. To do this you have to have high levels of focus and awareness and I don't really know how closely those correlate with intelligence. From what I understand, when you have a mystical experience, you don't just "get"  it, you "see" it. Mystical experiences are often described as being what you get when you go beyond your mind. Enlightenment in particular is often described as the simplest thing you can possibly realize. Fred Davis, one of my favorite spiritual teachers says that intelligence is actually the main thing that allows people to keep themselves from seeing the truth because it allows them to make more elaborate lies.

My most recent insight from my last mushrooms trip is that humans in general are insanely intelligent, and most of us are walking around with more intelligence than we know what to do with. So yeah don't let the fact that you are not a genius dissuade you from perusing spiritual work.

[Tristan12]

@Ninja_pig Interesting, thanks

[caspex]

All you need to do is experience life and deconstruct your mind. Think about it, wouldn't you know how to use your mind most efficiently if you knew it's ins and out? Wouldn't you be able to use language for your betterment and lots of efficiency if you knew what you REALLY meant by each word?

It's not just deconstruction but also experience. Most of the intelligence you see flowing from Gurus is not there naturally but rather it's developed through experience. You experience the same thing over and over again until you notice it, and then after a few more repetitions you realize what it is. The subtle patterns and forms in your mind become increasingly noticeable as you experience them more. At some point things you thought were too subtle to even glimpse become as solid as real objects. And once your self awareness reaches that level it's only natural to be able to perceive a system thoroughly and finds it's loopholes at a glance. It becomes increasingly easier to contemplate. Don't worry yourself with intelligence, whatever that means for you. Just form a good base and foundation for your mind.

Maybe intelligence is being able to notice these subtleties faster. But that doesn't concern you, because I believe even an average person can reach what you want to IF they are determined enough to deconstruct and become self-aware. Your ego plays a major role in determination. So make sure to harness it's power. "I want to be intelligent" "I want to be above all else" or anything similar, this is your determination speaking.

[Tristan12]

@Swarnim Thank you 

[Tristan12]

@Swarnim I think everything you're referring to is really about stage yellow thinking, and as you've pointed out I feel like learning to think in deep, high-quality, systemic ways is much more important than intellectual sharpness, and so if I develop that then there is really no problem if I'm not overly intelligent in the traditional sense.

[caspex]

15 minutes ago, Tristan12 said:

@Swarnim I think everything you're referring to is really about stage yellow thinking, and as you've pointed out I feel like learning to think in deep, high-quality, systemic ways is much more important than intellectual sharpness, and so if I develop that then there is really no problem if I'm not overly intelligent in the traditional sense.

@Tristan12  Intellectual sharpness can also be increased. By increasing your baseline clarity of perception. The clearer you can perceive, the faster you can understand and learn. And a human's potential at clarity is massive. It's just right now we don't have enough clarity to figure out where we lack clarity to learn/understand certain something. So it's important to develop a good foundation first.

In theory it should be possible to make yourself more intelligent at something you just need to figure out where you need to develop that clarity of perception. Just increasing your clarity in general already gives you a boost at things such as contemplation, pattern recognition, etc.