If you had the choice…

[Maisy]

Originally Posted by Molearner

If you had the choice would you rather be intellectual or spiritual ?

That question to me revolves around the idea, or assumptions I should say, of what I am or we are. "If I had the choice" eh. What am I? What would "I" rather be? Do we know what we are?

I don't think so. Knowing that to me ends all quests. All seeking. It is an awareness of the truth (of what I am) in the now. And to me, what I am, is awareness. Not the thinker, not thought, not ideas, not emotions. The awareness that is behind or beyond all of that. Above and beyond all the content of the human mind and it's conditioning and patterns of thought and thinking and belief.

So to me, the question is not really a question. More like an assertion of truth. Of being awake in the now and changing ones perceptions of now that way. Awareness is intellectual (intelligent) and spiritual (good, loving) to me in it's or my innate nature.

[Miss Hepburn]

I would never want to be stuck in my Left Brain as intellectuals can be.
(I want my dentists, mechanics and pilots to be, however.)
I love being more in my Right Brain - the spiritual, intuitive, artistic side,
with the occasional visit to my Left side.


It's interesting to read some posts here...the intellectuals stick out so much, to me.
A Left Brain person needs clear explanations, mathematics, science; seeing things in black and white.
The Right Brain person would or could be more easy going, airy-fairy, uncaring about the specifics.
Each has it's positives and negatives, imo.

And yes, balance. :)

[FallingLeaves]

it doesn't make sense to me to be deliberately trying to split such hairs, to draw random lines in the sand between two arbitrary things, and then decide I have to love everything on one side of the line and avoid everything on the other.

and what maisy said as well...

But that is just me...

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by Maisy

Awareness is intellectual (intelligent) and spiritual (good, loving) to me in it's or my innate nature.

This did not make sense to me...could you explain your thinking on this?
Cuz, I see Awareness as simply awareness...a snail in your garden has awareness.
As I'm seeing it-Awareness is spiritual and is our innate nature even in the womb.
Not challenging you, just wondering what you mean. Thanks.

[Redchic12]

No, I don’t see awareness as intellectual at all.

Would be very interested in your explanation as well.

Many thanks

[Maisy]

I think one can be more aware or less aware. Obviously this is true in the sense of our daily lives. Like some crime happens and a detective interviews witnesses and finds some were aware of a lot of stuff and others were aware of not much at all. Like asking them, "What color was the criminals shirt?, What did their shoes look like? Were they wearing jewelry, tattoos? etc." We can be aware of a lot or a little.

In a spiritual sense, I think it's the same. Aware of a lot or a little. How much do we know or are aware of? This could also include the word "intelligence" in the sense of the more intelligent we are the more we are aware of or know or have learned or experienced. The word "wisdom" or "wise" could be added as well. Like we have the term "emotional intelligence" in our culture which means to be more knowledgeable of others feelings and how to act more in harmony with others, more aware of their feelings and needs as well as our own. So a positive use of the word intelligence.

Krishnamurti named one of his books on spirituality "The Awakening of Intelligence." So he was using the term "intelligence" is the sense of enlightenment, or being awake, or of wisdom or higher awareness. In a positive way. Like a teacher of a young student telling his or her parents "Your child is very intelligent." Awake, aware.

But then there is a negative use of the word "intellectual" where it means a person who is self absorbed, condescending, unaware of others feelings or uncaring, full of self importance and while highly knowledgeable on some subject, they are unaware of their own narrow views. Unable to question their own egotistical beliefs. But words usually have many different meanings depending on context etc. Like someone saying "This song is sick" meaning it's great and not in bed with a fever.

I like to not refer to ourselves in third person or as an idea or object or "thing" as this is conceptualizing ourselves as outside ourselves which to me is kind of delusional. Like saying we have a soul rather than the more accurate "I am a soul." So I would say we are awareness as opposed to saying "we have awareness." Then as awareness, I would say we can expand or increase our awareness. Some who have had experiences of "God" sometimes have said their consciousness expanded (or became greater) I think one could also say one is more intelligent or wise when they become more knowledgeable in spiritual or awareness type things.

I am aware of the negative meanings of the word intellectual though. Also, the word "intelligence" can also have some negative meanings as in "I have a higher IQ than that person." That is describing intelligence as something measurable in an IQ test which tests ones ability's to recognize patterns and knowledge or skills or brain abilities of a certain type. It reminds me of the terms "street smart" verses "book smart." Book smart means not applied to the real world so the term street smart means more awareness or knowledge (applied knowledge and learning) Then of course those who learned things in college as opposed to on their own.

When I say awareness is intelligent and good my belief is awareness is not static. I think it can evolve and grow and change. We can evolve and grow and change in other words. (Putting it back into first person.) I think it is quantitative. Meaning it can be somewhere on a scale. Higher or lower. Aware of more or less. It makes sense as life is a learning experience. We learn everyday. Learning, experiencing more, I think makes us change and grow in wisdom, knowledge, awareness, intelligence etc. All of these are just words though and words are never what they point to. Words just give us a way to conceptualize things in order to share ideas with others.