How smart are you? Do you know what your IQ is? Does that number make any sense to a person over the age of eighteen? Did the number make any sense even when you were young and concerned with such measures? What defines someone as intelligent?
Are these questions that we spend any time thinking about?
Not really, at least I don’t worry about it. I am as smart as I am. Whatever number applies to my mind and life, it does not help me pay the bills, deal with the challenges at home, or achieve my work goals. Yet there are personalities in my life that seem to be walking examples of those who know it all. In fact, there are moments, brief ones in my case, where on a given day with a certain subject that I am absolutely sure that I can the case fully and completely boxed. Maybe not for many things, but for this one – I know it all! In the middle of this Wisdom comes along and seem to say something that everyone has been paraphrasing since.
“If you think you know it all, you’re a fool for sure; real survivors learn wisdom from others.” (Proverbs 28.26)
Perhaps a different question that you and I should deal with is this; how often are we seeking to learn? What portion of our day is spent soaking up the lessons from the lives of those around us? How much of our time and energy is devoted to listening and understanding fellow traveler’s experiences along the steps of life?
I have known some real characters in my life. True individuals that knew it all and made fools of themselves more often than not. I still smile at their behavior and choices yet find my self looking in the mirror in the middle of the reflection. The world’s intelligence may find itself quantified in numbers and theories. Life changing intelligence is found in an attitude of humility and learning. Give me the latter and I can change the world. With this I can learn.
