Jump to content

Intelligent People tend to be Unhappy


Soy

Recommended Posts

Gee thanks, Danny C.

I'm intelligent. And no matter how hard I think , I find it difficult to 'be happy'.

I agree with the statement. Particularly now that I'm becoming older, I'm on a level with the adults that I once talked to because they were more intelligent than my peers. Meaning that we could actually hold a conversation about something that interested me.

Ignorance is bliss. I do feel that I'm aware of the world, and that makes me unhappier than those who haven't thought about it.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
Ignorance is bliss.

I WAS GOING TO SAY THAT! PICKPOCKET! THIEF!

BTT: I realize more and more how meaningless life really might turn out to be. (I said might - we don't have any obvious meaning or reason to human life as it is, but we might find one. If you don't look upon religion, that is - I find pretty much all of today's religions little more than fairytales for grown-ups.

Even if I don't see any real meaning to life in the universal context, I see no reason to not love life, though. I am unhappy in a way, but yet not.

Sorry if I sound sensationalist or something, but that's how I am

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

i think i do agree with it.. i tend to experience my happiest moments when i switch my thinking and worries off.. i also tend to get hurt then :)

i also like an example with a dog that i've heard a long time ago. when you come home and see your dog, he seems to be the happiest dog in the world, just for seeing you. so i think the more intelligent you become, the harder it becomes to enjoy simple things

Link to post
Share on other sites

there come time when u make discoveries that no one has ever made(at least as far as you know) and that felling in my view far surpasses the hapiness of a fool

that might be true.. but how often will that intelligent person discover something new? the more intelligent he is the harder he understands it is for him to discover something completely new. a fool, on the other hand, should be amused by much more things, and he is..

this is where people say that you should appreciate every day of your life, find something new, etc.

but i noticed that really intelligent people tend to start asking questions: "if we have so much knowledge, can i find anything really new?"

Link to post
Share on other sites

word!

Ask yourself this:

What do you prefer to be?

a) A fool who is satisfied?

B) An intelligent person who is unhappy?

Thank God I wouldn't ever actually have to choose between the two, but if I did I'd much rather be a satisfied fool. We all have the same basic goal in life and that's simply to be happy. (That 7 on the psychology test brought me happiness, that All-State Selection in Baseball brought me happiness, being accepted to Standford would bring me happiness etc.) All we really want is happiness

Link to post
Share on other sites

I agree somewhat because those who have been "enlightened" tend to be less happy simply because ignorance is bliss. It's a lot easier living life without knowing about anything. I think I'm thinking too much about Marlow from Heart of Darkness (stupid english HL :().

That being said, my TOK teacher is one of the most intelligent men I've ever met and he's so happy all the time.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

i agree with inthemaking. my current science teacher has an IB dimploma and is uber smart and is happy all the time and his class was the funnest this year-hopefulkly our principal will have a sudden urge to having him teach us science in grade 8 and have our grade 8 teach grade 7 science or something like that.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't really agree all that much with this sentiment. I would consider myself intelligent. I reckon I am pretty happy. I understand all that existential stuff and it reasonates with me, but I enjoy the pointless, revel in the selfishness of my existence. At the same time I am always aware of the suffering of others, so I try to do something about it even though I know it won't go away. I am still fullfilled doing the best I can helping, supporting the individual. Just because you know and understand the pointlessnes of your existence, it doesn't mean you have to be overwhelmed by it, enjoy the fleeting moments of beauty, don't take yourself to seriously, life really does go on. Anyway I personally don't think you should worry about being unhappy, because by default you are happy sometimes because you can distinguish between being happy and being unhappy. Anyway if life was only about being happy why are there some many masochists, enjoy feel the downs because they help make the highs so much higher.

Edited by Bandev
Link to post
Share on other sites

In terms of hapiness in the IB program - I really think that you have to be committed to the program and truly WANT it. Otherwise, I believe you'll find yourself thinking why on earth am I in this program & start to doubt everything you've worked for.

Good luck to everyone in IB & I hope that you're in it for the long haul!

Link to post
Share on other sites

This may look out of place but I read of couple of your posts and I seriously recommend you this book 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle.

I just have read the first pages and the first thing that it states is that YOU ARE NOT YOUR MIND. I strongly recommend it to all of you who think intelligence has something to do with happiness. Get your hands on it now...I can't stress that enough!

Edited by saya
Link to post
Share on other sites

Hemmingway has a point, but I think one of the main roots of unhappiness in people is an inbalance in some aspects of their lives....For example, intelligence tends to be associated with introversion and isolation perhaps because the intellectual activity goes on in one's mind. When one becomes introverted, he or she lacks in other areas...maybe socially. When there is that inbalance, there may be unhappiness. Perhaps one may be too social and then lack in the educational realm....that inbalance, too, may lead to unhappiness.

It's all about the balance. Yin and yang. Yada yada.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Hemmingway has a point, but I think one of the main roots of unhappiness in people is an inbalance in some aspects of their lives....For example, intelligence tends to be associated with introversion and isolation perhaps because the intellectual activity goes on in one's mind. When one becomes introverted, he or she lacks in other areas...maybe socially. When there is that inbalance, there may be unhappiness. Perhaps one may be too social and then lack in the educational realm....that inbalance, too, may lead to unhappiness.

It's all about the balance. Yin and yang. Yada yada.

I do agree with your point that intelligence in today's society tends to be associated with the "nerds", "geeks" and others that concentrate only on their studies - and not have a social life. However, just because one is extremely intelligent that does not necessarily mean in anyways, that they don't have a social life. I don't want to come off cocky or arrogant, but I'm easily in the top 5% of kids in my grade and I have not yet put in any studying/work until the day/two days before a huge assignment is due/exam. Do I have a social life? Yes, and I'm willing I'm easily in the top 5% in terms of being social, hanging out and so forth. So, yeah - those are just my two cents. To a somewhat larger extent - I agree with you as I know as bunch of my classmates don't really have a social life to be honest, they just stay home, do homework, play games, youtube, etc (they rarely leave the house to hang out). But there are a few exceptions of course as always.
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...