What Makes Intellectuals Intellectuals?

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I have always had a distaste for so called intellectuals who make issues very complicated. The ones who are able to simplify topics are the intellectuals which I trust and take more seriously.

When I hear somebody spouting off about a topic and introducing a lot of technical jargon to people who are obviously not understanding the topic, it seems like a massive waste of time for both parties involved!

Also, there always seems to be a very smug air about people lecturing and complicating things, as if they do it on purpose to make themselves feel more important than everyone else.

Another possibility in some cases is that they are not comfortable with the topic either. Their area of expertise may suggest that they are comfortable, but who really knows?

There is a strong parallel, in my view, between religious leaders who say that only they know the “true way” and smart people who speak in confusing terms and attack any other opinion which challenges a main stream view of their world.

I don’t want to be in any of their worlds! I want to be in my own world with my own beliefs. Terence McKenna always made a point of saying that “no one is smarter than you are”.

This is because we each have different chemical make ups, hopes, fears, past traumas, past loves, and so on. Now, when I am hearing or watching something that is complete garbled nonsense to me, I turn it off or walk away.

Why waste my time trying to get a sliver of meaning out of an hour’s worth of listening? Instead, I like to find the ones who can explain things simply and expand my understanding and awareness without a lot of headache.

Or, I just take the facts as they appear to me and trust my own intuition. I no longer allow intellectuals to enslave my thinking process. It’s mine…

Maybe I’m just lazy though! Have a good one.

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