Man has always assumed he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much–the wheel, New York, wars, and so on–while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man for precisely the same reason.
–Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
That quote reminds me of what a friend said to me years ago. One day she stopped and looked at me with amazement: “Maybe you do know something after all, Jean. I always thought you were so happy because you were stupid.” 😀
If you had to choose between being happy or being thought intelligent and wise, which would you choose?
Duh! Happy of course. Maybe other people need to feel intelligent more.
I’d rather be happy while others are thinking me not so intelligent and not so wise. What people think of you is not necessarily the reality of you.
Yes, we are Happy & Intelligent & everybody knows that. Yea!
Well, all I can say is that loons are happier.
Happy. Because what others think of me is none of my business.
BHB,
Unfortunately not everyone knows we’re intelligent. And a lot of people want to be right, so much so that it makes them unhappy.
Mike,
I agree. It pays to be inner-directed.
Looney,
I love the name you picked. That and your comments here and on other posts are an inspiration to me.
Evan,
I love that phrase too. It took me a long time to live it as well as say it. It’s well worth the effort.
Makes no difference to me as to what anyone thinks of me. I would however rather be contented than intelligent or wise.
rummuser,
Hmm. Your ideal is to be contented. I have to admit, my joy has more energy in it. I’m not saying one is better than another, but here is a difference.
gaelikaa,
My brain is my favorite toy. Stretching it is one of the great joys in my life.
Intellligent people are happy people. Thinking too much can give you a headache anyway.
Is it not possible to be intelligent, wise and happy? What people think of me shouldn’t matter, but frequently does, but all things considered, I’d much rather be happy.
Health is important to me too. I’d settle for being healthy and happy and leave the wisdom behind!
Well I have been so unhappy with M/Outlook that I am slowly moving all my mail (well 90%) to gmail account…
But basically I prefer to be known as ‘happy’ because as soon as I make some unintelligent mistake I can be forgiven quickly 🙂
What I’d choose? To be a happily miserable genius. Intelligence optional.
U
Val,
For some reason the term “wise” always strikes me as pretentious. I’m with you, I’ll settle for happy and healthy. There’s an old Spanish saying,
Sounds great to me.
Cathy,
I’ve never used Outlook. Mostly I use AOL and Gmail.
I agree with you. It’s best not to have people expect us to always be intelligent. What a pain to have to worry about one’s image.
Ursula,
Interesting combination. Do you think geniuses tend to be miserable? Coming from a science background I think of geniuses as super-nerds. And I love being a nerd. It brings me a lot of joy.
Jean, as you indicate: Geniuses have no time to be miserable. They are so absorbed in what they do they might hang themselves enventually or hug a horse like Nietzsche when he lost the plost, cut an ear off, knife someone, whatever. Can happen to the best of us (short of murder in my case).
And please do not mention ‘nerd’ when I am in the room. I don’t know why but that word puts me off big time. As words and their sounds go ‘nerd’ has strong potential of reminding me of ‘snot’ – and, I let you into a secret aversion of mine – snot being the one excretion of the body I can barely deal with (in others and myself). The only snot tolerable, just about, is my son’s or any child’s under ten. (And Jean, please, whatever you do, don’t turn Con on me: What I just said is NOT turning nasty on ‘nerds’ just observing a linguistic and sensory sensitivity of mine.)
I don’t subscribe to the cliche of the “tortured genius”. However, those blessed with genius appear a tool, an instrument of their art. True genius appears to have little choice in the matter of how to occupy themselves. Even at the cost of hardship, being shunned, misunderstood, laughed out and starved by society. They do what they are meant to do by dint of talent. And maybe that’s what so many have in common: Despair at the human condition, an amazing appreciation of life, and the happy wonderment that you were born of all. (Jean, the last by so many not appreciated: Our very existence by how million chances to one is a MIRACLE. To me a variation of your moving insight age 10 you shared the other day. Blows your mind away.) Sorry, veering off main road.
Happiness, a subject you mention often, is one of those mysterious human conditions – not measurable. It’s like air; we need it to breathe. And no formula to it. What makes one person happy (say, bird song at five in the morning) leaves another untouched. Which reminds of my promise to you that one of these days I will take you fly fishing. That’ll test most people’s stamina; leaves me grinning – particularly if someone remembered to pack sandwiches and a thermos flask.
I dare say you, Jean, will pass with FLYING colours’ and reel in a sardine. The three of us as happy as Wile Cayote after a day of successfully chasing Roadrunner. I’ll light the barbecue and BHB, because she loves it so much, can do the washing up after (with COLD water, oh the joy of it!)
I am very much in love with the concept of achieving that mellow state of being CONTENT. Being content has a continuum. Happiness is very much momentarily. Even if one moment of happiness chases the next.
And may I say, Jean, having ‘known’ you for a while now what shines through, for me, in your writing that you seem CONTENT; possibly the bedfellow of happiness. Though might still sleep in different bed/rooms every so often.
In shallow waters yours,
U
PS Make sure BHB brings her wellies and a bucket
PPS Once you have had enough of this rather large helping comment box fille just chuck rest and/or me overboard: If nothing else I hope I’ll make good bait.
“BHB, because she loves it so much, can do the washing up after (with COLD water, oh the joy of it!)”
Funny you should know. There’s been many a kayak or backpack trip where I ‘washed’ with sand & rinsed with cold water.
It’s allright, BHB, I’ll do the washing up. Providing I haven’t forgotten (and I never do) to pack my yellow rubber gloves to protect that most precious to my protusions – my hands. Then we’ll let the sun take care of the drying, sleep under the stars, tell each other stories to scare the shit out of each other and, on waking, send Jean to catch another sardine – for breakfast. Don’t say I am not a romantic.
U
Ursula,
Fly fishing for sardines—that’s a concept that challenges my imagination and tickles my funny bone. Thanks, you made my day. 😀
About the word nerd. What would you use instead? I use it because it’s usually meant so perjoratively. It’s my little way of standing up to bigotry.
Somehow the word content doesn’t resonate with me. Appreciative is more like it.
Good question, Jean. What would I use instead of nerd? I’d say “enthusiast”, similar to ‘nerd’ in meaning yet the sound of the word so much more joyful, melodic.
Enthusiasm in others is infectious. Enthusiasts are able to interest me in things I am NOT interested in. Enthusiasm being catching – like the flu. Be warned. No, don’t be warned – you know already.
As to ‘content’ vs ‘appreciative’, and I am not trying to be clever: To me contentment is a STATE of mind, when you are at peace with the world unhindered by external circumstances; being appreciative is an ATTITUDE to life – regardless.
U
A nerd is a person interested in knowledge. Maybe in knowing only one subject. Possibly an introvert, not necessarily enthusiastic. At least not looking enthusiastic to others.
I think they used to reference a “nerd” as bookworm – a child who would rather be at the libary than at the beach getting a tan or playing some hardnosed sport…
To me now a “nerd” is someone who knows some so deeply that when she/he speaks the average person has no idea what they are saying – not one single word! And if they are a computer “geek” as well makes any sort of normal question we might ask, difficult.
I just asked my “geeky” relative something fairly simple today about how to transfer my RSS feeds over into gmail and apparently I shouldn’t even have them loading in my email folders!! – But they do as well as the browser…I usually only look at the email folder 🙂
Ursula,
I am definitely an enthusiast. About the difference between content and appreciative… I don’t know about definitions, I just know that appreciative resonates more with me. It’s more active, has more an element of choice in it.
bikehikebabe,
Wikipedia says,
To me the term avidly implies enthusiasm. And I would certainly rather play with my toys than go to a party.
Cathy,
If I have some knowledge that can help someone I try to share it in a way the other person can understand. I can also understand how someone can get so deep in a subject that it’s hard to explain it to someone else. I remember reading once that if you want to understand something, don’t talk to an expert. Instead talk to someone who has just learned it. They’re more apt to bridge the gap for you because they’ve just struggled with the problem themselves.
That makes a lot of sense.
On the other hand, when my husband asks me how to do something on the computer I’ll have him let me sit down and just do it. That’s because I’m not always sure and will have to try some things or else it’s so automatic that it would take a lot of time to sit back, analyze the process and put it into words. That works for him because he’s not interested in learning the process, he just wants to get something done the fastest way possible.
Without having seen the definition of a nerd, that’s exactly what I thought a nerd was. My husband is a nerd, though he is definitely not unattractive nor shy, is VERY athletic so is in no way awkward. But he fits all the other criteria.
Tom is an expert in most everything. Whatever I ask him, I don’t understand his answer. I need a layperson to answer my questions. Someone who starts at the foundation.
…if you want to understand something, don’t talk to an expert. Instead talk to someone who has just learned it.” quote above, from Jean
Jean you once said that she is a nerd (I agree) & proud of it.
(*see stresstopower.cheerfulmonk- my comment how Tom’s nerd mother, made him a nerd.)
correction:
Jean you once said that YOU are a nerd & proud of it.
(The computer was sooo slow that I thought I had corrected that before it got recorded.)
I enjoyed reading about your virtual camping trip.
Whether nerds are present, i hope no unwanted visitors make an appearance. Like bears for instance. Still, I think you people are resourceful enough to handle the unforeseen.
bikehikebabe,
Yes, Tom is a nerd and a neat guy. Andy is too, of course. I wouldn’t call him an athlete, but he’s in great shape. He’s also highly competent in all sorts of things, just like Tom. One reason I married Andy was because he wasn’t interested in social status, he loved the process of doing things. He wasn’t doing them for external rewards. They’re my kind of guys.
gaelikaa,
If there are bears around we’ll have to be very careful about keeping food away from our sleeping area. You’ve probably camped a lot more than I have, bikehikebabe. Were bears ever a problem?
BEARS
WOW
I love it when you talk about “bears being around” – oh we’ve got ’em but only safely behind bars at the zoo 🙂
Cathy,
We have them occasionally up on our land…they tear down Andy’s fruit trees if the fence isn’t strong enough.
He used to see a lot more elk than I did. When I would hear a crashing in the bushes I would walk the other way, figuring it could be a bear. One day I was walking down to our garden and heard a crashing and said, “Come on, Jean. It’s probably just an elk.” I kept walking anyway.
A few minutes later Andy called, “Hey, Jean! Did you see the bear walking down the road?”
But that, at least, was up in the mountains. Here are a couple of pictures bikehikebabe once sent me of a young, hungry bear in her neighbors’ cherry tree. It happens even down here, especially on the edges of town.
“Were bears ever a problem?” I’ve seen bears 6 times that I remember. Never a problem.
Grisly bears!!! On a bicycle trip our camp assignment was next to a huge bear trap. We had no car, just bicycles. It was for a grisly that killed 2 campers. They gave us another spot.
Bears in our trash abt. 30 years ago. Two people killed abt. 30 Miles from where we were camped last summer.
sadly wild animals and people do not seem to mix well 🙁
I suppose that every year the mixing takes a life – neither of which is replaceable and although the bears probably don’t realise certain things, we the people are sad and so forth.
what seems to kill people here are hunter with guns who think that “the moving object” is a deer, pig, goat…
bikehikebabe,
Even with the new spot I would have had a bit of trouble sleeping that night! How much food and gear did you pack on biking trips like that?
Mike,
30 miles is better than nothing. What happened to the bear that got in the garbage? Did Fish and Game transport it to a safer area?
Cathy,
Yes, hunters can be a danger. When I used to go for walks in the woods by myself during hunting season I used to sing loudly. No mistaking me for a deer!
We made sure that the trash was much better secured and it never happened again. We presumed that it had moved on to other areas.
We live in the country and encounters with wildlife are not too uncommon. The outside cats get fed down by the shop — it was rather disconcerting to open the front door only to find a opossum or skunk on the porch eating the cat food.
Year before last, we were sitting on the front porch and fox nonchalantly trotted across the yard about 20 to 30 feet from us — haven’t seen it since.
Mike,
Yes, skunks are a problem here too. They do love to eat cat food if it’s left out. As far as I know we don’t have foxes or opossums here, but we do have a lot of coyotes. A friend had a fishpond once but raccoons ate the fish. In California my uncle tried to chase a raccoon out of his persimmon tree with a broom. Not a good idea. The raccoon chased him back into the house. Who would have guessed?
Yes we do have foxes where Jean lives. I saw a fox dragging a trap caught on his leg, at my house to investigate an old pumpkin to eat, which he didn’t. But he will die. He can’t hunt with that trap. A coyote will eat him. I called for help but he’d dragged himself off.
I’ve seen another one or two, but they hide in the daytime unless they are really hungry.
of all the wild animals mentioned by Mike, Jean and BHB we only have the ‘
(0)possum but our possums are different…
Here in NZ they are a pest destroyed forests and so forth…the are the same animal in Australia which is a protected species.
From the Pest:http://www.kcc.org.nz/possums
To the unique product (possum has same type of hair as polar bear, hollow and insulating):
http://www.possumnz.com/ (note: am not affiliated to this company – it was just top of google page today!)
Thanks for telling me about the fox, BHB. We’ve seen bears, weasels, badgers, bobcats, wild turkeys, deer and elk, of course, and a mountain lion. The lion was in Montana, carefully crossing the road right in front of us. It was a rare treat, especially because we were safe in the car. I keep thinking of the fellow around here who was sitting under a tree trying to attract wild turkeys with his little turkey caller. Suddenly a mountain lion pounced down on him. He managed to wrestle it off and said he didn’t know which of them was the most startled.
Cathy,
Thank you for the link. It never occurred to me that Australia and New Zealand had such different flora and fauna. Even though I have been in both countries.
Sorry, I’m very late. I’ve heard lots of stories about bear appearances in the US. That’s why I mentioned it.
gaelikaa,
I’m glad you did mention it. It gave us a chance to tell our bear stories, and I learned about the problem with possums in NZ.