Teacher Tom: Intelligence is More than Mere Knowing

Teacher Tom: Intelligence is More than Mere Knowing

Intelligence is More than Mere Knowing

It's in the nature of living to wake up each morning into the unknown. There is nothing like a world wide pandemic lockdown to bring that truth into stark relief. Oh sure, there are things we already know — my spouse takes cream in her coffee, my kids won't each cold oatmeal, E=mc² — but when it comes to applying our brains, to thinking, it is upon the unknown that we apply ourselves. I mean, we may appreciate the simple things, the routines, the familiar, the established facts of life, but if we're going to engage in intelligent thought, and we must or else expire of boredom and stupidity, it's the unknown that gets our attention.

What will today bring and what will we do about it? That is what stands at the center of our intellectual lives. It's what gives life relish. Astonishment, confusion, struggle, puzzlement, surprise, eagerness, anticipation, anxiety, excitement, passion: this is the stuff of critical thought, of intelligence.

I have, for instance, been awaking each morning lately faced with the unknown of how I'm going to pay my bills. Up until a few weeks ago, I earned my living primarily as a public speaker, but now, in a flash, I find myself scrambling from sun up to sun down trying to figure out how to fill in that suddenly opened maw in my immediate economic prospects. And I'm not the only one. Every one of us is experiencing the CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Intelligence is More than Mere Knowing