Intelligence, Philosophy, & Feeling "Dizzy"

The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote much on the topic of genius. Despite our advances in both the hard and soft sciences, our understanding of how the brain works is still limited. Genius is a still unexplained phenomenon, as can be the way genius interacts with the rest of the world. Schopenhauer studied this very relationship, coming to an all too depressing (and keen) observation:

"A man must still be a greenhorn in the ways of the world if he imagines that he can make himself popular in society by exhibiting intelligence and discernment."

What Schopenhauer is saying here is that a genius is actually an idiot if they thinks their intelligence impresses most of the people they will come across. Rather than be a source of esteem, they will be resented for their intelligence, because everyone else will naturally be inclined to resent the 'superiority' inherent in intelligence. For Schopenhauer, this need not even be overt. The same reaction is true whether the genius flaunts their abilities, or whether the people who are not on that intellectual level merely assume such to be the case.

"They thereupon secretly and half unconsciously conclude that his interlocutor must form a proportionately low and limited estimate of his abilities."

Much as romantic comedies have tried to tell us that men and women cannot be platonic friends without sex coming into the equation, Schopenhauer is telling us that the genius cannot coexist with the rest of society without resentment coming into the equation. The smarter you are, the more you are destined to be ostracized by 'normal' society.

"The more distinctly a man knows, the more intelligent he is, the more pain he has; the man gifted with genius suffers most of all."

You might be wondering why I am spending this time talking about philosophy. When I recently encountered this line of thought for the first time in many years, I was struck by the way it intersected with a song that is threatening to break into my list of all-time favorites, and the situation my life finds me in right now.

In their song "Dizzy", Jimmy Eat World provide us with a line that boils Schopenhauer's philosophy into a single line:

"If you always knew the truth, then the world would spin around you. Are you dizzy yet?"

Knowledge is power, but it exists on a curve. Knowing is better than not knowing, but only to a point. When you reach Socrates' point of understanding the wisest man knows he knows nothing, the futility of thoughtful reflection becomes immutable. When you reach Schopenhauer's point of understanding society will never truly embrace those who can see and think things beyond the norm, the futility of socializing becomes suffocating. When you reach God's level of omnipotence, the pressure of having all of existence relying on you becomes a curse that cannot be taken off.

This is far more than Jimmy Eat World were contemplating when they wrote "Dizzy". That song is one about a relationship fracturing, but it gives us threads to pull on. As the line I quoted mentioned, knowing is power, and we live our lives in search of that very power. Not knowing is a hell of its own, a situation that tears our brains apart as the synapses burn through trying to imagine which of the infinite possibilities is our reality.

Right now, I am sensitive to this subject. There is a connection I have that has been fraying for longer than I realized, and the last threads holding us together may have lost their battle against entropy. The word 'may' is what set my mind down this path. I don't know if I am now screaming through the vacuum of space, or if enough of a filament remains to construct one of those soup-can telephones.

Not knowing feels like the worst possible outcome, but is it? As much as it has set my mind on fire worrying and fearing what is to come, there remains the possibility for repair. The full array of outcomes are still out there, are still available if we both choose the same direction.

To know that the ties have been severed would be worse, because endings necessitate the beginning of a new story, and some of us don't have enough ideas to start over again. In this case, I am the idiot, the blissfully unaware sort Schopenhauer and Socrates would both tell us has the advantage in this scenario. And yet, I find myself needing to be restrained every day from trying to learn the answer. I am smart enough to know the answer is most likely going to crush me, but I cannot stop myself from wanting to know.

So tell me, is intelligence actually all that smart?

"Respectfully, some honesty I'm asking now..." the song goes on to say.

What I think this song sums up, and why it has become so important to me, is that we're all idiots in some way. And no, that is not a comforting thought.