This week’s Listography is a pretty open-ended “challenge” as we’re invited to complete the sentence “five reasons I know I’m a …”. So how to finish that statement? I know, with the word “intellectual”.
That sounds conceited but it isn’t. We all have different skills. Mine happen to involve brain power. But I’m absolutely crap at anything manual: I have 10 left thumbs. I cannot even saw a piece of wood straight!
So here are five reasons I know I’m an intellectual:
1. I have a science doctorate (on the boundaries of physics and chemistry) but I also run a literary society. Although I have a broad understanding of science, medicine, history, language etc. I’m not a polymath: for a start I’m useless at foreign languages!
2. I see three sides of every argument before you even tell me one. And I see through management and marketing bullshit like a knife through butter.
3. I can sit in a health education session and realise my brain is bigger than the sum of all the others in the room, including the trainer. Not necessarily an advantage as it means I struggle to suffer people who don’t use what they’ve got, especially when they then also don’t believe what you tell them. I’m useless at manual things, but I do have to try sometimes. I expect other people to do the same with their brains.
4. I don’t need mental crutches like religion. I can think, and read, and argue. I can do morality without having it imposed from outside. I know there is no such beast as “natural justice” and that life isn’t fair. I can deal with it.
5. My hypnotherapist struggles to get stuff into, or out of, my subconscious. My conscious brain is so fast and so analytical that whatever he does it goes “Oh, he’s doing X. That’s interesting. I wonder if he’ll do Y now? Or does it mean Z? And I wonder how that fits with A?” rather than just going “La-la-la, isn’t that pretty”!
Which doesn’t make for an easy ride; in fact it can be downright depressing and demoralising. But then who said it was supposed to be easy?
Bloody hell. Think the rest of us (non-intellectual) bloggers might struggle to comment on this one Keith – or we'll be frightened to, because you see through everything.A very intimidating – and not at all modest – list ;-D
This reminds me of a send-up of agony aunts' advice. A girl wrote that she was so intelligent that the boys are intimidated by her. The answer she received was: try to play down your cleverness dear and compensate by wearing more makeup.
Well you shouldn't feel frightened or intimidated. I'm actually a pretty ordinary guy and not the high-flyer you might imagine. I just happen to have head skills rather than hand skills. I find seriously practical and artistic people intimidating! So it can work both ways.
Thank you for the change of pace.
#3 – Last major non-IT training session I went to I was praised for taking copious notes. I didn't want to shatter their illusions that I already knew all this stuff and had, in fact, just written a website content management system. Hey ho. Good, and interesting, list.
@John C. Yes, indeed. Been there, too. 🙂
My dad was an intellectual – a professor and literature lover. However his mind worked in ways not like the rest of us and he often made the simplest things ridiculously complicated! (He was also crap at DIY)
@Kate … No, making simple things complicated is a rubbish idea. I live in the real world and need to make complex things simple just to survive! Always keep things as simple as possible.