Discover the Intellect
Of what use is it to discover,
What lies on Mars and in the Stars,
If Man does not discover the Intellect,
The weapon of discrimination that is ours.
We human beings are busy discovering how to find a cure for the heart and the brain. We are constantly trying to improve technology for the train and the plane. But we have not stopped to realize the biggest gift that we are blessed with – the intellect.
Scientists around the world know of the brain, but because they seek proof for everything, they have not discovered the subtle body. Spirituality talks of this as MIME – the Mind, Intellect, Memory and Ego. Because there is no scientific proof of the MIME, we only record what we know of as the brain and nervous system. How then can science justify the presence of the intellect?
Thousands of years ago, spirituality tried to awaken our ancient civilizations to man's biggest gift – the power of his intellect. The ancient sages spoke about how plants too may have life, but they don't have a mind and thus, do not respond. Animals respond as they have a mind. They even feel pain. Human beings are the only living creatures, the most advanced of all, who have an intellect. The intellect can discriminate what is wrong from what is right, just as we can discriminate black from white. Through the power of the intellect, man is gifted with the ability to distinguish between the truth and the myth, the good and the bad, and after contemplating, he can make the right choices.
For centuries, we have confused the mind with the MIME – the Mind, Intellect, Memory, Ego. Somehow, we have believed that all this is the mind. But the faculty of memory and intelligence is not the same as the mind. The mind only produces thoughts. But it is the intellect that discriminates what we must do and what we must not, just like the memory has a very different function. Its purpose is to record whatever is happening in our life and to be able to recall it when we need to. However, most of us believe all these faculties are that of the mind. This is a myth.
While man is gifted with the power of intellect, which is very unique and special, man does not use it all the time. We are not conscious that we have to develop this faculty and put it above the mind. Most of the time, the mind bombards us with thoughts and the inactive intellect remains a powerless spectator as we are swept away by thoughts and feelings that seem to develop into our emotional choices. If we activate the intellect, we stop this barrage of emotional reactions, then we begin to use the power of the intellect to understand, evaluate, discriminate, and choose. We live with intellectual choices rather than emotional ones. This is the right way to live.
What should we do to live a life that is controlled by the intellect? The first step is to realize that the mind is a rascal. It is a monkey that keeps jumping. The mind is not the king. It is foolish to think that the mind is everything. The mind is only a thought factory and it will produce thoughts based on the emotions that we feed our thought factory. If we feed the thought factory with negative emotions like fear, worry, hate, jealousy, anger and revenge, then our mind will produce negative thoughts which are poisonous. However, if we feed our mind with positive emotions, like faith, hope, trust, love, courage, enthusiasm and confidence, then our mind will produce positive thoughts. Who decides what raw material we should feed our mind? It is the intellect. The intellect is the tool that helps us choose. It is like a valve that stops the mind from pushing us into living a life of negative poison. The intellect can choose thoughts that will ultimately become feelings and make us happy as it will make us live with faith and be optimistic. While the mind may force us to live with fear, it is the intellect that brings forward the facts and helps us contemplate. The intellect discriminates between fear and danger. Unfortunately, not many of us develop the intellect.
The moment we have a well-developed intellect, we are no more the slaves of the mind. Otherwise, the mind acts like a dictator and pushes the body to act without intelligently choosing what we must do. If we realize the truth about the intellect, then not only will we discover its significance, but we will make it in charge of our life.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that our body is like a chariot with 5 horses – our 5 senses. These are controlled by the reins, the mind. However, unless there is a charioteer who holds the reins, the 5 horses will go wild. The charioteer is the intellect. The intellect controls the mind that controls the senses.
When will we realize that our biggest wealth is our intellect? Adi Shankaracharya, in the 8th century, wrote a book – Vivekachudamani. Translated, this means – the intellect is our most valuable treasure. He explains how man must learn to be free. Our ultimate goal is liberation. We are prisoners of our own mind. If we want to be truly happy, we must be free from the clutches of the mind and the cravings of the body. Only then, can we live a life of peace and joy. For this, we must live our life making our intellect the Master over the mind.
IN A NUTSHELL