"Intelligence must follow faith, never precede it, and never destroy it"
~Thomas. A. Kempis
Intelligence is nothing without faith.
In the short-term it seems intelligence may take a person a
long way. But in the long run, in life’s tests and trials it’s the ingredient
of faith that makes a man prevail. By faith I don’t narrow the term to faith in
divine Gods and religious doctrines alone. By faith I mean a deep unshakable
belief within one’s self, whatever the odds are. And this self-belief is easily flourished by
the nourishing affect of belief in Divinity.
Intelligence gets you nowhere without faith.
It may solve an immediate problem and take you a step high
or avert you from a danger. If a ladder is placed in front of you, it may make
you decide to climb it or not, based on how accurately you have calculated the
difficulty of the climb and what may be reached at the upper end of the ladder.
But for this accurate calculations, one always needs information. Not any and
every information, but relevant and correct information. Certainty of
information is a condition for any correct intelligent decision. But what’s the
certainty of an event in an uncertain world? What is the certainty of a good
foothold? What is the certainty that the ladder you are climbing will not
collapse? Or the wall it is leaning against will not give away? What is the
certainty an earthquake may not happen? Do you have all the relevant
information with accuracy to be certain about every aspect of everything that
may affect you?
You Don’t. That’s where the faith kicks in. It is faith that
makes you take your decision. You calculated and you decided hoping for best.
And hoping manifests from faith. It is the same blind faith that made you take
your first step from a crawling baby to a walking toddler.
The more faith you have, the more you achieve with your
intelligence.
Somebody said this about intellectuals, “They can get the
right answers to intellectual questions that have nothing to do with their
actual lives; but in real life, they are just as crazy as the rest of us”. And
it’s true too. Any intelligent person, whether a scientist or an inventor had
achieved greatness by a greater faith they had in themselves. For example,
Thomas Alva Edision had a strong faith which instilled in him a determination
to not give up, which made him the inventor of the light bulb, literally
lighting the world. On testing 10,000 elements for a filament of a simple light
bulb and still ‘failing’ he said, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000
ways that won't work.” That is Faith. And great faith leads to great
achievements.
And on the other end you have the highly intelligent
intellectuals, edgy and going nowhere. Sometimes whining about their lifes,
despite their capabilities (whining in a intelligent way, because they are intelligent).
But this is due to lack of faith which leads to a lack of a strong hold to hold
on to.
It is known that this faith in man increases when he
believes or has Faith in a higher Divine or Mystic Force or God. It is like a
non-exhausting well which will water your fields when they drain in the heat of
all happening around you.
