Consider the Lilies

What is it that makes us intelligent? We have unspoken rules about what we consider to be intelligent, but what are the rules? We think that (as a general rule) humans are intelligent. Dolphins are also pretty intelligent. Some of our favorite animals (dogs, cats, elephants, horses, rodents) are also somewhat intelligent. Fish don’t seem to be very intelligent. Rocks don’t seem very intelligent at all.

But even amongst humans, we have problems. Sometimes we’ll exclaim of our children that “Little Bobby is so smart!”. But is he, really? Can he compose a fine piece of music? Paint a glorious painting? Derive complicated mathematical formulae? Write complex software? Can he even read? Count to 100? Why would we say that children are intelligent when the fail some of the simplest tests of knowledge? And why do we proclaim that some adults are “dumb”? While it’s true that I may know many things that a “dumb” adult may not, it is equally true that they have their own areas of expertise of which I am woefully ignorant. So why are they “dumb”?

In 1637, the French philosopher René Descartes penned the well-known phrase: Cogito ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. With these words, he expressed that idea that the core of “self” is the ability to think. But “being” is not intelligence.

Later philosophers arrived at the concept of “metacognition“, which is the idea that you can think about thinking. This is a higher form of thinking, where you can “step outside” of yourself and observe your thoughts from a “third person” perspective. You think about the process of thinking. But this is also not intelligence. Your typical four-year-old isn’t very adept at self-reflection, and yet we still heap praises upon our younglings for their intelligence.

I have a theory about all of this. I think our unwritten and unspoken rule about intelligence comes down to the fundamental ability “to consider”.

The human brain is a powerful pattern-matcher. We try to process the reality of existence and make it match whatever notions are stored in our skulls. We seek out patterns, and often find them where there aren’t any. Our brain considers. It takes information and processes it over and over and over again. It tries to contort it to fit. If it can make it fit, then that deepens the importance of the pattern to our psyche. If it doesn’t, we either reject the idea, “put it on a shelf” to consider later, or mentally keep it before us until we are suffering from cognitive dissonance.

We recognize that children are master pattern-matchers. They have to be. They are new in the world and being constantly exposed to insanely interesting new experiences. How they react to those experiences and integrate them in to their perception of the world is why we consider them to be intelligent. They consider everything. If you tell them that Santa Claus is real, they will consider it. If you tell them that the earth is flat, they will consider it. If you tell them that you have the ability to wave your hand at the supermarket door to make it open, they will consider it. Their ability to consider is what defines their intelligence.

This is ultimately why we consider certain adults to be unintelligent. The scriptures call these people “hard-hearted” and “stiff-necked”. They will not consider new ideas. They will not entertain the possibility of new and potentially conflicting information. They have decided that they have reached an end of their consideration, and will not learn anything new. And so, they are not intelligent.

The ability to consider new ideas is what makes us intelligent. God is constantly processing new information, for He is “more intelligent than they all”, and we should be seeking to be like Him.

Consider the lilies of the field.