Intelligence

For the purpose of arriving the meaning of intelligence, let us use the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’. An artificial intelligence is a logic solver which process multiple, complicated logics and produces an output – a choice less output. From this, we may be able to arrive the definition of intelligence as the capacity of our brain to produce action without choice.

In all aspects, intelligence is one of the assets every one wish to possess and believe having possessed. But the general meaning considered for intelligence is something like capability to choose from the available choices by means of assumptions, imaginations and conclusions arrived out of these two or similar parameters. Due to our urge to possess intelligence, and the meaning we considered for intelligence, we push ourselves to the extent of making choices even in simple activities where choosing is not at all required and then suffer on those choices. We also call the learning of decision making to choose as education. It does not require any intelligence to understand wherever choices are there, suffering is inevitable. On the other hand, we call the learning of how to suffer (in most of the cases) as education! It is a real pity!

Having the capability of unlimited consciousness, human must be the only species in this earth capable of having unlimited intelligence. We must be already having this intelligence. This intelligence within us must be masked by our ego and the qualities supporting and growing the ego. Once we understand what intelligence is and realize that we have this unlimited intelligence, there is a possibility of unmasking our intelligence, in its real sense.

The intelligence may be explained further by the function of brain within the realm of our body. If there is any infection in our body, the brain sends antibodies to required location and stage a war against infection. This is intelligence. There is no choice to choose for the brain, if an infection is detected. The only choice is fight against infection as long as the body has the capacity. None of our education systems provide such intelligence to us. Our education system provides just information. We need to have intelligence to process that information imparted by education. Of course, every one of us has the intelligence, but each one of us unmasked it to different extent.

As long as we are in the realm of duality and hence comparison, intelligence cannot be put in action. The existence of duality within our mind and hence the act of comparison generate thoughts in the psychological domain which support the ego at one side and fragment our mind at the other side. Fragmenting the mind means, it stores the information about any subject where ever the thought goes and put bits and pieces of information into our memory. Thought can go only up to the extent of our knowledge. Thought cannot conceive anything which we did not know. Hence thought cannot capture the complete information about any object/subject. Since the mind has fragmented information about the subject, it uses this information to describe the subject. The mind is nothing but the information processed in our brain. Now the information processed is fragmented information about the subject, our mind itself is fragmented.


With this fragmented mind obviously intelligence cannot act. The brain cannot solve the logic with so many fragments about a subject. In such situation, there are many possible ways of action or choices and hence many possible outcomes.

Intelligence cannot be acquired. It cannot be cultivated. We can only remove the veil wrapping our intelligence. Intelligence can be unwrapped only with knowledge – the knowledge of the veil wrapped around our intelligence. This unwrapping of intelligence makes us completely understand and in synch with the eternal cosmic rules or Dharma, in Buddhist terms. Even without our intelligence functioning, we are forced to obey the cosmic rules, but with the functioning of intelligence, we may be living in synch with cosmic rules and hence with cosmos. On the other hand, we may state that intelligence is being synch with the cosmic rules pertaining to the subject.

All inanimate objects are in synch with the cosmic rules pertaining to those objects. They have no tendency to be away from cosmic rules. This is the case with all animate beings, having up to five senses. As the number of senses increases, their understanding about cosmic rules may also increases and the intelligence pertaining to those beings make them to adjust themselves to be in synch with the cosmic rules. We can very well understand these facts, by giving a little bit attention to the behavior pattern of animals, birds, plants etc.

If we extrapolate that, human with sixth sense must have much higher intelligence and must have the capability to understand and be synch with the cosmic rules of much higher level. But in general, we are much away from this fact. This could be very well due to the limitlessness nature of our sixth sense and hence our inability to handle it. Are we really incapable of handling our senses? It cannot be. The creation must have much higher intelligence and if we are not capable of handling our sixth sense, it must have been limited within of the limit our capability. Being given the sixth sense, definitely we are capable of handling it. If we are unable to handle it and hence suffering then it is our mistake. Due to this mistake and escape from our incapability, we wrapped our intelligence with veils, which we are unable to remove it now and hence suffering.

Unless we live with our intelligence, we are not living the life pertaining to the human species.

Philosophy

Due to the power of consciousness and capability to compare, we tend to have many questions on every aspect of our life. Many questions pertaining to our existence also arises within us. These questions may not have any direct answers. We need to comprehend the perceivable and then derive the answers for such questions. These questions, method of deriving the answers and the answers together may be termed as philosophy – a simple definition of philosophy!

The general tendency towards philosophy is that it is only for the so called “think tanks” as it does not have any practical application. If we consider the above definition of philosophy, it has practical application in every aspect of our life, practical application in how we perceive even the simplest object/subject we encounter on moment-to-moment basis. Philosophy is not for read, memorise, and follow. It is for asking questions and then gets clarified from our own experience – either inner or outer.

Our entire life goes on just our struggle for survival. The first survival requirement is physical. For sustaining our life, we have to have the means for physical survival otherwise we have to give up our life. Once this is accomplished, we spend our entire energy for the survival of our ego – not only survival of ego, but growing the ego. We not even recognize that we are wasting the entire energy of our life just to support and grow our ego, which in reality never exists. Ego is a function which developed and nurtured in our mind field with support from our imagination power, which find ways for our physical well being to some extent as well as the destruction of mankind. How to recognize such waste of energy? Philosophies come to our rescue. Philosophy doesn’t mean verbalization of all abstract thoughts of some so called “think-tank”. It is our questions of why, what, where, when and how, and the answers we find ourselves– not the answers of somebody else, which is their philosophy, not ours; at best we can take them as a reference, not as authority.

When we enter into the realm of philosophy, we need to be very careful about one aspect. Our mind is so powerful it can get convincing answer for any and every question, if we allow it to find an answer. On this attempt, the mind creates so many illusions which if we are not aware, take it as real and come to a conclusion for our philosophical question. If we accept somebody’s authority on philosophical thought, it is easier to reach such conclusion. And if it happens, it is not easy to change that conclusion we arrived. It gets into our brain as final answer. Now we start looking into everything with reference to this answer only – we remain in constant illusion. It is a trap from which we never can exit if we are caught into it, unless we recognize the trap. Almost every one of us is caught into a nest of such traps. The only way to come out of that trap is to recognize it. The possibility of reorganization is there only if we accept the possibilities of such traps exist.

Many learners of philosophy are just learning it as a concept. Hence they are not able to taste the philosophy, but put into their brain as concepts and words. It can be only used to put forward conceptual arguments. There cannot be any real use out of such learning. Equally dangerous is the habit of questioning certain philosophy and if gets negative answer, reject the whole line of philosophy itself – including the one which we understood at the core of our being. In such case, the best option will be keeping the question open and carry on with other questions. Down the line, we will get the answer for sure, because every question/answer start from one concept and ends at another.

Philosophies are to stimulate our questioning capabilities – not for providing predetermined answers and nullifying our questioning ability. The answers given in any established philosophy are just some guiding tools, but the real answer has to come from our being – be it Veda, Upanishad, Vedanta, Githa or whatever it may be. As soon as we take it as an authority, our philosophical search is completed within a trap. No philosophy can be an authority for us. We are the authority for ourselves - any particular philosophy may become our being, but not authority. The philosophy should not dictate the terms in our life, but it can be our way of life. One has to be very clear about this distinction. If not we will be ending our life in a trap – The illusion on philosophy.

Habit

We like to adapt certain habits, but struggle to leave certain other habits. We suffer on either case. We are not suffering due to the habit in all cases, but due to our desire and struggle to either adapt or forgo certain habits. Definitely certain habits have advantages to carry on our day-to-day life. This advantage is there only when we are at certain fixed plane of life. If we want to elevate ourselves to another plane, habits are hindering for that progress. Habits take away our awareness on our doing.

Habits are genetically transferred to us as well as we ourselves are developing our own habits and for the future generations. Whatever habits genetically transferred to us are within unconscious level of our mind and hence we are not at all aware of it, unless we identify them with great effort. Neither have we recognized that we are having such habits. Such habits, usually almost everyone in the society are having hence we start believing that they are our natural way of being. For example, the way we are eating is a habit inherited from our parents. The survival instincts may be the habits inherited from the long history of life.

Need not specify the habits we develop ourselves, we are aware of that. Habits are the activities we do very frequently. Due to its application it just goes into our mind over and over and hence pushed deep into our mind – our sub conscious level of mind. Our conscious part of mind is a very thin layer usually – which we are aware of. We may be aware of certain part of our subconscious, but it does not require our awareness to bring forth its action. This is the reason habits makes us dull, even though they helps us to carry on our lives very easily in certain cases.

If habits take over our life, we will not be having any conscious control over our life. This is due to the fact that habitual activities are carried out by our subconscious, rather than our conscious mind. Due to the technologies, now days our life is so easy, some habitual activities are sufficient to carry on most part of our lives. When this happens, without understand the real need for activities, due to the subconscious urge, we tend to carry on certain activities. Moreover the subconscious follow a pattern. If the situation deviates a little bit from the pattern, we cannot identify that difference, but the subconscious execute the activity as usual pattern. On the other hand, we are losing control over our activities and hence life.

On one side habits makes our life easy, while on the other side it takes away our control over our own life. This does not mean we should not develop any habits. On the contrary we should develop another habit of doing even the habitual activities within the field of our consciousness. If we can do this, it may be a great achievement in the path of spirituality or self-knowledge.

It may be explained in this way also. Spirituality is all about expanding our awareness. This means, it is about expanding our consciousness. On the other hand it is about penetrating subconscious and converts it to consciousness and then penetrates further within our mind and then converts that also into our consciousness, until reaching the core of our mind.

Once we can reach that level – reach the core of our mind, there is nothing we can do in this world. At the same time there is nothing we can’t do in this world. Both seem to be logical on considering the depth of our mind.

Why Spirituality?

May be an interesting question! But we have to define spirituality before attempting to answer this question. This is because each one may be having their own understanding of spirituality. Hence providing an answer for this question without defining this term (with respect to what is written here) may be a futile exercise.

For sure, spirituality is not referred here as an act of worship. Worship may be a tool for spirituality for somebody in the path of spirituality. For somebody else in the path of spirituality, the act of worship may be an unnecessary one and for them anything relevant to worship may be an act of dragging themselves away from spirituality.

Prayer – definitely cannot have any relevance to spirituality. It may be a prayer towards the unknown entity called as God or prayer towards known entities called Godmen/women or prayer towards Gurus and so on. In general prayer is a form of begging – to an unknown entity. In any form, prayer is far away from spirituality. May be for someone, in some sense, prayer may also be a tool for spirituality.

Rituals are widely considered as part of spirituality. Today, almost every one calling themselves as spiritualist are mere performers of rituals. And the pettiest part is that many of them even not having the slightest understanding of those rituals except some constructed meaning. In real sense they are not spiritualists. Of course, rituals may be a tool for spirituality, at certain plane.

Then what is spirituality? In a simple statement, spirituality is a search for truth. The word ‘truth’ may represent the true nature of simplest subject with/within/near/around us or the complicated nature of existence itself. If we are able to understand and perceive the true nature of simplest subject, we may not be far away from knowing the true nature of this infinite existence; for that the simple subject is an integral part of the existence itself.

Very rarely we know about the truth of any subject. We know only the thought construct about any subject. The subject may be any physical object or any relationships or anything else exists here. For example, when we see a table, we just see the dimension, colour, weight and similar qualities we sense about that object by our senses and the mind construct an idea about that table. This is our knowledge about that table. We rarely know the background, true information about that table. The wood used for that table, the person created that table are just two of many variables about the truth of that table. Now, the nature of the tree which provided wood for that table and the qualities of the person who made that table are further derived variables, upon constructing this way, to find the true nature of this table, we may have to go up to the time of creation and/or complete nature of existence. Knowing all these things construct the true nature of that table. Without knowing these, parameters we can never be able to understand the real nature of that simple object in front of us.

Why the shit we need to know the real nature of that table, if it involves so many unpredictable, unperceivable parameters? What use does it have for us? Is it not sufficient if we know how to use that table? If knowing such truth is spirituality, why the hell we need spirituality? – Very much valid questions!

Before trying to answer these questions, we must understand one thing. We are constructed in such a way that we need to get answer for any questions arises within our mind. Unless we get some answer – a convincing answer, our mind cannot rest. The mentally ill (so called) people are those who have many such unresolved questions and resultant conflicts within them, which might have taken away their awareness completely. (It is what I think, not sure about the medical/psychological background to state it authoritatively.) It may be the nature of human mind. The super-natural power God must have been invented to answer these questions – A very simple answer, God provided this and that means we are satisfied. Unfortunately, this simple answer leaves many unanswered questions within as long as we have a trace of logical thinking within us– for most of these questions we know partial answer through our own experience. The remaining part of the answer superimposed on the idea of God may not go along well with our experience and hence a conflict arises within us. Those who try to resolve these conflicts enter into the field of spirituality. Others just live with those conflicts, which in turn produces new conflicts and then a chain of conflicts – on those conflicts, our pleasure and pain are constructed and maintained.

For a person, who is not yet submerged into the chain of pain and pleasure or who is capable of peeping out of this chain surely start to get many questions on whatever that person see/perceive in the world – for example, the table itself. For understanding the table, one has to probe into unlimited questions – the artistic nature of table, the materialistic nature of table, the origin of its artistic nature, the origin of its materialistic nature, how the material form developed, how the artistic form developed, what are all the supports for the development of its artistic form/materialistic form…….. Never ending questions!

The optimistic part of this probing is that once we start getting some understanding in some of these questions, the remaining understanding comes to us as a clear stream. Once we have reasonable understanding of this simple object – table, we have the reasonable understanding of the whole creation and existence itself. When we have reasonable understanding of existence, almost all the conflicts within us evaporate like a water drop on an intensive fire.

When we are free from conflicts…………. Need not repeat here! We know it! That is why Spirituality!