I always found schooling, be it writing, speaking, singing, (or any form of expressing that was asked of me in this context), to be super squashing.
It was like because I was so present and ‘in my body’, there was this great big picture I felt that went out to the furthest star and yet totally glowed from within me equally – but I was being asked to shrink this vastness, or broadness, into this very (very, very, very – and here I could write a page or two of very’s) thin line, this itty bitty limited little box, with rules to adhere to in order to be ‘valid’ or ‘accepted’.
There were boxes to tick that were made all-important, and from which our very worth was measured and compared, even though it seemed so irrelevant in the context of what I felt all around me.
This so-called intelligence and its measurement in particular, was a notion shunned by me at an early age.
Squashing the Big Picture – “Intelligence” – And what’s Really Going on..?
Through primary school I was likely to be found staring out the window, or be the one to ask the teacher all those questions they just couldn’t answer – because they were standing in that thin narrow line (that we call intelligence) and had left what they too knew and felt and lived as a child.
I felt a majesty in the world, in nature, in all people and in me, and a kind of transparency of the value and seeming limitation and narrowness of what we were taught and asked to regurgitate on cue – all to make someone else, parents or teachers, look good.
After hearing about me staring out of the classroom window, asking bigger picture questions, bringing cocoons or freshly uncurling fern fronds onto my desk and similar, some of the adults in my life became concerned that I was not ticking the ‘intelligence markers’ and so I was booked in for ‘intelligence testing’… at about 10 years of age.
After weeks of detailed rigorous (narrow and highly controlled) testing, my ‘scores’ were tallied up and I was marked within the top .01% of the global population for my age group.
Some of the adults got very excited about official certification with one of the large global IQ organisations, which I more than qualified for, but definitely did not want to be a part of – much to the surprise and bemusement of the adults involved, who felt it would ‘open doors’ and ‘set me up for life’.
It felt all wrong, totally upside down, and I actively refused for my results to be submitted for membership of such an organisation.
Granted, I was in a tad of a reaction and felt that being able to complete the kinds of questions I had was no measurement of anything with any true value or meaning.
I felt that a lived connection with my body and the beauty that surrounded us was being totally shunned in favour of a dis-connected mental capacity alone. At a time a so-called outer value was being celebrated, what mattered most to me seemed more invisible than ever.
I was also not into being labelled, approved of, or ‘singled out’ on the basis of something that felt so false and narrow, much the same way that I was so not into seeing kids at school ever being measured or labelled as ‘less than’ due to their different expression or way of going about things.
This is what one of the key IQ organisations has to say of their purpose:
‘To identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity’
To my present understanding, ‘intelligence’, as in IQ that I was tested for and graded by, is primarily from the head, which is the thin pocket or narrowed line I was feeling as being so limited and cut off from the greater, vaster whole.
I find it amazing that we can tell ourselves that living life from within a limited pocket, cut off from the vastness of what is actually available to us (and so from our own bodies), can ever be said to be ‘for the benefit of humanity’ when its very premise is on inequality, separation and even supremacy – and an adherence to its requirements could surely not be a whole and balanced way to live, and so perhaps not actually a healthy thing to encourage: no benefits for humanity in sight.
The notion of ‘being better than others’ creates separation and comparison between people – with a not too small dose of arrogance in being identified with what we do and not who we actually divinely are.
Even ‘identify intelligence’ is a great big farce – meaning measuring some limited little boxes that can be fulfilled… and all based on what to me was feeling like a total mis-definition of what ‘intelligence’ even was.
To the huge credit of the adults in my life, although my perspective genuinely made no sense to where they were at, my clear wish was respected – and no official certification went ahead. So with primary school ‘successfully’ fare-welled, on I went to a boarding school of my choice.
‘Coping’ with the Narrow Line…?
So how did I now interface with the demands of that limiting thin line – whilst still not being able to deny the way everything, in my experience, was connected, overlapping, related, in spheres – with no actual thin lines to be seen, only created?
My approach was that I attempted to stay with the bigger picture by working it through the system. So in year 8, for example, I undertook surveys and experiments on girls’ body image perceptions and ran that alongside and compared to the measured facts of their BMI (body mass index): needless to say there was a huge gap revealed between the two.
I wrote speeches on the ‘sixth sense’, and other such examples, all whilst getting A grades, so ticking the boxes, without so much compromising the greater whole I was aware of, or isolating one science or discipline from another as was the expectation and norm.
Later through university, (Social Science and Women’s Studies), this struggle with interfacing with the thin line amplified. The boxes of ‘acceptable thought’ ever narrowed – there were ‘answers’ presented for human behaviours that felt like limited pockets, narrowed linear thought and contradictory perspectives that were debated endlessly with no terminal point of unity that depicted when ‘the answer’ was actually reached.
Now interestingly, looking back pondering, had I at this stage been at university not expecting to find any answers, but simply to gain a piece of paper and a few practical skills, to take myself out to the world and commit to life and work, I imagine things could have been much easier.
Looking back I suspect I was actually at university seeking a ‘get out of committing to life early’ excuse and confirmation that the world was ‘all wrong’ and I would later withdraw from life into ‘alternative lifestyles’ – and give up on bringing me, and the broader awareness I naturally held to the world; but that is another story.
At University, I found it difficult to think in the way that was demanded; to think in pockets, restrict thought to one discipline or perspective at a time, and not interlink or certainly not to bring any lived experience, but only to quote previous others who all lived from the thin line and in their heads.
Throughout my time at university I would write assessments from within the confines of the box-ticking and try to add to them the bigger picture. The tension between my broad awareness and the narrow confinement of academic ‘intelligence’ became quite intense – and my choice then was to go all out to dull down the awareness, so that the ache of it not being seemingly isolated would not be so great.
Pot became a huge feature, as a coping mechanism for the isolation I felt; a fairly conscious strategy to ‘take myself out’ and not feel the tension of knowing there was more.
Returning to true intelligence
Fast forward around 25 or so years of foggy shut down living and I am finally coming full circle back – re-allowing the surround sound knowing to begin to re-ignite, wake up, dust off the cobwebs and begin to become part of my natural daily landscape again.
I am now fine with attending courses to support me with the purpose of bringing who I am out to the world – in a commitment to being part of the world and not hiding from it as I have.
I understand that for now, it is still pretty topsy turvy out there, and I am letting go of the need for it to be otherwise. I still get great grades, but they do not define me.
I found that when I write – unrestrained, and allowing of re-connection – from the vastness I once so naturally felt but had worked so, so hard to shun, the writing that results can sometimes offer a greater awareness of the many things in life that trick us into leaving our greatest supports.
My tussle with the limiting or reducing of these dimensions has however continued, truncating my expression in a variety of settings, editing out threads of writing to reduce them to one more ‘easy to follow’ and ‘structured’ piece. As I see this playing out, I am learning to confirm the value in writing, speaking and singing from our all. I was imagining recently how I would approach editing out threads and aspects of a written piece if it were actually music.
It’s interesting with writing – that we tend to chop back to one aspect – and I was imagining how much less likely this might perhaps be for a song writer for example to just include the vocals and guitar in the final mix for example, editing out the piano, drums and violin.
Reflecting on all this has given me pause to consider just how fooled we are by so called intelligence, by whether we are measured as great or not so great at ticking those boxes. I reflected on my recovery from the labelling with intelligence and supposedly ‘having it’ – and realised there are folks who have also been labelled by this curse, but in a way of being labelled as ‘not having it’.
A very dear and amazing woman friend (a kind of pen pal actually) is someone whose support I so value as she is absolutely amazing at expressing and speaking straight from a heavenly well of practical lived intelligence.
Every time she speaks it’s so ‘everyday’, and yet has the magnificence of something so much grander behind and through her every word. When I hear her speak my whole being knows beyond doubt that This is intelligence – this connectedness with realness and living.
The gems she shares are like drops of gold, and describing them as ‘pearls of wisdom’ barely comes close to describing what it feels like when she speaks from that connection.
There is a lived authority, a spacious clarity – and an immense ‘pulling up’ power in her every naturally spoken and written word. And yet – get this – at school she was told she did not measure up to ‘intelligence’… did not tick the boxes ‘right’ and was branded as being ‘less’. This is the defining travesty of a very, very unintelligent ‘intelligence’.
When we ordinary everyday heavenly folk reclaim our connection to and express from the vastness I knew and breathed as a child, it will be inspiring beyond measure, breaking down all the barriers we have put up to contain and shrink from what we all deeply know.
As children equality was it, and this was not read in a book, or written on a blackboard, (or read on the internet or smart board) but known in our bodies, the trees, birds, and people all had a flow and there was no separation or difference other than that which we later learned and took on.
Had it not been for the support, true wisdom and divine intelligence of Serge Benhayon, I would no doubt still be amongst the lost. So here is to Serge Benhayon, and this dear woman, and all like them, re-claiming our natural expression of the true intelligence we are all innately from.
By Kate Burns, Dip Social Welfare, BA (Hons), Dip Business Admin, Bellingen, Australia
Further Reading:
On True Intelligence
The Highest Form Of Intelligence Is Love
Defining Intelligence and Wisdom
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
I resonated with this blog as I’ve struggled with schooling from a very young age. Learning a native language at home, then learning another at school was very challenging for me even to this day.
The intellect is kind of ruling the world and we put people on pedestals when they have letters attached to their names. When I can recall wanting to have meaningful conversations, questioning life and how or why something had occurred.
There’s always an adjustment, as life never stands still, it’s forever changing. So that means we keep up with that too, without regurgitating it too.
I would rather have meaningful conversations about what is occurring around us then regurgitating stuff for the sake of it. Having degrees or pHD’s isn’t everything for us to live in this world.There’s more to life then we realise and we need to be aware of this more than not at all.
Wisdom has so much more to offer than human intelligence.
Human intelligence analyses, thinks, plans. Whilst true intelligence is about the all. It involves everything as far back as the galaxy and beyond…
Kate I was the opposite to you growing up with a mixture of languages, constantly struggling to put the words together, and I suppose there are still some fragments of this loitering around. I struggled with studies and the fact that I was measured because of an education system that measures everyone, was and is absolutely not on.
I once studied a masters education just so that I could have the letters, recognition, etc and that was all performed in drive and fear of failing, which occurred with the first unit. And when the studies were all over, it didn’t get me any where further in my life or career, it was a flatliner moment for me.
Roll on a few years and I’ve embarked on another masters and in the embryonic stages of studies, re-imprinting the whole previous experiences of studies.
I just don’t want to tick the boxes anymore or be owned by the systems either and its ruthless measurements, I want to enjoy the processes of studies and getting to know what’s within me. So over time space and everything I look forward to what lays ahead, and this time I will have company, being supported by people all around me, taking out the stresses of doing things all on my own.
Gorgeous to feel your approach to the latest masters studies Shushila. Enjoy.
The more I study and become academic the more I realise they who wrote the book, did the research, really don’t know what they are talking about.
I agree Le, some of the books I had to use for uni, were out of this world, not practical, relatable, so intelligised that the connection to humanity was severed. And we call this intelligence…
Thank you Kate, when the student is ready we are given the teaching and this is so surely needed in pre-school all the way through to palliative care and one day the light of the heavens shall shine from all teachers at every level!
Growing up, in my surrounds some people had university degrees whilst others had not even finished high school. What I observed was that those who had finished their university degrees were seen as highly intelligent and their word was revered. Those who had not even finished high school were seen as being a little simple and stupid and treated as not being as valued. And yet in my observations, those who did not have university degrees were generally the ones who were easy to talk to and hang out with and who cared about people and looked out for you, and they were actually super practical in life – where as the opposite was seemingly true of the others, interestingly so. This was simply an observation growing up and helped me feel and see and understand years later that intelligence is not necessarily what we make it to be in our current society.
I have had very similar experience Henrietta. The practical solid living capacity to have two feet on the ground and take sensible care of oneself and so others is a hugely underrated foundational intelligence that is diminished to our peril.
Intelligence today is seen as being able to memorise and repeat back what you have been fed/what you have learned. It is not seen as something that already is inside us all and accessible to all regardless of the external education we have had. And yet our natural intelligence, the one that truly sustains us in life, is there from day dot, from the moment we are born.
Education, and what they call intelligence is really just re-call, ‘I felt that a lived connection with my body and the beauty that surrounded us was being totally shunned in favour of a dis-connected mental capacity alone.’
A very inspiring read Kate – thank you! And this also shows how beautifully you were able to value true intelligence and not fall for the thin line that we call intelligence in our society today.
I can relate to what you have written Kate as we seem to live life in a very straight and narrow line. Our heads are down in concentration of staying on the line. So that we do not get to feel or appreciate is that life is so much grander than what I call one dimensional way of living. No wonder so many people give up in despair that there can be anything different and so check out on a life that at some level they know is not true.
“I wrote speeches on the ‘sixth sense’, and other such examples, all whilst getting A grades, so ticking the boxes, without so much compromising the greater whole I was aware of, or isolating one science or discipline from another as was the expectation and norm.” Inspiring Kate, to read how you played the system, without losing your inner knowing and sense of yourself.
“There is a lived authority, a spacious clarity – and an immense ‘pulling up’ power in her every naturally spoken and written word. And yet – get this – at school she was told she did not measure up to ‘intelligence’… ” This just shows how wrong the education system has it. Ticking boxes isn’t true intelligence, neither is learning by rote in order to pass exams.
The education system needs a good shake up, and question if what they are providing is what is really needed.
We put far too much focus on the ability to regurgitate knowledge from a very young age, and hardly any focus on the truth that if we stay connected with our bodies they can communicate the vastness of the universe which our minds cannot and will not ever be able to fathom.
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If we stayed connected with our bodies, and the importance of that was conveyed in education then we would have a completely different world.
I remember not being understood as a child because I didn’t fit into the box that had been given to me. I was often told I was a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. This difference wasn’t honoured, society just got a bigger hammer to knock me into the round hole of life. And I see this happening to many children I have watched grow up. That spark that they had as young children gets extinguished very early in life, it’s almost as though adults cannot bare the reflection of how they were as children and want to put out the spark as soon as possible in order to feel more comfortable with themselves.
It is so sad to see that spark extinguished as children go through the education system. Adults around them get very uncomfortable if their authority is questioned in any way. ‘Because I say so’ is no answer to an enquiring child.
What you share here Mary is monumental:
‘ society just got a bigger hammer to knock me into the round hole of life. And I see this happening to many children I have watched grow up. That spark that they had as young children gets extinguished very early in life, it’s almost as though adults cannot bare the reflection of how they were as children and want to put out the spark as soon as possible in order to feel more comfortable with themselves.’
Ouch.
You’ve hit the nail on the head there.
This is an entrenched generational repetition that has to one day be halted as it is doing no one any true good.
We have placed too much focus on intelligence of the mind, if this was everything how come there are so many miserable and depressed people who are highly intelligent? It makes sense that something is missing and that is the connection to something grander… the true intelligence that comes from our bodies not our heads and opens us to enormous truth and wisdom.
In schools the pupils are really struggling, big time, that shows that something seriously is not right in what the education system is providing.
There is something extraordinary to be found in ordinary life if it is truly explored – it’s the part of life that we over look that is actually the most magic – not the most intelligent person, or the cleverest human being, or the fastest runner – real extraordinary is found closer to home.
These are such beautiful words Meg and hold a warmth that says we all hold a true and natural intelligence within, and that no one is lesser, that we are all equal and have access to the same Universal Mind and Intelligence that we have been born from as sparks of it.
I find that we can use what we know in a very intelligent way most when we do see the interconnection between all things in life. That is when the true intelligence, that considers everything and anyone, comes to life.
“all this has given me pause to consider just how fooled we are by so called intelligence” The intelligence felt through the body has so much more to offer than the confines of the intelligence of the mind.
I never really felt comfortable at school, and it is not until decades later that I realised that school and education take us further away from ourselves rather than helping us maintain our connection and we end up being more lost through education than we are without it.
The education system does not support our inner connection, to who we truly are, ‘I felt that a lived connection with my body and the beauty that surrounded us was being totally shunned in favour of a dis-connected mental capacity alone.’
I find it amazing that you held on to your connection to your body, and the wider world, for so long into your childhood, and didn’t get lost in the identity or recognition of it. The intelligence of the mind quickly becomes something to latch on to, a way to identify ourselves with and by, and ‘get through’ in the world – our whole world growing up centres around our education and where we clock in, in terms of our performance. True education isn’t limited by what we know through what we’ve learned, but expands to include everything that we can feel and instinctively know.
Could education as it stands actually be harming people, ‘The notion of ‘being better than others’ creates separation and comparison between people – with a not too small dose of arrogance in being identified with what we do and not who we actually divinely are.’
This article certainly brings a new light to what we consider intelligence. I love the irony that adults were worried about your intelligence being lacking, then excited to find you were super intelligent! Just shows how unintelligent we are when we judge/mentally evaluate rather than feel a person/child.
Our education system restricts our connection to the wisdom we innately have and replaces it with temporal intellect and intelligence where we fall for the educational rewards, no surprise that so many young people are struggling with life.
I wonder why I was so shy and quiet in school. Why did I feel afraid to express myself?
I understand now that what I was feeling was ok. I did not feel safe in the school environment to be myself. Just understanding that has supported me to accept myself just as I am.
A healing in itself Ken – we hold these ideas that something was wrong with us that we need to change the way we are, but in fact everything was right with us and we were simply dealing with all we could feel at the time. To understand this allows an acceptance which is the healing itself.
I too used to be one of these top ‘A’ students that used to hide behind the grades whilst deep underneath I missed the deep and natural connection to the true wisdom I knew intelligence to be. I could rightly say that I was never in a education system that fostered true intelligence anyway so how would I be aware of anything different. However in truth it was still a choice I made on some level as we ALL innately know the truth, few however live it.
Fascinating read, thank you Kate. I also felt a great sadness in reading this of how much we squash/are squashed ourselves from our natural spherical state into a small thin line of ‘acceptability’.
In school, we get educated not to be in the body as the best guarantee to progress in life. When progress is the coordinates we learn to move on we establish a limit on what life is and can be.
The way the education system and the academia has taken monopoly over and shaped intelligence is so damaging to all of us. Many come out bruised and battered, having very little confidence, and even those who come out triumphed and ‘confident’ are pretty lost and not knowing who they are, and the worst of all is it sets us up to see ourselves as all separate individuals who are constantly comparing and competing against one another.
The only way we can reduce the ever expanding quality of a sphere (our true and most natural state) is to put it in a box and hope that the corners we have introduced will contain and thus curtail its sphericalness.
I totally agree with you when you say
“Had it not been for the support, true wisdom and divine intelligence of Serge Benhayon, I would no doubt still be amongst the lost. So here is to Serge Benhayon, and this dear woman, and all like them, re-claiming our natural expression of the true intelligence we are all innately from.”
Serge Benhayon and his family didn’t rescue, me but supported me to rescue myself, no one had ever given me such true and honest support which in turn I now give to my family, friends and all who know me.
‘The gems she shares are like drops of gold, and describing them as ‘pearls of wisdom’ barely comes close to describing what it feels like when she speaks from that connection.’ Beautiful Kate, this connection brings us access to the true intelligence and Universal wisdom that unites, instead of the human intelligence so many have invested heavily in that continually separates and keeps us away from who we truly are.
What a stunning blog, thank you Kate Burns. “Reflecting on all this has given me pause to consider just how fooled we are by so called intelligence, by whether we are measured as great or not so great at ticking those boxes.” Yes, we narrow our whole beingness down to this one little factor in an equation that is so much grander than we allow ourselves to understand.
The education system follows a narrow straight line and disregards the sphericalness of life.
Squashed is a great way to describe that feeling when we know we can feel that super vastness of our potential but it somehow gets capped.
Amazing, Kate, to see how you held strong with your conviction of not being labeled by your IQ and thus separating yourself further from everyone. Sending that message to your parents, teachers, and peers must have had a huge impact, and it only takes one person to say they are not willing to reduce themselves to inspire others to do the same. This blog speaks to me deeply and I’m sure many others who always felt that what was asked of us in school never felt like the truth or of any true benefit to humanity, but is actually more of a way to manipulate us into thinking we are so much less and needing to prove ourselves to others constantly, which is the model of most businesses after school as well. Perhaps there is a link there!
A gorgeous sharing Kate of coming back to claim the true intelligence that you knew and lived as a child. This true intelligence lives in the inner heart of everyone, we are all equal in this, though society and the thin line of its so called intelligence dominates society, never the less true intelligence lives on in every human being waiting to be connected to and lived.
The constrictions of formal education has a way of misinterpreting the truth as in the true meaning of ‘for the benefit of humanity’.
The magnificence of all we are is hard to contain in a body. As children we can be much more connected to this grandness and not quite know how to be in a world that has forgotten how grand we really are.
In our world, intelligence is seen linearly, as the capacity that allows you to connect two things and to make easily sense of that connection. We learn to project our attention in a specific way (to concentrate in a reduced amount of points). Intelligence is a permanent movement of detachment from the all, of which the points you concentrate on are part of. Through it, we gain some while we lose the rest and the vastness that comes with it.
Yes here’s to reclaiming true intelligence and supporting children to not have to feel that they need to shut this down.
Intelligence per se, as it stands is not real intelligence, it is more a remembering of what has been taught as opposed to the multi dimensional intelligence you describe which we all have access to if we so choose.
Academia tends to be about outdoing each other, jostling for positions and funding plus the regurgitation of existing material with a trump card to top it off and set one’s own mark in the annals of this linear version of intelligence.
How amazing to have held your awareness as a child and with the struggle you share it is no wonder that just about everybody does not. What you present here so clearly illustrates the evilness of so-called ‘intelligence’.
A very inspiring piece of writing Kate thank you so much for what you have shared, I realise how much I live at times in the shadows when i read what is possible in these words. “When we ordinary everyday heavenly folk reclaim our connection to and express from the vastness I knew and breathed as a child, it will be inspiring beyond measure, breaking down all the barriers we have put up to contain and shrink from what we all deeply know.”
Absolutely, and it feels horrible for all, as it goes against the fact that we are all equal, ‘The notion of ‘being better than others’ creates separation and comparison between people – with a not too small dose of arrogance in being identified with what we do and not who we actually divinely are.’
In your description of school at the beginning I got to understand more deeply why some children rebel so much even if they seemingly ‘have it all’. It’s a rebellion against being squashed into a box, defined by how well we do in relation to the arbitrary tick lists of intelligence and talent. If this level of understanding were brought to the education system as a whole it would be transformed overnight.
Yes, I agree Lucy. As one of those children that struggled so much at school I find reading this so confirming.
Escaping from life or its woes never works, we must all come back to what was always there and learn to truly resolve it. Otherwise life is a constant running away but there is no living in that…
I have recently started studying again and though a challenge at times I am finding that I am not doing late nights anymore as I once did. Going to bed and resting when needed and not focusing on the end result, just purely being with me in connection to every move I make and it has brought a great deal of simplicity and rhythm to my work load, which I really enjoy.
Where has so-called intelligence progressed us to? Despite having more collective ‘intelligence’ today we still have wars happening all over the world, disease is rife and currently obesity and diabetes are going through the roof. What sort of intelligence is required to tackle this? Not the definition today – which is mind-based. Body intelligence is the way to go. After all our body clearly signals if we are tired, exhausted, drunk or eaten the wrong food etc. yet we ignore this at our peril. And then wonder why we get sick – not so intelligent!
“There is a lived authority, a spacious clarity – and an immense ‘pulling up’ power in her every naturally spoken and written word. And yet – get this – at school she was told she did not measure up to ‘intelligence’… did not tick the boxes ‘right’ and was branded as being ‘less’. This is the defining travesty of a very, very unintelligent ‘intelligence.” It all depends on how and who defines the word intelligence. I know someone on the autistic spectrum who has a huge heart yet would be defined in today’s society as not so intelligent. Compare this with an academic who may be in the ‘top grade’ for intelligence, but is hard and cold-hearted. I know which kind of ‘intelligence’ I prefer.
Amazing Kate, we are already born intelligence, love (which is obvious) and tenderness, and through fostering these qualities in ourselves we naturally come alive – and don’t identify with what has got us to where we are from an education point of view, but with who we are and our awareness of this in the world.
I am studying again and am enjoying it more than ever. I am no longer berating myself for being too slow, or pressuring myself by leaving things to the last minute. I’m also actually having fun learning about new stuff. And I agree, it’s not solely about the mind, because the brain is a bit like a computer; it can only give out what has been previously fed in, however the body knows. That saying, ‘I can feel it in my bones,’ holds a lot of truth.
Universal Medicine has taught me the ridiculousness of trying to own knowledge and I now understand how calling that ability to accumulate and memorise information intelligence has led to individualisation.
Whenever I have been ‘stuck in my head’ and disconnected from my body, I have experienced a horrible arrogance that comes with this, that is very far removed from the true and natural whole-body intelligence. It is super harmful to my body and well-being if this prevails.
I remember being at school and being in some kind of shock that the way I saw the world and expressed was ignored. I then concluded that what I had to say must be of no consequence as people seemed perplexed when I spoke so I learnt to speak what they wanted to hear and chase recognition through good grades – a mission I mostly failed at. So there was a conflict with knowing what I had to say was there to be said and had purpose, and thinking that I must be off kilter in some way because people weren’t interested. And then there were times when they really were which confused me because I wasn’t understanding where others were at or myself.
So today I can sometimes get caught up in I can’t communicate properly – a belief that communication is set in stone and you are either good at it or not, end of! I am learning to bring expression into practicality – i.e. me living what I know and feel; it’s also about me gauging where another is at and what is there to be said from my whole body not just my head. So rather than condemn myself for being rubbish at writing I can bring a focus and playfulness to it and be forever learning around it.
Comparison to others is a slippery slope that destroys us internally as the decay that it is… it is the antithesis of Love, brotherhood and supporting each other which foster inspiration, true growth and natural intelligence.
True intelligence comes from that which lives deep within our bodies and not the accumulation of knowledge as we have been made to believe, understanding this allows us to embrace life to the fullest and live with a true purpose for the benefit of all.
True intelligence is spherical, is definitely not located in the mind and is not possible to be measured by a limited view that let some aspects of life out.
“The notion of ‘being better than others’ creates separation and comparison between people”. Well said Kate, I have experienced the two sides of that coin – bringing in the I am better than others and have felt it placed upon me by others – and both feel feel awful. It absolutely separates us and is incredibly arrogant. I too thank God for Serge Benhayon who is showing us that we are all equal, and that no-one is better than anyone else.
I have witnessed and felt that intelligence from the mind often comes with arrogance and superiority and yet whole-body intelligence comes with a humbleness and humility that brings and equalness that respects and honours all.
Mental intelligence is based on being better than another/others and to feather one’s own nest; it basically looks after self first and foremost at the expense of everything else.
Which shows that just with our heads we cannot come to true answers, the whole body is required for that, and that we still have to understand big time and then put it into action.
That label intelligence because we can recall information got me big time….I was so is shame because other people thought I was stubborn (I was a bit), not normal, not able to learn etc… I did not have a way of communicating in this world how I felt or understood life as a child, it dd not fit in with that ‘thin line’….of intelligence. I was with the universe as a child, wisdom beyond any intelligence and I now am returning to that relationship and ohhh my gosh wow hoo, it feels amazing…it was never about me, self, my little brain, exam grades, revision, it is about knowing because we know. (By the way, I have done exams and studied since this returning path to soul and universal wisdom began and I absolutely want to participate in life, but I do not hold back from understanding the source of this wisdom and understanding)
‘To identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity’, interpretation being, ‘to squash and control humanity to keep them from true intelligence’.
It really is so lovely to feel that warm glow of true intelligence emanating from unexpected sources all around us there is wisdom just waiting to be expressed.
Our true intelligence comes from the heart and the body. I have realized so many moments of non-intelligence when I am disconnected from my heart and body and these are now telling me it is no longer ok as the smallest disconnection is abuse to myself and felt intensely all around. The responsibility has escalated and thank you life.
And there we have it, a great example of the complete squashing the schooling system offers, it holds no learning and support of the true intelligence we all hold within.
This is an incredible blog Kate. Our true intelligence comes through us and is not from us. I used to feel like the narrow mind based intelligence was a superpower that made life easy. Now I see that intelligence is only as good as the source that has impulsed it.
What a great demonstration of the limitations education provides and tries to enforce whilst thinking it is the end all and be all.
It really diminishes what we can bring to humanity when we are schooled in such a way that has us believe that to be ourselves and to connect to a higher order is wrong and not valued, and that in order to be successful in life we have to conform. The way the schooling system is currently set up only serves to squash and reduce – is it any wonder the children shut down to such an extent that awards and achievements become everything, and when a child never receives such accolades, that also serves to shut them down further.
Reading this I reflect on how I tried to use school as a means of feeling worthy growing up. At home it seemed when I pointed things out they weren’t generally warmly received – I hadn’t developed understanding of people. So, desperate to prove I was right because I was desperate to feel I had value I sought to get great grades – I’d heard adults sing the praises of those with the best grades and for being the cleverest. I decided to excel at school but found writing was like being in a muddy pond of words. I tried so hard to be original and brilliant but it wasn’t until university I got that what was being asked was to conform to a narrow viewpoint someone else had laid before you. Only through dealing with my hurts and re-connecting with my essence, feeling my worth do I drop the attachment to trying to prove myself by being clever. Just feeling how toxic this drive is is enough to know how harmful it is. It prohibits appreciation of one’s true qualities and that of others.
One of the things that I absolutely love in life is when I am in a conversation with someone and they deliver the most profound pearls of wisdom because they are connected with themselves. It is always a magical moment.
As awful as the notion of the narrow intelligence that “squashes the Big Picture” or at least tries its damnedest to do so, I am heartened at the fact that it never can truly succeed. Children are forever coming into the world with an amazing openness to feeling the vastness of life, this itself shows that this great awareness is not going away. And us as adults who have given in to the pressure of living inside a thin line and have given up on the vastness that we too once felt, all it takes is one person to powerfully and steadily hold that light for us and we remember.
It is really cool that I know many people that thanks to the inspiration of Serge Benhayon have started to return to and live that innate awareness. So not only do we have loads of people lighting up the planet, but also more and more children who are not squashed into a box. I know that the game is already won.
It is sad that as a society we have become conditioned to champion those with high IQ’s and call that intelligence, when we never stop and consider the quality of relationships these people might have to themselves or others around them, or the quality in which they live in the between moments when they are not being asked to perform or regurgitate. True intelligence is gained through our connection and honouring of our bodies for it is our bodies that hold the wisdom of the stars.
It is strange how in general we seem to have created such a boxed in definition of ‘intelligence’ – something that someone either has or hasn’t, and so labelling and in effect cursing people by both calling them ‘intelligent’ or lacking in this ‘department’. I love what you share here Kate and how intelligence is something we all innately have access to – and how our expression of it in truth may just not fit the current picture that we have of what defines something as intelligent.
It is interesting that we measure almost everything in life. For example, I don’t quite see the purpose in measuring someone’s IQ because it is impossible to measure the intelligence of the universe, we all have access to universal intelligence and so how could we measure this? Pretty much impossible I say.
True Chan – we could never imagine to measure or compare the big picture intelligence- the whole body universal intelligence- the lived wisdom of a person connected to the All via the lymphatic system – it is immeasurable and incomparible. The other thought form we have come to falsely label ‘intelligence’ – the seperated nervous system – self driven, mind without body, heartless, forwards gain seeking, ownership driven knowledge based narrowness is where we begin to use mental recall -measure one against another – say what is and what is not – who has – who had not – and how much, to compete, strive, and own – this harmful separating way of thought is a quantum leap from the limitless unowned knowing of the inner heart and the whole. When this is understood it reveals that what we have come to call intelligence is actually not intelligent at all, but just a mere shadow.
Beautiful to come back and reread your blog Kate. I love how you have totally exposed the temporal meaning of intelligence and the place it holds in our modern society; as you so truly point out temporal intelligence is elitist, separative, undermining and competitive; thus serving nobody.
So very well said Shirl: “temporal intelligence is elitist, separative, undermining and competitive; thus serving nobody.” Absolutely – the whole blog in a few spot on words.
Brilliant Shirl. This sums it up so well. What point is there having intelligence if we use it to harm each other? Intelligence is behind war, creation and marketing of cigarettes, the creation of weapons, drugs and so much more. Narrow mind based intelligence is not the saviour we are led to believe it is.
It’s so interesting to observe just how much that we need to “prove” that we’re intelligent. We use fancy words, complicated sentences, metaphors etc., however pay very little attention to the quality of what we say. Like you said, something said in the most simple and plain language, can be far more profound than a “finding” from the latest academic journal article.
Very interesting example Mary. The extra investment that can come with labelling too. Really heartening to hear you held clear on what was actually supportive in this instance. Imagine if more of us trusted our own innate knowing rather than getting swayed by systems that seem in this era all too often to loose sight of the actual people – as people and not comodities, numbers, rankings etc – whom the systems were originally estabilished to serve.
Thank you Kate, it’s an extraordinary story to read. I can relate very much to this line, to “give up on bringing me, and the broader awareness I naturally held to the world”. I have had such unusual perspectives on life and often asked questions others could not answer, and I have understood life in a completely different way to others – so much so that I eventually shut that part of me off. There was actually nothing wrong with me I just have a very broad awareness, as you put it. Very confirming, thankyou.
It Is gorgeous to witness so many who have suffered at the containment of and disconnection to the vastness you speak of to reclaim their innate and natural expression of true wisdom and intelligence. There is indeed great inspiration beyond the barriers we have imposed upon ourselves.
Yes, being labelled as ‘having it’ or ‘not having it’ we get separated with intelligence as with other labels. Thereby I understand more and more that we all have everything in us and it is our choice how much of it we bring out. Beside off cause that we are placed somewhere to play our role in the bigger picture.
It seems that the current education system is designed to negate the natural intelligence we all have and confine our grandness to a few narrow arbitrary definitions. Most exams are simply memory test so if you have the capacity to remember lots of facts, you will do very well. The bigger picture is very rarely the focus, and we compartmentalise everything, rarely making links. Just the other day I was teaching physics where it involved using some equations and many students complained that we should not be doing maths in a science lesson.
Brilliant blog on the squashing effect of learned intelligence. There is so much intelligence within us all and it is where true education lies.
What are we showing our children when we as adults get very excited about good results they have achieved? That is to say that unless we support our kids to know who they are the results are meaningless.
I work with a lot of people who are regarded as highly intelligent yet I would not say that they have true intelligence. If there is a disconnection from our divine essence then there is no true intelligence. When we connect to our divine essence and to the wisdom of the body we actually get to see that we know far more than we can ever imagine.
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It truly is amazing to think that at school we are taught that intelligence comes from knowledge and from our heads but in truth we have all of the intelligence we need right there with us from birth in our beautiful bodies. Connecting to this wisdom is where the gold therein lies and that is one pot of gold that is everlasting if we choose to use it.
Our definition of intelligence is in itself somewhat skewed. Even when at university I remember having discussions with logical, so called left brained friends who argued that creativity and right brained intelligence was not actually intelligence. It was in their view something else entirely. And so it seems that we are determined to box things to suit our own view of things. The quandary of course, is that our view of intelligence is limited by that of our own, so to speak. And so when we meet someone or something that may have a type of intelligence that we cannot comprehend, we tend to write it off, or call it something else so that we can define it. And so we call the ability of animals to sense danger, or a natural disaster well ahead of time instinct, when in fact it is a type of intelligence. But we don’t call it that, because perhaps we would then need to admit that there is a form of intelligence that is in its own way superior to the type of intelligence we like to champion. When we study dolphins, or whale song, we are intrigued, and yet don’t seem to be willing to ponder that their’s is also a form of intelligence worthy of recognition. In fact, nature in general is full of expressions of intelligence that is beyond our understanding, and yet we refuse to acknowledge the magnificence of such. Even within our own bodies there is the intelligence contained within a single cell that knows what its function is, even though it is not directly connected to a nerve ending connected in turn to the brain. Recently I read that they have discovered that the heart reacts to external stimuli quicker than the brain, suggesting that it has its own form of intelligence that allows it to do so. And so the list goes on. My point being, we should be open to the fact that there are forms of intelligence that we are yet to connect to, even within our own bodies, and we would do well to be less skeptical and more open to such possibilities if we do not want to limit the capacity of our awareness.
Our heart has such an intelligence that everything that has been held up in the world in this area pales into insignificance in comparison, in fact it is all rendered naught.
Beautiful cjames2012. And so true.
We all have the ability and opportunity to wake up to ourselves and dust off the cobwebs that are courtesy of our ideals, beliefs and patterns to reignite and reengage in life.
When we view life lineally we trap ourselves to a narrow line that can only go forwards or backwards. Looking at life this way completely omits the potential of seeing and feeling life spherically which in turn opens us to the grandness of clarity and purpose.
The intelligence we foster in our society today falls very short of the intelligence we are able to access if we connect back to our divine source through deeply caring for our bodies and honouring ourselves in our being.
So true Doug. A disconnected irrelevant skill set that is hyperinflated to rank some as having it and others not. Madness. Quite arrogant in the face of lacking any wisdom or any body life awareness whatsoever. Places the disconnected mind as the lead to the detriment of all. We miss out in the rich expression of a heart connected body and the resultant illness, lack and misery. Time to come back to the wisdom of the whole body which is connected to a vast All that leaves no part and no person less.
Very beautifully said Doug. Time for an update.
What a great appreciation of the truth of who you and everyone innately are. You knew from young what was true and you stayed with this against the pressure of adults and systems. This is remarkable considering the way we can be overtly molded and directed to the thin line of how intelligence and thinking by adults is to proceed and develop. There is an enormous consciousness of how we are supposed to look and fit into to life. Interesting University was the last straw – from the outside it is presented as a place for expansion and more open to unfolding of possibilities of true intelligence.
An honest sharing about the education system and how it affects all involved. Thank you Kate for this clearly shares that the education system identifies intelligence with accolades and the mind and leaves the body and its gorgeous connection behind. When we begin to understand the intrinsic magic of our bodies own knowing and wisdom, then we can begin to uncover true learning at it’s highest peak.
It is sad and deeply concerning when formal education confines and shuts down a child’s natural curiosity for the truth instead of nurturing the curiosity to expand and develop.
It would be a great step for the education system to allow children to explore and expand on their innate wisdom instead of the focus being on the limited intelligence of the mind.
I was often told that the most intelligent ones at school were likely to “make it” in life with great ease because of the great mind they had. Boy oh boy is this the biggest lie ever. Especially when doctors of such high skill and intelligence so called, cannot cope without drinking alcohol which they know is a poison or worse, committing suicide as they cannot take it any more. What quality of life has this so called intelligence actually brought us?
Thanks Kate – what you have shared has exposed much of what is happening in the education system everywhere. I also love how you were able to survive the system by staying with the ‘big picture’ and nurturing your connection to what was true. Observing my tender and wise grandchildren, I can see the challenges they too are facing but what is so wonderful is that they have some open and amazing switched-on adults in their lives that will support them when the system attempts to narrow their understanding of what is true and who they are – thanks again.
That thin line, or reduced state of being is so well known to me. Its something I have spent a lifetime learning to walk and it gets me nowhere… that is nowhere that I want to stay and just be. Yet when I reconnect to what I am already, the innocence, the fragility, the simple joy… I am astonished to see just how easy (and different) it can be.
When you write that as children, “equality was it” I am reminded that we actually invented and created individuality and that individuality is now king; it has harmed us enormously and it still has a way to go but over time we will realise that it is not working to pit one of us against another.
I love it Kate… we are “ordinary everyday heavenly folk”, which is something grand, vast and all-knowing. ‘Intelligence’ as we’ve measured it is just a drop in the ocean of what we otherwise are.
We are all born with the wisdom of the universe within us, it is innate to us and through our connection to the true quality that we are we once again have the opportunity to live the future now and inspire others along the way.
I was amazed when I began to express from my body, to speak at women’s groups, write posts and blogs that I just knew were purposeful and of great learning for not only myself but others too; and this in spite of an education system that taught me that I was not good at public speaking, oral presentations or above average writing skills. When the sides of the boxes are lifted away and true freedom of speech from ones own body of intelligence is felt and confirmed as nothing to be owned by the voice box but instead let out as a living, breathing expression for all – everything changes!
This really highlights our modern day education system and the way everything needs to be put in boxes and ticked, to get a result otherwise the student is seen as a failure.
And the teachers too are under these huge pressures to produce standard measurable student attainment. It makes it very difficult to do what they may have first felt to and actually support kids in a rounded way.
True Intelligence can never be of the mind alone it is a lived connection with the body. Looking at our world today it is clear that it is time to look more deeply into what it means to be truly intelligent.
The all-encompassing nature of your expression is a joy to read and feel Kate, thank you.
Thank you Victoria – it is certainly a joy to write from the heart and whole.
The power of the Education system to narrow, make smaller and limit those that go through this system huge, is overwhelming for many and the way students cope further numbs and attacks their true understanding, connection to and awareness of who they are. Thanks to Serge Benhayon and the Way of the Livingness, a way of living that considers the cycle of the day, food, re-connection to and claiming our breath and true movement now offers many the opportunity to hold themselves through the forces that attack who we truly are. What you have shared Kate shows that our education system is warped and instead of preparing our young ones for life it actually belittles and disempowers them and has been this way for a long time. This is a great blog bringing much awareness for parents offering support and nurturing their children’s inner wisdom.
What an amazing share! It is so beautiful to see that you felt so strongly and stood by what you felt at such a young age when the influence of adults is so big! Very inspirational 🙂
I’m wondering if we all feel a level of ‘not fitting’ in at school, I know I certainly did, and strangely enough I had schools closed, two three year courses cancelled, that all gave me the idea I wasn’t meant to peruse education. So it comes as no surprise and it feels very true in my body that there is a lived authority, a spacious clarity, a natural intelligence that is available to us when we naturally love and appreciate life and the lessons that are constantly being presented.
True education is shared and with it everyone brings their part to play. Today we live with an international education system which celebrates individual merits based on the ability to recall facts that leaves us far from connected from each other and what we can all bring as a collective. What you experienced Kate Burns growing up is the simplicity that all children feel in the initial years of life where there is no barrier and the openness to learn is limitless.
As you shared your experience of pot smoking ‘to consciously take yourself out’ Kate, I cannot but wonder how many other people are smoking it regularly as a coping mechanism in reaction to just giving up and shutting down because they want to numb their feelings and thoughts that are innately spherical simply because they are being forced to think lineally.
It’s a beautiful thing to step away from such narrow definitions of ourselves and of our intelligence to embrace something that is far vaster than the confines of IQ. I remember as a trainee teacher listening to a lecturer challenging IQ and saying, “How do you compare a child who lives on the streets and works out how to survive but fails the IQ test?” There are all different expressions of intelligence, however I would add that without love intelligence is failing us on both personal and community/global levels.
With the support of Universal Medicine teachings, you may of reconnected back to your true wisdom Kate but as I read of your experience growing up I cannot but wonder with the lineal way we treat intelligence in today’s world how many other people have got lost in the education system and life in general according to these same lineal constraints because we are basically being told how to think as a step by step process as opposed to how we are innately designed to spherically think. I feel there are many a person in the world that has some cobwebs to clear to awaken back to this true spherical and all-encompassing way of thinking and living, so the more that is shared on the topic of spherical vs lineal thinking the more we shall all grow.
Thanks to Serge Benhayon I too have been recovering in myself and re-claiming the natural expression of our true intelligence. Just as Kate describes here, I also feel, and so I know, that this is what we are all innately from.
Great confirmation of what i was feeling throughout my schooling. I realize the kids that dropped out of school were the ones with the courage to say no what was not working. Life teaches us about life not school.
I opted out of school pretty quickly, not really understanding what it was all about, it all felt a bit pointless, and this became the anthem through which I chose to make my life. If I didn’t understand I would give up and stick to what i knew, keeping under the radar and not really participating life. If it were not for Serge Benhayon I too would still be lost, under the illusion I was getting on with life but really I was on the same narrow line as every one else.
Yes, it is very hard to have to try and shrink the infinite all-knowing intelligence of the Universe into a tiny itty bitty little box and feels really horribly as we have to shrink ourselves too.
i appreciate what you are describing here- what a loss for so long your incredible intelligence?
We are so blessed by the wisdom that comes from the highest forms of thinking.
Being linear and recall isn’t it, and it dulls down anything amazing that has to be expressed that way.
True intelligence cannot be owned, only accessed, the only way to respect true intelligence is to respect the vessel that it can flow through, e.g: the body, respect your body and move to the rhythm of the universe and all the divine intelligence is yours but the catch is, it is only yours while you are committed to this movement. Their for in this truth, no one can ever be more than another, they can only be less respectful and loving of their vessel that in turn does not allow a clear passage for information to be passed through.
I had to slowly let go of my long cherished ideas of what intelligence is- i used to pride myself on being ‘better’ than others in the area of recall and insight. In much of the other areas of my life however I was far from intelligent, in the areas that would have supported me the most were completely overlooked.
As an adult I am relearning exactly what it is to be wise and to live from the heart- this is vastly different to the currently lauded intelligence i grew up being identified by.
I am observing much of what is said here as my Grandchildren go through the Education system. I celebrate that as my awareness of the thin line is growing and I am able to support and nurture their innate love and connection to their inner heart. This is such and important blog Kate exposing our Education System and the imposing nature of it.
This idea of intelligence only coming from knowledge really is a way to divide us not let us see the greater wisdom that surrounds us. The fact is – intelligence is a sure way to put us into boxes, however wisdom is something we can all access equally – so it is the perfect game in life to focus on what separates us rather than what unites us.
Its is so true that pitting kids against each other fosters arrogance, comparison and a lack of appreciation.
I am so glad that i have been humbled by the truth of love, and how uniting it is, and how my mind cant get it, but my heart can if i just listen.
Intelligence is often used in today’s society as a tool to separate people. There is nothing intelligent about that!
It feels to me that the thin, narrow line of intelligence, that is so lauded in our world, is a deliberate way of sabotaging humanity from feeling the true intelligence of our body that is vaster than anything we can possibly imagine. A person who considers themselves intelligent will need proof before they will believe that statement, whereas a person who is connected to the wisdom of their body, knows it to be so.
Thank you Kate for a very inspiring blog, when man can put a man on the moon but not know how to live in harmony and equaliness with each other, how ‘unintelligent’ is the intelligence that the world holds so dear.
I could really relate to what you’ve shared Kate about the very limited intelligence believing to have all the answers. Very recently I have become more aware of how this limited intelligence gets in the way of what we truly know from our whole bodies. When I feel something in my body – say a situation has triggered a reaction in me. My thoughts have instantly gone into a judgemental ‘I know the answer, I know what this is’ mode. But if it truly knew and truly wanted to support the body – why does the feeling / reaction return? It’s like saying we know something but when the call to act on what this intelligence allegedly knows nothing is produced. So recently I have been taking notice of my feelings and not labeling them, just stating to myself that something is being felt. This has led to much more understanding and action than thinking that I have the answer.
I find intelligence was often presented as a have or have not- there was no in between.
The difference between true and traditional intelligence is huge- and something we need to really get back to truth about.
i love how you describe the reason you smoked pot- because you couldn’t stand the strain of feeling there was more, yet living in a world that never reflected anything other than falsity to you. Its a strain so many of us can relate to.
Love your statement about studying at University “but only to quote previous others who all lived from the thin line and in their heads” this is so how it is. At University credit is only given to words written academically and always referring and repeating what has been said by ‘credible’ and ‘notable’ academics. I understand where this has come from because we are afraid of believing lies, but wasn’t Copernicus once denied of the great truth he brought through astronomy, and so Galileo. Einstein and Newton had resistance too, and today their work forms the fundamental principles of science.
Its interesting how a lot of people would say they felt the same way as children. Looking back I can see that everyone had a similar experience in school, there was a world of energy, of connection to each other and yet there was also all of the expectations of the school and how we had to change to fit in some how. I was in an exam the other day and experienced a very familiar feeling, I could focus on the exam but was also aware of the people next to me and the quality of the whole room. Our sensitivity is such that we can feel how the person next to us is feeling even if we don’t know them.
Its interesting how intelligence is presented as a gift. Some have it, some don’t. Yesterday I was feeling particularly un-intelligent, pouring over some accounts that didn’t make sense. At the end with the support of a friend I realised it was the state I was in (overwhelmed) that was making it seem difficult, rather than a question of intelligence.
I used to get told off in French lessons for regularly staring out of the window, yet the teacher only always talked in French, she was French, and expected us to understand her.
What I used to find at school was the complete disempowerment of our truth by the fact that we are not really able to question whether something being presented to us is actually true or not. We could question it and try to understand it from our heads but whether we felt it as truth or not did not change the fact that to play ball with the system and be seen to be ‘intelligent’ one has to follow and comply to what is taught.
When I look at the education system now, with so many hard working people treading that thin line, trying to make it all happen, both as a student and the teachers, it is clear to see why so many of us give up on ourselves and on life. Because that thin line is ill-accessible. No one can achieve its parameters, not the student or the teacher.
I love how clear and accessible you made the word reductionism for me.
Universities don’t go for expansion or evolution when they avoid us to interlink or to bring any lived experience, but only want us to quote previous others who all lived from limitations and in their heads.
This is not how most people look at it: “Now interestingly, looking back pondering, had I at this stage been at university not expecting to find any answers, but simply to gain a piece of paper and a few practical skills, to take myself out to the world and commit to life and work, I imagine things could have been much easier.”
University is considered to be something very serious that sets you up for a great income and offers security. It puts you above others and gives you control. University has little to nothing to do with committing to life and work and no way it can be easy or simple.
I agree Monika, going to university to gain a piece of paper and a few practical skills in order to get ourselves out to the world and commit to life and work, would make things a lot easier then…
“The notion of ‘being better than others’ creates separation and comparison between people – with a not too small dose of arrogance in being identified with what we do and not who we actually divinely are.” This is exactly how it is for me. Competition, beating another and winning are some of the words that come along with this. And actually no one wins and we all loose, for without connection there is no truth, no harmony and no love.
It has always struck me as strange what is actually measured in these IQ tests and I have found that some of the people that test really high and then use that to ‘further’ themselves in life and intelligence, are very inept in what we would call emotional intelligence – you were obviously intelligent enough to say no to that path at an early age.
Oh Kate, I LOVE your blog and expression and deeply relate to so much of it. You already had me in the first two paras with your configuration of words and expression – love the “Super squashing” and very verys – there is an aliveness to your writing that you don’t find from people who have been super squashed and now write what is right and what fits the line.
You also had me with this bit: “Through primary school I was likely to be found staring out the window, or be the one to ask the teacher all those questions they just couldn’t answer” and then how you came out top in Intelligence tests. I had exactly the same experience and scored 100% in an intelligence test. The only difference was that I simply could not get it together with the knowledge stuff and sitting in a class room and left school when I was about 15. I always was able to learn and do anything that had a purpose and pass any exam and actually be very successful in the temporal world if I could see something was needed, but couldn’t learn or memorise list of information or stuff that was lineal, knowledge for knowledge sake or meaningless to me. To this day I can’t stand knowledge being spoken at me and feel like I am being assaulted when faced with a lineal barrage.
Thank you Nicola – it was very (very very) fun and natural to write like this. Imagine if more of us were not squished and formed to get our writing to be a certain way. My seven year old daughter is loving writing and it is interesting to see how this is being shaped and limited and structured and re-rhythmed already at school.
You have very wisely exposed our current form of ‘intelligence’ Kate. It is cold and very confining. I too have come to see that true intelligence comes from our connection with our divine nature. We all have access to this divine intelligence/wisdom and the only reason why this might seem to not be the case is our choices.
Thank you Kate, for taking the time to re-imprint the word and perception (that we have made) about inteligence. For us to come back to its origin we must face what is true inteligence and debunk what is actually not from there on. It is not a search that far – but a truth inside. We all have a deep inteligence , one that can only be spoken from the heart – Our Soul.
I distinctly remember the joy of nature’s wonder as a child and being out in nature and to this day I still feel the same way. True intelligence is sharing our wisdom and wonderment of the world around us from our own expression. There is nothing more beautiful and precious than sharing the gifts of how we see, feel and are in the world.
Kate, this is so gorgeous to read, I have observed how crushing our education system is, children are rated ‘good’ or even ‘struggling’ at something, they get badges for performance, their natural joy, loveliness and natural knowing is not recognised or encouraged, towing the line, being ‘good’ and achieving academically is what is respected and rewarded – this system is not supportive for children, it makes them compare themselves to each other and does not support and nurture the amazing qualities that each child brings.
I always thought intelligence was how much you could recall and I thought I was dumb as I did not have a good memory. When I realised that all we need to do is connect to our body, align to the universal energy and all that you need to know is made available to all equally, I was so relieved and it made sense. Thank God for Serge Benhayon and the wisdom that comes through him.
I too was forever staring out of the window and I can remember there came a point when I absolutely dreaded going back to school especially after a weekend or school holiday. I thought there was something wrong with me to feel this way because that was what every child was doing and they seemed ok by it or at least on the outside. On reflecting the tension in my body was a way my body communicated with me that something about schooling was not true. The way I was being taught simply did not align with me and ignoring the messages my body was giving me I found a way to cope in seeking attention from outside of myself but I was miserable and lonely inside. Life at school would have been far more enjoyable if connection in the classroom had been made the focus and not about my grades or how well I was doing.
Hello Kate and I agree, what if we were just celebrated for who we are, no matter where we are. We all have a part to play and yet we live in a world that attempts to grade us all into the same line. The classroom is a great example for this as we would all learn things in many different ways and yet our current education system attempts to deliver the same for all and then reward those that conform to it. What if the education system was to see young Kate? I know we would have had more value from you much sooner if this was the case. We can’t keep giving people a number to stand in line, we have names and in this way we should bring the systems to understand this. We all have something to offer and regardless of budget, constraints and time this is the only way forward. So we can keep attempted to put the square peg in the round hole or we can stop and see that we as people aren’t doing so well and in that looks to see why. What you have said here Kate is part of the ‘why’.
A true and clear expose on our education system and the values and beliefs it espouses; sad and all that it is.
True, Ageless Wisdom intelligence is summed up beautifully by you Kate’
“There is a lived authority, a spacious clarity – and an immense ‘pulling up’ power in her every naturally spoken and written word”.
What a glorious friend for you to be ‘pulled up’ by Kate; and Im sure it works both ways.
I was so lost in the world of intelligence. I never questioned the way we were taught to learn, or the 3 R’s – remember, recall and regurgitate. Reflecting back I can always remember a teacher looking at me and asking me if I was ok, did I understand? I realised this was because as he was teaching the class I would have this crease on my forehead, which was the puzzled look on my face of me ‘trying’ to understand what was being taught. Now I realise that it was hard work to take in all this information which was void of any meaning about life and what truly matters – our connection to our Soul.
True intelligence, what we all long to return to, ‘When we ordinary everyday heavenly folk reclaim our connection to and express from the vastness I knew and breathed as a child, it will be inspiring beyond measure, breaking down all the barriers we have put up to contain and shrink from what we all deeply know.
Kate I can so relate to the education system and not ticking all the boxes of intelligence. I thought I was very wise before I was relabeled under their type of intelligence. I found the content bland and boring and not relatable with true life.
True intelligence is totally different to what most of us perceive intelligence to be, true intelligence is as Vicky Geary shared, ‘Our true intelligence comes from our body and reminds us that we are part of something grand. Our true intelligence is there for everyone equally and it is how we live that determines how much we can access’, as opposed to intelligence as most people understand it to be, which is mainly based on memory and re-call and is for self.
There is a big difference between regurgitated knowledge from the mind which some can learn to do and others not and the wisdom of the heart and the universe which everyone has equal access to.
It is a completely way of viewing education to learn something with the intention that we can serve and support humanity rather than learning something that will achieve self gain and rewards for ourselves.
We believe that a ‘good education’ and increasing human intelligence is the key to a better life. Better than what? other people? Not everyone can get the best marks at school – it is set up that way so there is already an equality built into the system that fosters inequality of human societies everywhere.
I wonder how many children have had a similar experience and knowing when they were at school?
Great question Andrew. When I call into my daugters school today, I often see a mini me staring out the window wide eyed – seeing more than meets the eye – it’s a very natural knowing, sadly being squeezed out of our small folk from younger and younger with the plethora of pressures and distractions and stimulations that take us steps away from our bodies where all this broad knowing is accessed.
Education is clearly not working as it stands, we just have to look and feel the state of children in our schools. Thank you for sharing your experience Kate. Some comments have some great insights into what could truly support our children.
So called ‘intelligence’ is used as a measure of worth in much the same way the money or lack of it is used for the same purpose. This concept of the haves and the have nots is truly absurd when we consider that we are all one humanity and we can all choose to connect to true wisdom.
Thank God I have been reminded, through Serge Benhayon of what True Intelligence is. Our true intelligence comes from our body and reminds us that we are part of something grand. Our true intelligence is there for everyone equally and it is how we live that determines how much we can access.
Isn’t that so revealing Vicky – a total quantum paradigm shift – how we live, move, express, and the quality of lived love in our bodies is what determines how much true intelligence we can access. It shows we do not own true intelligence – which is huge in itself – but that we are responsible in our daily lives for living in and from our bodies where our true intellingence resides…. Very tangible in your comment that you live and know this experiencially – this is no empty heady theory but a lived know. Beautiful.
I echo your thanks Vicky, ‘Thank God I have been reminded, through Serge Benhayon of what True Intelligence is.’
Education, as we generally know it, implies it is supporting and enhancing the developing children when in truth and reality it does the opposite. It limits, squash their ‘intelligence’ into boxes to be something they are not rather than enabling them to expand and blossom what they already have like a flower unfolding.
Your spot on Kate, the vast majority of society has been fooled by academic intelligence. Connecting to our heart is where our true and enormous intelligence is found
“‘To identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity’” This line actually exposes much about our current way of thinking. It exposes boxing people into so called intelligent, not intelligent, super intelligent etc. and then also a sort of ranking as in the more so called intelligent the better. Then also the suggestion that the intelligent people can serve the people more. For me what truly would benefit mankind is getting together with all of us and looking at it together and not just the so called intelligent people alone. We need everyone, everyone has their own unique expression and look at life that is a part of the whole – without us all it is not complete.
Beautifully said Lieke.
“When I hear her speak my whole being knows beyond doubt that This is intelligence – this connectedness with realness and living.” It makes total sense that lived and walked intelligence that comes from the body is what speaks truth.
“I felt a majesty in the world, in nature, in all people and in me, and a kind of transparency of the value and seeming limitation and narrowness of what we were taught and asked to regurgitate on cue – all to make someone else, parents or teachers, look good.” How devastating for a child to live in a world that does not reflect and confirm the clairsentience that is so apparent for them.
“When we ordinary everyday heavenly folk reclaim our connection to and express from the vastness I knew and breathed as a child, it will be inspiring beyond measure, breaking down all the barriers we have put up to contain and shrink from what we all deeply know.” Indeed Kate when we stop dismissing the fact of energy and reincarnation then true acceptance and wonderment will be walked once more.
“As children equality was it, and this was not read in a book, or written on a blackboard, (or read on the internet or smart board) but known in our bodies, the trees, birds, and people all had a flow and there was no separation or difference other than that which we later learned and took on.” There can be no separation, no individuality when understanding and reading the world around us from the feelings in our body, for here there are no images to uphold.
Worth checking out what Teachers are Gold offers, the link for those who are interested in this great project, http://www.teachersaregold.com.au .
How important is it to support the young to connect to and deeply know themselves? Teachers are Gold is a great project bringing much needed changes to education, ‘”A teacher must be CELEBRATED and HONOURED in everything they are and in everything they bring,
EACH AND EVERY DAY!
Equal to this, they must be given ALL the tools of how to do this for THEMSELVES, that is, to truly celebrate and honour all that they are and all that they bring to our lives.” Teachers can then bring this to all they meet and teach.
What we are taught at school is simply knowledge based, there is no nurturing of the wisdom we all hold within. To be in an education system that did this would be amazing… and is so needed by the way our youth of today are behaving and how our older generations are at a loss to truly help them… because every one of us has been indoctrinated through our current system and this is the basis from which we then operate. It is a shame really as the potential within each of us is limitless and school only caps that at this stage, rather than supporting us to expand this.
What is intelligence without love? The atom bomb was created by a goup of the most intelligent scientists on the planet, and yet for all their cleverness, they never stopped to ask – should I?
I can understand why we give up when we are faced with so much that is unnatural within our educational system, such as exams. This week I have sat two exams and while I did well in them, there was absolutely nothing natural about them or the studying leading up to them!
I love the exposure our current education model is getting through this blog! ‘I felt a majesty in the world, in nature, in all people and in me, and a kind of transparency of the value and seeming limitation and narrowness of what we were taught and asked to regurgitate on cue – all to make someone else, parents or teachers, look good’ When I take a good look at education as it stands (and as a teacher I am very familiar with it) I find it shocking how insidious it is over how we are so invested in outcomes that are very often to the detriment of the child. The current Sats debacle being a good case in point. Reducing the enormity of a child to a thin, linear, prescribed line of imposed sets of expectations seem to me to put every child into a straight jacket of conformity at the expense of their natural wonder and joy.
I love reading that equality is an innate, totally natural quality, because whenever its opposite rears its head, I can identify that (inequality) as a falsehood and a thorn in my relationship with life.
Knowledge on its own is never enough because however we excel it could never bring us back to the truth, that we are all in the same greatness already by birth. Knowledge without first the connection with our true hearts is deeply lacking and it just never feel enough, as the connection we have with ourselves and we can have with all people in the world is a deepening movement of deep warmth.
Humanity has accepted a very reduced version of ourselves and have made it to be greatness thus bastardizing the word greatness into what is false. Our bodies know truth and hence every lie that is accepted as truth but is not true is felt. If truth is not expressed again we are perpetuating a world where we have made lies the pillars of truth to seek life by, because we have chosen to live the lie first within ourselves.
It is astonishing how we can refuse to see what is in front of us when it does not fit our beliefs. When you as a child displayed everything that was deemed to be that of someone struggling with ‘intelligence’ and then the IQ tests showed a very high ‘intelligence’, if we were truly open to observing we would have wondered if something with our beliefs about the subject is not right. But it has taken until Serge Benhayon speaking about it for me to return from giving up and look at the subject. It is great that we are having this conversation.
We have got it terribly wrong when we equate intelligence with IQ, recall and intellect.
It is clear that in doing so, we are far removed from intelligence – its livingness and true meaning.
I have recently returned to study to discover that little has changed. More than 2 decades ago i sat in a lecture hall to be told on the first day that we were all superior to most other people because of the mark we achieved that gave us the right to study the particular course and immediately pit everyone in the room in separation to humanity and to ourselves. This weekend, i again, sat in a lecture theatre and was told that everyone in the room was a failure if they did not pass the high bar set and to look around the room as most people in the room would leave the course if not fail the set exams. The effect- no different. Aimed to pit one against the other, encourage competition and place intellect higher than intelligence. In both cases, both approaches were devoid of true intelligence and rather than uniting others and inspiring growth and a climate of true learning, the cold, intellectual approach instead adopted sought to diminish, squash, rule and dictate, confiding the students in the room to a mere shell without the true substance of living intelligence.
As a person who always felt less than adequate in the intelligence department at school I somehow survived and managed to realise that I have a world of wisdom with every breath if I choose.
Why is it that we think intelligence is box ticking and narrow focused? It seems that we accept this because what you’ve shared is that we have to try and learn and control life, that we pick a topic and become “intelligent” about it because we could not possibly own and recite everything about everything. Yet the truth that I’ve felt from Serge Benhayon is that by making the body the focus, not trying to own everything we start to live true intelligence.
As I was reading your blog Kate there was much I could relate to, especially having just gone back to university at age 40. It is interesting to feel all that you have described here from the perspective of having re-claimed who I am, for it is healing all that I experienced as a child in the education system. When I and everyone else was asked (well actually demanded) to fit our grand spherical selves into a square box. Being back at university is an incredibly healing experience and one I value greatly as this time because I am bringing ME. Everything I write has ME in it. Every test I take has ME in it. The one thing that popped into my head towards the end of your blog was a bit cheeky… How do you put a mark on greatness when it is endless? I can feel that as I go through the next four years of study I may find this out! or my teachers/lecturers may just be a little stumped. In fact, they are already. When I write from my authority, the wisdom that comes from within, they are not sure what to do with it and place questions in the margin such as, ‘what is the reference for this?’ Answer… ME, the ‘reference’ is ME. It is lived, it is in my body, it is known. No-one told me, it is simply the way it is!
Going to school performances can often be a boring affair and parents put up with it so they can see their own child do his thing. Performing children are not themselves when they are going through the motions to please parents, teachers or audience. They know it’s not true and I think you have hit the mark Dianne, by putting forward the suggestion that ‘stage fright… actually stems from being expected to be untrue to ourselves, from feeling the rejection of our real love in favour of performance. It’s so refreshing when someone is just being themselves on stage for they inspire us from their fullness instead of just showing us a cardboard copy of who they are. I find that with your scientific presentations Dianne, your love brings science to life.
When we know truth and it does not fit into the accustomed norm it is extremely difficult not to succumb to pressure to conform. Serge Benhayon, however, lives and demonstrates that not only is it possible to hold true to that knowing but that it is hugely rewarding and beneficial not only for oneself but also for humanity. That is why he is such an inspiring role model.
I found school somewhat tedious, not a brilliant student but pretty average or just above at times. It was hard to relate what we learnt in general at school to the outside world we lived in. I felt that common sense was sadly lacking in much of what we were expected to take out into the world and be in the livingness of , things like self esteem, loving all and seeing ourselves as equals even if we weren’t equal in retention of learning. A great blog Kate and much food for thought.
“The tension between my broad awareness and the narrow confinement of academic ‘intelligence’ became quite intense – and my choice then was to go all out to dull down the awareness, so that the ache of it not being seemingly isolated would not be so great.”- I wonder how many students experience this like yourself Kate but are not given the support to encourage the multidimensionality aspect of themselves?
I feel the education model needs to be changed to encourage the totality of who we are.
“The notion of ‘being better than others’ creates separation and comparison between people – with a not too small dose of arrogance in being identified with what we do and not who we actually divinely are.”- so true Kate- but this is exactly what our current education system is fostering. No wonder so many students who don’t fit into the intelligence box get disillusioned by life and give up on themselves.
It’s was always interesting to watch when teachers would get to a point with a naughty or disruptive child where you could see they wanted to shout at them that they where going to amount to nothing in their opinion. But the kid can feel that you feel that way, even if you never verbally say it and the effect that has is huge. No, some kids won’t and can’t be mathematical geniuses, or get a PHD in something obscure and intellectual- but there is so much more to life and to people that they bring than just intelligence – some people are super good at loving, or bringing humour and joy, or listening. How about we being to also appreciate that having a great, loving life is just as successful as a degree, if not vastly more rewarding
“I understand that for now, it is still pretty topsy turvy out there, and I am letting go of the need for it to be otherwise”
This letting go of the need for the world to be the way we know it should be is a big one for me too, but the only way to be able to be in the world and not constantly get affected by it.
It is such a shame that personal experience is not valued as much as scientific research. We are always on the lookout for bias so perhaps learning how to be discerning should be top of our list.
I have used this narrow line analogy a few times since reading your blog. We have to tick the box sometimes but we must never allow ourselves to be identified by that for we are so much more.
This narrow line of marking and judging a person’s intelligence clearly has faults at it’s core, mainly because the person is not a part of the system that marks and judges, it is just that – a system, and you either fit in to it or you do not. But these systems for marking and judging were never made to asses the quality of a person’s life, the intimacy they are able to have in their relationships, the true health and vitality of their body. These systems are made to calculate our effectiveness as regurgitators of information. Not that information is not needed, not that we do not need to be able to remember very important facts, its just that we cannot live by these alone and that there is so much more to life with eachother.
The amount of pressure that gets pilled on kids at exam time, especially the older kids, is just horrendous- the number of illnesses and disease linked to stress are increasing, and yet our education system in its drive for intelligence is starting the age of stress younger and younger not considering the consequences this is going to have on that generation later on. I can remember stressing about school at a very very young age – and if it wasn’t for the support of Serge Benhayon entering my life at the age of 9, that stress would have built and gotten worse as I grew up and probably not stopped as I went into university and then my job. And yet the pressure is really for nothing – my grades have not effected me at all in any of my applications to jobs, some of which where in very high up positions. What they look for is experience and practical qualities – your ability to get an A in a history exam won’t help you working in a team at an office. Why doesn’t our education system turn down the heat on the pressure cookers that are schools and instead start implementing supporting people in their growth as people – their communication and team working skills, work and life experience.
Sharing in true intelligence allows us to connect deeply with another.
True intelligence comes not from learned knowledge but from the wisdom of the body. It is not for one, but it is equal for all. How beautiful that you were able to stay with this as a child Kate even though everything around you reflected that there were rules to adhere to. The vastness and grandness of true intelligence cannot be contained.
True authority comes from how we live not what we learn as information and then regurgitate.
I played up consistently at school as I could not understand the point of it.
The learning came easy to me even though I found it senseless and boring, how we were treated never made sense and because when ever I said anything I was not listened to I became the ‘disruptive’ child. I would be sent to the head mistresses office regularly. I played up all the time, you would think that one teacher may have wondered what was going on for a child to be so constantly naughty but no, all they could see was the behaviour and the fact that it disrupted them, it was all about them not about the child. We need to make schools about connecting to the children and meeting what they need.
Kate this a great article. The weirdest thing about Academia is the need to always quote (reference) someone else. Even if what you are saying is from your own experience (which could be extensive professional experience) you need to find some one who has published a work and said the same thing. It’s a strange sort of game, but who does it serve?
Kate reading your exploration of intelligence has reminded of my childhood experiences. I felt boxed in very early in life and was always trying to find the right way of doing things because very early I learned that my way was not the way. Unbeknownst to me my brother and I were put through an intelligence test (it was a standard part of post war ‘benefits’ bestowed on the families of returned soldiers. I did not know why I was doing the tests, put little effort into them, only answering questions I enjoyed or that were easy. As a result I was dubbed ‘average’ and advised I’d make a good office worker. My brother was very high scoring. I felt pretty dumb and also short-changed because it did not define how I felt inside. To my own and everyone’s surprise I did very well in my schooling (not straight A’s) but allowed that label stick. It is such a false measure of the grandness we truly are, and I too have Serge Benhayon for opening my eyes to this fact.
Thank you for sharing this Kate. This exposes the real harm of the thin line of intelligence that we are forced to conform to in school. This can be so restrictive for many, both the “intelligent” and “unintelligent”. Therefore it must be questioned, who does this system actually support if it is not the students?
Kate, I loved reading your article, I smiled to myself when I read your line about gazing out of the window at school, I did that too… and found myself doing that recently during meeting ~ nature is much more interesting! Not connecting to our true intelligence hurts, and not a day goes by that I don’t ask myself why, why do we choose to remain squashed and not live our true potential, especially when we have the awareness that there is a deeper intelligence, but still choose to not connect to it.
“The tension between my broad awareness and the narrow confinement of academic ‘intelligence’ became quite intense – and my choice then was to go all out to dull down the awareness, so that the ache of it not being seemingly isolated would not be so great.” This line particularly struck me this morning as it is so incredibly insightful and devastating at the same down. When I read it, I allowed myself get glimpse / feel how many people are doing this around the world. You turned to pot as many others do, but there are so many ways we dull down our awareness – food, drink, busyness, work, hobbies etc…. It is a great travesty that we do this (speaking from experience!). Thank you for sharing that we can operate in both worlds.
My way of dealing with school was to have a window seat. I did everything I could to get one of those and I was surprised that there wasn’t a big fight for them as the window was a contact with nature.
Kate, I like how you use the word ‘Reclaiming’. True intelligence is accessible to us all by connecting within so we don’t have to work hard to find it, we just need to reclaim what is already there and the more we use it, the less we lose it.
Kate, you speak for many of us who have been those children resisting being squashed inside the small box and made to tow the line of time. The odds are that we ended up ignoring “the surround sound knowing”, as you did, which meant “years of foggy shut down living”. Blogs like yours show people that what they are feeling is true and will encourage others to not shut down their clairsentience – their ability to feel.
I am about to finish my first year at open university – for me studying part time and distance was my way of playing ball with the fact that in the field I want to work in, I need to have a degree, whilst also not buying into the need to attend a prestigious university name and get the grades to go to them, but instead get the grades I was able to get at A-level, and work alongside my degree so I am still a part of the real world, earning money and not racking up loads of uni debt. In this way, I stay true to my own intelligence, one that is not based on exam results but my experiences in life, whilst also getting the currently recognised certificate of intelligence.
I love what you’ve shared Kate about authority not coming from intelligence or our ability to recall information. I’m revising and studying to take a group of exams in a week and a half, and have found myself getting caught up in the ideal and belief that the education system has imposed that I need to be reaching all of my high target grades (which happen to be A*s in every single subject) otherwise I have ‘failed’ or ‘underachieved’. If we play into the belief that in order to be successful or maximise our intelligence we need to get A*s in 20 separate exams then we are actually capping ourselves – true authority comes from how we live, and the quality of how we choose to be in every moment.
When I got to know the two types of people in my school – those labelled intelligent or genius, and those labelled trouble maker and disruptive, I found that the kids who were intelligent were the most insecure, constantly feeling the need to prove themselves to maintain their label, and those labelled trouble where super sweet and very intelligent, but in the rebellion against the system they would hold it back. Neither group benefited in any way from the labelling, and just needed to be treated equally, and taught in a way that brings their individual genius out.
Hello Kate and I saw school a different way but ended up in the same spot as you I think. I always saw school as a means to an end. I didn’t hang around in any particular group or excel in any classes. I just did what I had to do to get by and always knew I had the answer at my finger tip if I needed it. When I needed to put my foot down I was able to but most of the time I just coasted through school knowing I wouldn’t ‘need’ most of it in the ‘real’ world. I enjoyed being around the school and getting to know the people but I didn’t want to stand out and so as I said I just did what I needed to do to get by. I was just trying to fit in and get by knowing that the school ‘intelligence’ wasn’t for me but having no idea what ‘it’ was. With Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon I have seen that and as you say true intelligence comes from within you, a movement from your body, a connection and through this life makes sense and there is an ease.
Beautifully expressed Kate and a story many could relate to of how the education system is not set up to support and nurture the true intelligence that lives within us all. The more we reclaim who we truly are and express in this authority the more we ignite others to do the same and claim this truth everyday.
Kate- your wonderful, honest account of how school and university was for you -all based on getting results from a linear perspective , is experienced by many others. Clearly the education system is only looking at achieving numbers and ticking the boxes championing intelligence ( based on recall and not lived experience) as the main focus. Unfortunately, it does not bring children up as responsible adults if they are already checked out or burnt out trying to comply with the compulsory tasks asked of them, without considering their health as prime importance.
I remember seeing the way the teachers would covert a child they perceived to be intelligent or promising, whilst only teaching the others as much as time and attention allowed. I have been on both ends of this, feeling singled out, and also feeling left out. When one child or a few get put above the rest and given more attention, it is a sled fulfilling prophecy that they will do better, whilst those who can clearly see they don’t apparently fit into that category do worse. We need to teach and foster our children equally, appreciating their qualities and strengths.
True intelligence is definitely not what is and continues to be championed in society today. It is certainly not how academics and seemingly well educated business people also see intelligence. There is a distinct lack of feeling involved and very little consideration for how one lives, it is all currently about what one does.
This focus on ‘mental capacity alone’ in our current education system means everyone is loosing out. Whether deemed intelligent or not by these parameters we are pigeon holed, limited and incarcerated in a system of categorisation that leaves us reduced and restricted. This is devastating long term. As a spark of inspiration this article is ground breaking… we can hold steady to what we know to be true and feels right when we view a bigger picture. Universal Medicine is supporting many to ‘buck the trends’ that keep us apart from our natural awe and wonder about the majesty in us and the world.
When we are not giving our power away to the rules and regulations imposed on us, we not only can learn at our own pace and bring our own unique expression to that learning, we can also become teachers of others through this expression. This is what you have offered all of us who have read your blog Kate!
What a great blog Kate. I can really relate as there were not many of us at uni , me included, who did not feel the weight of the imposed margins in which we were forced to think and respond within. There was not one in my daughter’s course and neither in any of my friend’s. It is an all too common complaint about our current education model that we are frustrated and limited by only being required to regurgitate in paraphrases all that has been said before with references to prove it is not an original thought. There is something very wrong with this system and to back my comment I ask us to take a good, honest look around at where all this ‘academia’ has truly advanced us to.
I work in a school and was recently on a course where the presenter was telling us about her friend and how much she liked her. She liked her just because she did and had no idea how many good grades in her exams she had etc and explained how it really didn’t matter once we are out of the education system. The point she was making was who and how we are as people is what counts.
True intelligence… I love what you’re writing. I love the Power in which you’re deconstructing the mass belief around intelligence being in the mind. For myself I trust a lot on the True intelligence, although claiming this in full within my life, work and around family, friends and colleagues I find difficult. As if I’ve been forbidden to trust and express this intelligence and need permission from the outside to just live it. I can now see that this is a lie that I’ve sold myself. There’s absolutely nothing more Precious, Joyful and Natural than to surrender to the only True intelligence, found in my own Precious body and heart. Not choosing to connect to this Preciousness is actually abuse to myself and whenever I choose so, I’m feeding the war within me. Why would we choose (inner) war over our own Love? And could it be that the repercussions of these choices are the foundation for war in the outer? I feel this is the Truth. It’s up to each and every individual to claim this as his / her Truth. I’m working on mine…
‘It felt all wrong, totally upside down, and I actively refused for my results to be submitted for membership of such an organisation.’ – Kate, you say you may have been in a tad of a reaction about it, but what strikes me is that it is amazing to feel how you stood up for yourself in the face of the force that came at you. Not many children have the confidence and courage to go against the system.
’I felt a majesty in the world, in nature, in all people and in me, and a kind of transparency of the value and seeming limitation and narrowness of what we were taught and asked to regurgitate on cue – all to make someone else, parents or teachers, look good.’ – I was thankfully never feeling I needed to make my parents look good, but the consciousness of this deeply ingrained pattern in the schooling system was still making me feel crushed and not EVER as someone that was equal.
The question is, how can we support ourselves and our children in a way where they do not lose themselves in the current system? If they know from day one that their connection is everything and everything after that comes second, then they are less likely to subscribe to current ways of the world and reclaim their power instead of giving it away.
The current school system is designed to make us fit into something or a way of being that is controlled and unnatural, and in this we lose connection with the greatest part of ourselves, our essence. Imagine a time when this will be nurtured and developed? Children will come alive, be inquisitive and lead their own learning process with teachers simply supporting alongside.
I too was one of those children that did not fit into the system, it just felt so wrong, and although deemed intelligent to some temporal measure I could not conform, so I simply found ways to check out so I didn’t have to feel the agony of not bringing what I was here to bring – me. One day the system will change, it must as it cannot sustain as it is. When you look at how distressed and checked out our children are from very young ages shouldn’t that be an alarm bell for us all?
Gorgeous Kate, thank you for really taking us there, fully into your experience of life by not holding back in your expression. We do not serve holding back this glory that is within. From this connected state the intelligence of the universe can come through us but it does not belong to us, it is not even for us but for everyone equally.
I was very lucky to have a mother who never bought into the school system ideas of so called intelligence – she made sure that I never felt pressure from her to do well, and that I would learn in my own time and no one else. She made sure I was well rounded – get real life experience of new people and places and being a kid out in nature, allowed to just play and be myself. As I got older and exams and pressure began to loom, my mum always told me that my grades where not what was important, that my health and wellbeing where of far more importance, and that people would be far more interested in my experience than my pieces of paper. And I have to say she was right – when I began to doubt my intelligence because I wasn’t getting the best grades on exams, it was buying into that system, but now I have finished school for a year, I can safely say that people don’t really seem to care what I got in my exams, but are far more interested in me as a person and the experience I can bring to the job.
I have known so many amazingly bright people who where labeled as slow or less intelligent at school that have carried that all their lives and now can consider the maybe the school system was wrong – that yes you couldn’t learn or do exams in the way they wanted, but that that isn’t the only form of intelligence, nor the only measure. Schools tendency to always focus on a persons ability to tick a box or not is seriously detrimental because a child doesn’t learn to appreciate all the other amazing things about themselves, so that if they can’t tick the box it isn’t the end of the world because they know all the other reasons that they are great. As it is currently, everyone is measured and given worth by their ability to tick boxes and so when you find you can’t you shut down and feel like you have failed, and for some this never leaves them.
In the past, I carried an enormous appreciation for my mental abilities and my capacity to build on the parcels of the world I was knowledgeable about. At the moment, I find how amazingly restrictive is the mental world and how difficult it is to have a fluent relationship with it that I feel enriches me.
What really stands out for me in this blog is how Kate was measured for a very particular form of intelligence, for which she had such high results, and all the while leading up to that point she had enjoyed staring out of the classroom window.
Kate you so beautifully describe how you felt like a child, being able to reach out to the stars, feeling expanded and connected to a bigger picture and in contrary how school wanted you to be and the effects this had on you. When I look at our school system, it does not work and is far behind where the children are and this is why the classes are loud and the children loose interest in it.
Thanks Kate, I loved this and in particular, “I found that when I write – unrestrained, and allowing of re-connection – from the vastness I once so naturally felt but had worked so, so hard to shun, the writing that results can sometimes offer a greater awareness of the many things in life that trick us into leaving our greatest supports.” Showing that when we truly connect to everything around us, that everything is available to us.
Intelligence, as defined in academic terms, is highly prized and rewarded in our world yet it is clearly limiting in terms of living in wholeness with ourselves and others. Yes, we do need qualifications to do certain tasks/jobs but currently the focus in educational institutions is along the narrow lines you speak of Kate. As you have described, when we use all our senses our real intelligence comes to the fore and then there are boundless possibilities for what can be achieved. The connections made with others is built on a broader foundation and so another person is really known and valued for themselves and not how they tick a box academically. Thank you – I feel blogs such as these are very important for helping to open up discussion around stretching the usual understandings of intelligence.
I can remember this reducing feeling just how you describe it Gina – ‘It was like because I was so present and ‘in my body’, there was this great big picture I felt that went out to the furthest star and yet totally glowed from within me equally – but I was being asked to shrink this vastness, or broadness, into this very (very, very, very – and here I could write a page or two of very’s) thin line, this itty bitty limited little box, with rules to adhere to in order to be ‘valid’ or ‘accepted’.’
Kate I loved how you shared about your ‘pen pal’ and her very natural wisdom and intelligence and how she was told that she wouldn’t amount to anything because her intelligence did not tick the box. It’s a real travesty that this happens, for no one is born ‘stupid’, we are inherently connected to the world we live in. But this natural intelligence and connection is weeded out of most through attempting to box us in theories of learning rather than seeing and nourishing the natural expression of intelligence that is within each and everyone of us. None of this has anything to do with schooling, going to university, although these things are necessary to assist us work in the world – but certainly not all. Serge Benhayon is a real inspiration in this regard, for I have never met anyone as intelligent as him – but it is not an intelligence owned by him, it is something that is shared 100% of the time and is shared in a way to allow us to see our own intelligence and that of the intelligence we come from.
Thank you Kate. Very important reflections. Recently I was checking out one of the organisations who membership was that of those with high IQ’s offering the same promise “intelligence for the benefit of humanity” – it felt very exclusive and something I would not be able to enter if IQ was the entry point, which it was. It’s interesting how we hold up on high and value this above all else, like we are all going to be ‘saved’ with intelligence as we see it today. I love Einstein’s comment “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”. We think our thinking and intelligence has changed and improved, but we really haven’t looked at what it has created. If it has only been for the benefit of ourselves and not for everyone equally, then it does not come from our true intelligence.
I have done this too just like you and Kate Shirley-Ann. It is often misinterpreted as thinking that you are not wanting to be in class or fully engage with what the teacher is saying. This is often not necessarily true . As a child we are aware of so much going on around us often more so than we are as adults, so it is actually natural and healthy to have an engagement with all of life and what is going on around and not just give focus on solely one thing which is what the education system is asking the child to do
Thank you so much for your blog, it is so great people are starting to open up and talk about this, because the boxing that goes on in schools of kids, and the labeling that effects them for the rest of there lives needs to begin to be seen and be stopped.
I can so relate to your experience as a child – I too was the one to look out the window and prefer spending time exploring in the woods or traveling the world with my mum, than sitting at school and learning. I had a slightly opposite problem, in that when I was tested I was found to have dyslexia – I struggled to learn to spell and read and write at the same rate as other kids. I had to have extra classes and they would single me out to try and tackle my ‘problem’. Thank the lord for my mum, who refused to have the label on my record, and so through out my school life I didn’t mention it and the teachers didn’t know, and so I wasn’t treated in the way other kids who did have the label where treated. This meant that I never doubted that I could struggle with spelling but also be totally smart and on the ball, and in fact, as my mum predicted, by writing and spelling, maths and reading caught up with everyone in its own time – and towards the end of my school life I mentioned the fact I was diagnosed dyslexic and so many people couldn’t believe it because I was ‘intelligent’ and confident and picked things up easily and could articulate myself very well. But I knew it was down to not having been treated like someone with dyslexia, and having been supported by my mum to know that there is an intelligence in life that comes from experiencing things, traveling to new places, having a job, meeting new people, that is so valuable and can’t be taught in a class room, nor measured by tick boxes.
“There were boxes to tick that were made all-important, and from which our very worth was measured and compared, even though it seemed so irrelevant in the context of what I felt all around me.” This was what I felt Kate, the box ticking exercises in class felt irrelevant to what I was feeling, but like so many children I learnt to conform and give what the education system wanted, but at the detriment of staying with and remaining true to myself.
It’s true, the testing of intelligence and having special organisations that requires a certain IQ for entry is a deeply separative notion, even if their mission statement holds that they are for benefiting humanity. The best way to start benefiting humanity is to hold every single person equal in every way – and to call out any form of supremacy energy, whether it be in sport, intellect, knowledge, the arts, or even money and control.. Rather we can celebrate each others diversity and learn how to bring out all the fullness of what we are inside, such that another feels enough inspiration and trust to unfold what they too hold within – this is the basis of true brotherhood.
‘As children equality was it’ This really stood out Kate when I read your blog. It is so true and yet the world currently runs in such a way that it does everything to try and eradicate this deep knowing we have as children. Yet it is impossible, for within us that sense of equality remains awaiting our return.
Ticking boxes, testing, teaching to pass exams. No wonder so many children are disenchanted with school and teachers disillusioned. When there is a whole amazing world to be explored, both inner and outer. Wisdom, not knowledge is what is important.
Wow this is beyond words. Thank you for expressing from your all. It shows how much importance we give to the thin line and as you write how important it is to reclaim us back. Giving up energy is still easy to go to and I am working on that realizing it and nominating it and establish and bring back a foundation and solidness that I can stand on and express from. This is very supportive and inspiring to me. Thank You Kate.
Realising there is a true intelligence inside us all and relearning to live this as a way of being is very different and an amazing real honest loving way of living .This feels very honouring expansive and true and allows a freedom in life where everything simply makes sense and is known. A far cry from our current education system with a crushing institutionalised conformity of beliefs and lineal way of thinking.
I love how you describe your life as ’25 years of foggy shut down living’ as this is what it feels like, but when we’re in the fog we only have a vague awareness of it (which is why we choose it!)… but coming out of the fog you can look back – like walking to a mountain peak and seeing the sea of mist below, knowing that is what we have been caught in for so long, now we have the choice – to either re-enter the fog, or to stay in the clear light and space we have now gained. Choosing awareness is to choose the space, clarity and light – to then see the next level of space that is awaiting us.
If you have a brilliant mind, that mind is still available when we connect to our inner heart, in fact the two can work together in a very powerful way and it allows the awareness and the understanding of the inner heart to be expressed by that brilliant mind in such a way that those who only operate from the mind can have easier access and an easier choice to expand their awareness and their understanding.
A brilliant mind can be very useful.
It takes enormous wisdom and courage to refuse to be involved with an organisation that champions the mentally gifted and not fall for the intelligence glorified like this in life. For true wisdom can never be captured, only denied when we reduce life and what we are truly capable of in this way.
And to follow that last comment – its not as if the current knowledge that we are promoting and expanding is doing a great job when you look at how we are living as a race.. addicted to sugar and coffee in an effort to keep up, shut down and disconnected from each other, and with a health system that is scratching its head with no idea of how to keep providing a service when the problems just keep getting worse.
Thank you Simon for clearly highlighting how we are doggedly promoting a system confined to a narrow band, which might have made some sense if the quality of life we were living in society as a result was one to write home about. But the rates of physical, emotional and psychological illnesses and issues throughout society show this is not a true or sustainable way.
We will not find our answers from within the confines that have lead to the issues in the first place.
I could not help but smile at your comment about going to University to find some answers, rather than with the purpose of picking up a further qualification to advance us in life. To me this points an accusing finger at the fact that the education system is less interested in the ‘why’ of life, and much more so about promoting the narrow band of existing knowledge which makes up the norm in society.
When I teach, I always look for the wisdom and divinity that is in the curriculum and content – it is always there. Delivering and teaching like this is gold – and it is a knowledge and wisdom which is innate in us all – so this way a teacher is simply a facilitator as the student already understands and knows the content.
beautiful Gina, imagine if all teachers were appreciated and supported to be able to deliver this kind of gold and to ignite the same in their students. how would it change everything !
I teach – and just as important to not give up like I did at school and you allude to here Kate – is to not go into sympathy. We have to commit to living and what is there is just what is there; from that place we can then bring truth and make true change.
Brilliantly said Gina otherwise we become a part of and contribute to the problem.
Committing to living the truth as we know it, is a huge step forward, out of the giving-up-ness and actual lack of commitment to life and people. From this step comes an unfolding of insight and understanding both for ourselves and others, plus delivers a reflection that another may feel there be a truth in the world that resonates with them also and inspires them to reconnect to their own truth once more.
I love Kate how you have nominated and been honest as to how you gave up. I work in education and see kids ‘give up all the time’. There are many labels and acronyms they get given to describe the flavor of ‘giving up’. Yes, it is great to have understanding of the rot but we must not give up or react or go into sympathy. Instead, to stand in our majesty in the face of the rot, speaking out about it, whilst committing to still live in it is crucial. I gave up for many years and the lack of commitment was a hard rock to crawl out of.
I understand that many teachers give up as well as the students, this is a reality and a great reflection for the academic bodies that set the curriculums to listen to the teachers who actually do the teaching.
Well said Gina, from my childhood experience, kids do give up, because the system clearly does not make sense – competitiveness and academic pressure make little sense to a 5 year old unless they have already been scarred with that from the family.. but the given up kids become the given up adults that then perpetuate the same education system, having deliberatley forgotten how crazy it seemed back when they were a child.
I teach in a higly academic school and witness on a daily basis the ensuing pressures on the students. Teachers often come to teaching from an impulse to imbue a child with wisdom and skills of how to be in the world; but especially they desire to support a child to know and be confident in themselves. In essence, a teacher is impulsed to bring love into education that they knew was missing when they were at school. To be complicit in delivering harmful curriculums is a tension for a teacher felt daily, as instead of bringing the love, they bring instead harmful abuse.
I was speaking with a teacher the other day who has been teaching for 16 years. I asked her if she loves it and she replied she used to when it was about the kids now it is about politics and results … not children or young people. Currently, with this, we have got our priorities well and truly wrong; we need to bring it back to making education about children and young people and meeting them for who they are.
And therefore neither student nor teacher is able to grow and bring out their potential because of the oppressive education system we currently have.
Our naturally truthful expression is there with us always, and yet we let it become stifled by the crushing jealousy of others. Returning to that connection in what ever area that might be in, and learning to express without any attachment to outcome is one of the most incredible things to feel.
We also become crushed and stifled when comparing ourselves to others as well, something I was not fully aware of until Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine exposed this. Now I see just how harmful this is for us to do.
Kate this makes so much sense and really highlights the way we are living not in connection and honouring what we feel and know. Suppressing our knowing does not really work though we do everything we can to not feel this, but this does not work also and the pain of this is far worse than simply honouring all we know and living and expressing from this our true intelligence.
This article shows so clearly the reduction imposed on everyone from early on in life so that we can perform within the narrow confines of what the education system requires and as well as speaking up about it. How important it is to support the young to know themselves and whilst ticking the required boxes to not lose the expansiveness of who they are.
I absolutely agree, Golnaz.
“I find it amazing that we can tell ourselves that living life from within a limited pocket, cut off from the vastness of what is actually available to us (and so from our own bodies), can ever be said to be ‘for the benefit of humanity’ when it’s very premise is on inequality, separation and even supremacy – and an adherence to its requirements could surely not be a whole and balanced way to live, and so perhaps not actually a healthy thing to encourage: no benefits for humanity in sight.” This spells ‘reductionism’, in a nutshell.
I wonder how many people can relate to yours and Kate’s experience Shirley-Ann? I know I certainly can. What a horrible place to be squashed into for beings of such magnificence and grandeur.
Kate it feels like your first 2 paragraphs describe every child’s experience of the education system the day they are shuffled off to school. To sit with this and feel the truth is very exposing. We are so magnificent. I know many teachers who are aware of this ‘thin line’ epidemic and they are absolutely incredible in their loving ways.We need to bring back the ‘bigness’ to these children’s lives.’Teachers of Gold’ is growing and the tide is turning!
Beautiful Brendan, and that’s the one thing our current accepted form of intelligence does not do, not very intelligent at all. We miss out on the biggest part of who we are with cutting out our sensitivity.
Kate you present so clearly what we all feel as a child but so quickly cover over if we enjoin with what the world is trying to get us to do. Once we lose that connection to ourselves we feel the ‘ache’ because we know it but have chosen to dull our awareness of it.
Yes we lose our connection to us…someone tries to convince us that this inner connection is worthless compared to the benefits of ‘gaining intelligence’ and all the way through our school years we fight and grapple with our own majesty, having to suffocate and squash it at such great cost to us and our true ‘majesty’. Can we imagine what True Education looks like?
When we know the truth of how things really are it is hard to not want it to be different, but “letting go of the need for it to be otherwise” helps us live with it and once we open up to understanding why people act the way they do we are more able to live in the world instead of withdraw from it knowing also that there is a great need for us to be a true reflection for others.
Beautifully said Sandra. It always comes back to this, we have to live the reflection we wish to see in the world! This is what inspires, instead of withdrawing which only reflects shadows to people who in their heart are equally the Sons of God.
Love the truth of what you say Harry- “we have to live the reflection we wish to see in the world”.
Yes, this indeed inspires others, without imposing our beliefs on them, or needing other to change first.
Being like everyone else seems to be a path to be accepted and loved, or so I thought. Now I have realised with the support of Serge Benhayon that shutting down my inner awareness, effectively who I am, so I can be accepted is folly. The acceptance would only be of the pretend me anyway!
The path you mention may sometimes feel like the only option, but once you have observed someone living true to themselves, one such as Serge Benhayon, – it brings back the remembrance that we too have a truth inside, and it may not look like anything the rest of the world has chosen, but does not take away one iota from that absolute truth we can feel within – and which only is confirmed as we reconnect back to it..
I love your description of your all encompassing knowing Kate.. ‘re-allowing the surround sound knowing to begin to re-ignite, wake up, dust off the cobwebs and begin to become part of my natural daily landscape again.’ It totally exposes that whole linear way of thinking and being to what it is- reductionism of what we truly know.
In recent years I have come to realise that during my life there have been some teachers who I have found it easy – if not a pleasure to listen to – and others who I just could not ‘hear’. When I was young I doubted myself and thought I was lacking intelligence in some way but now I understand that there was a very clear distinction between the two – and that it was nothing to do with my level of intelligence but everything to do with the integrity of the teacher. By integrity what I mean is how they live and embody what they teach – or not. Those who had lived and experienced their subject matter, spoke with a deep sense of knowing that arises from their whole being, their whole body. Those who had not, spoke purely from their heads – and I could not connect with what they were saying. Today I teach adults in the social care profession and I experience the other side of this coin myself. If I am just speaking from my head, my recall – I feel anxious and nervous in my delivery. When I talk from my experience, my inner knowing – I feel connected to myself and to the learners and what I express is more fully available to them. There is a world of difference and for me this is the key to the ‘art of teaching’.
For me as a child /teenager IQ has puzzled me why it was so important. At the age of 11 I had to make an IQ test, which I passed with super ease. I was so-called very intelligent. Later at high school I felt there was more to life than marks and grades. At one point I felt very lost at school. I did a whole day IQ tests and had a talk with the man who met me for who I was. He saw me beyond the intelligent labels. That was such a confirmation for me. What happened when my parents came around at the end of the day for the end talk, the man solely focussed on the incredible results I had on all the tests. I was reduced again to this thin box. Such a shocking feeling. It took me many years to choose for myself that I am more than the current IQ, the ‘head department’ which can store a lot of knowledge, and the whole educational system around it. For me true intelligence is meeting myself, my sensitivity, my body and meet others equally.
I can understand that someone bringing in fern fronds can be classified as a dreamer, and their ‘intelligence’ questioned, because it does not fit the ‘norm’ of society but the whole point they are missing is that there are amazing things to appreciate in Nature and Mathematics is one – Nature is artist, mathematician, scientist and engineer all rolled into one and appreciating what is out there in our natural environment can be key to our education.
Elizabeth I agree, particularly as we are already born with an amazing wisdom and intelligence that gets squashed by our academic system.
‘When we ordinary everyday heavenly folk reclaim our connection to and express from the vastness I knew and breathed as a child, it will be inspiring beyond measure, breaking down all the barriers we have put up to contain and shrink from what we all deeply know.’ so true Kate – a gorgeous day to behold.
What you say Kate about having a strategy at one point in your life to ‘take yourself out’ to not feel the tension of knowing there was more, in essence dulling the awareness of what we know and can feel all the time, is something I think we could say is a huge epidemic currently. We are naturally very sensitive and aware beings but much of the way we have the world set up doesn’t support us in that awareness and so rather than respond to it we try and push it down and away to ‘fit in’.
I went to a high school where the classes were streamed from 1 to 5. There was such pride in being in the 1 class and those in the 5 class were held very little regard. It was a terrible way to divide children. It fosters so many ugly things such as recognition, supremacy, competition, comparison…the list goes on. A very unsupportive system but one that worked extremely well for the school system.
Awesome blog Kate. Academic intelligence has become so revered in our society and it brings such separatism and supremacy. I fell into this trap and learnt how to tick all the boxes at an early age. I then became very identified with my intelligence. I constantly tried to prove to people how smart I was. And that is the key point – it always felt false. I was always waiting for the day people would see through the veil of intellectual intelligence I had in place. Whilst I lost any connection with true intelligence, at no point did I think the form of intelligence I had conformed to was in ay way true or all encompassing, something was always missing.
There is so much practical wisdom and intelligence you describe here Kate. It will be a true break thorough when this understanding permeates the ‘cob webs’ of the current view of intelligence created centuries ago and feed out to the masses.
I love what you share: “When we ordinary everyday heavenly folk reclaim our connection to and express from the vastness I knew and breathed as a child, it will be inspiring beyond measure, breaking down all the barriers we have put up to contain and shrink from what we all deeply know.” Living our own divine intelligence and supporting others to live theirs is what is truly powerful and this power belongs to us all equally.
What I find rather pertinent to this subject of intelligence is just how much recognition and attention goes into ‘being intelligent’ or ‘not being intelligent’ and how much we measure our own self-worth by this. Yet what is the big deal about intelligence? Is the person who is said to be less intelligent in anyway less than the person who is said to be intelligent? Definitely not. Our supposed level of intelligence is based on re-call anyway not true intelligence which is actually about perception
Yes Brendan. And many other things too. What this article explains so truly is the minuscule confines by which intelligence is both judged and ‘achieved’. The way we think of intelligence is the perfect illustration of our lack of intelligence.
The definition of intelligence needs much inquiry. It is not that intelligence is wrong persay or IQ a dirty word – the truth is that we have deviated far and wide from the absolute all-encompassing definition of intelligence of which we are each part and of. Our very bodies are products of true intelligence at a particle level with each and every miraculous system and operation intelligence in motion and in rest and yet we, a so-called intelligent species choose to override such inescapable natural intelligence in the quest for a redefined not so intelligent intelligence.
This speaks volumes Kate “I find it amazing that we can tell ourselves that living life from within a limited pocket, cut off from the vastness of what is actually available to us (and so from our own bodies), can ever be said to be ‘for the benefit of humanity’ when it’s very premise is on inequality, separation and even supremacy – and an adherence to its requirements could surely not be a whole and balanced way to live, and so perhaps not actually a healthy thing to encourage: no benefits for humanity in sight.”
In this world we live in there appears to be a common theme of comparison running through all our societies, always reminding us that we need to be trying to be “better than other”, never satisfied until we are, or when we feel we aren’t, worn down with the feeling of failure. As you say Kate the notion of ‘being better than others’ creates separation and comparison between people” and only serves to create a world where everyone seems to be fighting something or someone, and harmony is only ever a very brief interlude amongst the ensuing chaos.
We spend our lives trying to hold on to what we think is right and walk that tightrope of what we have accepted as the only way to be. By letting go of everything around us, we had been hanging on to, the world just expands. We don’t have to think about dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s it just flows as it does with the truth. Yes, it is that simple.
An ability to recall is not the only form of intelligence. For too long we have looked upon those who refuse to colour in between the lines as being less intelligent, not considering that perhaps even at that young age they were simply expressing an ability to consider things outside of the box.
Now that would be truly intelligent! If we’re honest with ourselves, we are all living in and with various degrees of abuse and self-abuse which we have declared ‘normal’. That is deeply unintelligent.
I remember that feeling too Susan. Why couldn’t the down below feel the same as the up above? Thankfully now through Universal Medicine I am learning how to live, bring and be heaven on earth. The two are not separate after all, we’ve just lost sight of who we are and where we come from.
So glad I read this blog this morning, so beautifully shared Kate with great wisdom and the claiming of how you did not sell out to the intelligence quota while young, despite being ‘gifted’. The whole story really offers a great awareness of how education can change and not just about offering job skills instead of university skills, but about meeting the great depth of feeling children bring in to the world and nurturing it in an empowering way instead of squashing it.
If “intelligence” cannot be used to bring humanity together in brotherhood, maybe it shouldn’t be so highly valued.
true intelligence is indeed a living quality that is so different from what we have been brought up to believe.
‘The notion of ‘being better than others’ creates separation and comparison between people…’ I remember this at school and it was done mostly by teachers. The effects were paralysing for me and the trying to be better was excruciating, producing anxiety that I can still feel today. It is akin to abuse and I now know that I chose to give my power away – I could not find within me the voice to say no and not be worried about others’ ability, just appreciating my own!
We tend not to think of it as abuse, but anything that makes another more or less than us is a form of abuse.
Absolutely and we must call it out when we hear, see or feel it Carmel Reid! If we don’t we are just accepting it as normal. We must lead the way.
Oh the anxiety! I was constantly trying to keep my place on a top rung. It was terrible. All I wanted was connection yet I fell into always trying to be better than others and looking back this was a huge source of anxiety.
And what I find stunning Nikki is that the adults in our lives did not somehow read the possibility that we were full of anxiety and how harmful this is for children. They no doubt were still on the merri-go-round themselves, which is even more worrying for children at school! And this is only one aspect of the education system!
The measure of ‘intelligence’ is a very limiting tool. It doesn’t include the person and the qualities from their essence and hearts. As I now know from much lived experience it is what comes from our hearts that opens us up to great service to humanity in every moment and every thing we do.
So true Elizabeth, It would be so glorious if in education there was emphasis put on confirming and nurturing our sense of awareness and the ‘knowing’ that you talk about, as well as teaching the information that may be needed for the current society we are living in. The young people that have grown up around Universal Medicine over the past 16 years, show clearly that being treated in such an honouring way truly works. They are far more joyful, confident, wise and responsible in life than those of their own age and most adults!
Yes Golnaz, Kate in a Universal Medicine classroom would be celebrated for her connection with herself and the world! No forcing to prove who she is. That day will come.
It’s interesting feeling back to my school days where I checked out because of not feeling good enough, but in truth, we can feel the horrid narrow line that the education system brings to our true expression. My reports were of a good girl who worked hard, because I had agreed to align to the system where it squashes and squeezes true expression out of us. Bring on more teachers who allow children to express in full.
There is much to ponder on in your blog Kate, thank you. What I am feeling is that however far we may wander away from that true essence that we experience as a child it is always possible to reclaim it. I know I was given countless opportunities throughout my life which I discounted as I could not feel the support – and that God is forever waiting for us to return.
Wow Kate what an amazing blog . . . I love the following sentence: “The notion of ‘being better than others’ creates separation and comparison between people – with a not too small dose of arrogance in being identified with what we do and not who we actually divinely are.” That is so true and therefore it is sad that most of us are living in such a separative way of thinking. Your sharing showed so clearly that it is time to change this as it really does not tick all boxes . . .
Totally agree, amazing blog. Reclaiming our true intelligence is what is needed in our society, letting go of comparison and separation, the only way forth.
It is so important Kate, that we reclaim our true intelligence and reconnect to the source our bodies are naturally connected to from which this intelligence is coming from. Intelligence cannot be measured, as the test that are carried out do only measure a certain bandwidth of our mental capacity and with that we are labeled, we either fit in or we don’t and carry that label all of our lives if we choose so. We have to be truly thankful for Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, who are showing us that true intelligence is something completely different and cannot be measured but only lived. It is lived in our connection with the all and in constant connection with all of humanity. Something completely different from that what I ever was told intelligence to be.
So well expressed Nico! ‘true intelligence.. cannot be measured but only lived.’ This truth must be shared widely and lived truly if we are to combat the effects of the ‘measured intelligence’ and the disastrous effects it is having on both individuals and our societies as a whole. Competition and comparison are like a modern day disease!
Thank you Bernadette. And it is this competition and comparison you mention that are the result of us choosing for that false interpretation of intelligence where we measure how much someone can regurgitate from a given curriculum and set of skills. When we would appreciate the intelligence we connect to through our bodies, the connection to a source that is equally available to anyone of us, takes away the need for any comparison or competition as in that we are all equal and the same.
Very true Nico, intelligence today is all about how we can test someone, measure them against another. It is not about how we connect with ourselves, our bodies where true intelligence is coming from. I so agree about being thankful for Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, yes indeed who are show us what true intelligence is and how to live from that.
We really do give up so much to walk this line. I was one of those kids at school who “couldn’t concentrate” and this was often written in my school report, along with “he is capable of so much more”. I remember being so scared of some teachers because of the way they looked, but this was me being aware of the energy they were living in and it made me very nervous and uncomfortable.
Your comment Matthew makes me ponder what must be going on for those teachers. I used to feel from some of my teachers, the sense that they didn’t really agree with what they were teaching us, that they didn’t necessarily align to the methodology. Yet they had to. It was defined by the curriculum. It was their job. I see it now with some of my kids’ teachers. The same thing. The absolute knowing that there is another way to teach children. Yet teachers are put under such enormous stress and pressure by the system, the targets, the protocols. We need to be stepping right, right back and really looking at what a true education is. I feel that we have got our priorities massively wrong.
Isn’t it interesting the large number of university students that drop out of university and / or change their study. As you mention Kate their is underlying intention from the university culture that demands on you to be a certain way. I was another type of statistic that I almost finished my degree and withdrew. I actually was diagnosed with depression. I was only able to go to back to university many years later and this was after finding Universal Medicine where I became stable again and had the tools and awareness to not get ‘smashed’ by this way of living the university demanded.
A well-known academic who works with researchers at university recently said at least half of the students and staff she sees are on anti-depressants. This sad fact is completely glossed over by universities in their never-ending quest for more status, kudos and funding.
Universities want to ‘own’ you with their demands and they succeed for the most part – students and staff are enslaved by and to the system without even knowing it. Having said that, if there is any ounce of identification and desire for recognition in us, we have already made the choice to align.
I left university after one term. A simple and massive realisation that my whole education had delivered me to a place that I absolutely did not want to be. I was miles off my true course. I was privately educated at super-expensive schools – imagine if you paid that much money for something, for a tool, or a machine or whatever – and then found it to be completely and utterly useless at what it was meant to do. We would shout and complain and demand our money back. Yet the education systems role on….
Yes wisdom is a bodily experience. With Serge Benhayon you feel spacious, expanded and connected. How often do we feel like that in a classroom?
Equality and true intelligence is known in our bodies if only we would listen.
“ … being able to complete the kinds of questions I had was no measurement of anything with any true value or meaning.” This kind of educational structure is so common. My chosen service is IT and I do not follow the norm of studying my butt off for all these courses to be something. Yes, it might help you to get a job but that’s a lot of giving yourself over for qualifications. What I have done is to learn as needed that is been requested by the customer. This has proven to be successful and creates a foundational base for the next customer that asks for the same service. I’m not locked down to any knowledge and able to hold my connection to what is needed, so essential I become in demand for my quality.
I know exactly what you mean Rik. I have a degree for the work I do but it is my on the ground, lived experience and interaction and connection with my clients that counts. It’s a lot simpler than studying too, that’s for sure. Universities excel in complication.
Thank God Kate that you chose to come ‘full circle back’ in order to share the truth of the education system and what an enormous amount of wisdom you bring with you.
What a corker of a blog! Your wisdom is undeniable Kate and it blows any championed intelligence out of the water. I can feel that I have judged and measured myself and others based on a very false ideal of ‘intelligence’ and this is very silly indeed. What a gift to be reminded that we all have access to divine wisdom if we choose it.
Wisdom yes, for sure. Although there is a form of intelligence that is in service to the divinely connected mind and is true – divine intelligence. The mind in service to love.
Thank you Kate for an amazing article, We have been sold on what true intelligence is not, it is not a box that we are put in and measured by some standard of good bad, more or less. but a vast , all encompassing well of wisdom, that can be brought into everyday life, by living connected to the innate intelligence of our bodies.
To accept that our education systems are flawed would require a humbleness and a readiness for change that we are just not there yet at. But one day we will return our education systems to make it about everyone, not clever stupid but real intelligence that everyone can access and display.
And the way this will happen Stephen G is by us ‘living our intelligence’ – having true wellbeing and at the same time contributing to society in a way that models ‘success without aggrandisement’, community contribution and leadership of the highest quality. And it all starts with appreciation of ourselves in this moment!
I agree Bernadette, when I appreciate myself I can feel my wellbeing shift upwards and my ability to communicate openly, contribute meaningfully, even profoundly to society does likewise. It’s all about the appreciation!
So well expressed Stephen. We can ‘profoundly’ contribute to the world just by taking our appreciation of ourselves into every encounter. Even smiling at another can be profound.
I agree Bernadette. In fact your comment makes me realise that we are all in fact teachers and we are all in fact responsible for our education system. If we make the commitments to live a true intelligence and if we appreciate it in ourselves and in others, then the balance will shift and humanity will start to see that we are pointing in the wrong direction.
Hey imagine if from day dot we were not only supported to be forever students of life Otto, we were also shown that we are forever teachers! KOTO is an organisation I came across in Vietnam. It stands for Know One, Teach One. If we are taking seriously the responsibility we have to recognise the essence of everyone and reflect this to them without expectation, even in the most simple of ways, we are all teachers.
What I can feel from what you say Bernadette is the potential to such a lightness to this responsibility. We think of Teacher as such an onerous task. Yet, if we were brought up with this knowing absolutely accepted and appreciated, then it would just be something that we did absolutely naturally. No drama. no big deal. No stress. Just each of us showing our way to others. All pieces of the one big jigsaw.
I love how you’ve claimed true lived intelligence Kate, a quality and power that we all can access not from a text book or laptop filled with knowledge but by claiming that deep connection Roth ourselves first and not needing those marks and knowledge fillers to make us feel more or better. When we approach a project, assignment or whatever it may be that requires learning, knowledge and intelligence, we can bring so much more than the linear reduced version if we don’t make it about ourselves getting some sort of recognition as a result. If we have connected to our inner most essence we gave connected to our true intelligence and that’s a game-changer in all that we then do.
Great blog and great sharing Kate. Although not fast tracked in the same way around intelligence as you were, I was considered somewhat academically advanced and I’m sorry to say it was an identification I responded to. But reading your blog reminds me I too felt something of what you felt about the world at a young age. And I too feel blessed to have come home to this feeling with Universal Medicine – a place where many of us can say the same I have no doubt.
Our early years of education have a huge impact on us all as we are so sensitive to everything around us. It is amazing that you were able to be as true to yourself a possible Kate, even though you had to cave in for some years until meeting with Serge Benhayon, you have pulled yourself out of the quagmire and are sailing again and that’s wonderful.
I found this super interesting to feel the narrowing of the thin line of accepted and academic intelligence as you went through education. It feels as if it intensifies as you move to so called higher education to ensure that this is the accepted form of intelligence.
Recall is not true intelligence. The inequality, separation, huge stress, at times supremacy, sometimes huge cost associated with the current modern education system is definitely not right – we all know it, it feels so wrong. As a whole we chose to allow it though, and those for whom this system offers protection and security will find it maybe hard to admit. Love, the livingness of love offers access to the highest form of intelligence, full stop. Any education system should have love and brotherhood at their very core foundation.
‘As a whole we choose to allow it’ – so true Alexandra, by quietly consenting to the system the way it is, we are all responsible for the absolute lack of love and brotherhood in our education system.
Being labelled ‘less intelligent’ is definitely a curse I have long appreciated but it is not until now have I appreciated that being labelled ‘more intelligent’ is also one. Realising this I realise that any labelling is a curse.
Education is so compartmentalised. Project work is still more prevalent in primary school, but by the time you get to secondary school its one hour of maths followed by 1 hour of history etc. It stops students seeing the bigger picture and how everything is interconnected. Then we have to work hard to reconnect the dots because its been programmed out of so many of us.
I loved primary school and struggled with / hated secondary school for this very reason. At grade 7 life stopped being spherical and was reduced to the ever-increasing confines of a ‘classical education’ heading into academia.
This is a brilliant blog highlighting the narrowness of the education system currently in place and how it reduces us to a linear way of being when there is so much more and we all know this and the impact on us all is crushing our very being and who we are. Thank you Kate for showing so simply what is going on.
As children we are very aware of labels and their falseness. I remember a teacher telling me I was Swiss when I was 8 and I remember feeling totally shocked that I was categorised. I just felt part of the world. Me in this world.
Yes Johanna. As children it is very unpleasant to be categorised and singled out because we know we are all the same. Anything that makes us stand out as different or not equal is not of truth and we can feel it.
How totally awesome that your refused to play the recognition game and refused to allow others to identify you by your intelligence. It’s awesome you chose to remain with ‘I felt that a lived connection with my body and the beauty that surrounded us ‘ thank you for expressing all you have shared.
What a world we would live in if we were not all squashed from and early age and we were encouraged to express what we felt and were naturally connected to and taught about the natural rhythms and cycles of life. I wonder if technology would be more or less advanced, as we may not need things like the internet as we may be all interconnected already.
“I felt a majesty in the world, in nature, in all people and in me, and a kind of transparency of the value and seeming limitation and narrowness of what we were taught and asked to regurgitate on cue – all to make someone else, parents or teachers, look good.” How many students must feel this way Kate? We educate and live from a very squashed state compared to living and educating from the fullness of who we truly are in the magic and majesty of our divine essence. We are living in a warped reality, but can’t see that this is the case. We make the warped state so real we believe that nothing else exists.
Thank you, Kate. Most people, if not all, have been affected by the current education system. It does everything in its power to squash our natural intelligence. There is much that is needed to be done to bring true education.
I only can agree to all you have said in your awesome comment Elizabeth. It is a lot to do because as long as we need the extra word “true” for a true education we are still far beyond what is really possible.
Wow Kate, that is a huge story. It reminds me of the dux of my high school year, who topped the state, and turned down a university career to do wood turning. The teachers could not accept it, and yet could not change his mind. Good on him, I say.
Haha I love it Adam! Well done, I wish I could have been there to see the looks on the teachers’ faces. That would have shaken a few educational ideals and beliefs up
How utterly subversive! Hopefully he took this path from a place of truth, rather than reaction.
no. He had always been set on such a path, and was very resolute in what he wanted to do – he was no dummy. He was firm in knowing what was right for him.
We do need to open up and explore what intelligence actual is and I believe its one of the most important conversations of our time, so thank you for your article.
I was talking with a dental nurse yesterday whom was recommending that my children use fluoride, I explained that although it may have benefits for the teeth, essentially it is a poison and not something that we should ingest, so in my opinion any benefits are isolated and are not considering the body as a whole.
The nurse insisted that the benefits of fluoride were proven by top university studies, I understood her perspective, but how much of that ‘science’ was done by truly independent researchers?
I couldn’t help but think to myself it wasn’t that long ago that our GP would insist that cigarettes in small quantities had health benefits, smoking themselves through the consult with you.
The whole experience made me question our idea of intelligence and the fact that as a society we have always insisted that our most intelligent minds come University and Professionals; what if we also considered intelligence to be the ability to look at things in relationship to all other things?
Beautiful to read and feel how you totally outsmarted the education system with true intelligence that was already innately with you. I can see the fern frond on the desk and how it took you far far away from the classroom. A truly beautiful read Kate.
Yes, the picture of the fern is a potent one and says something of the innate loveliness of the young Kate who was busy just being herself – and is again now.
Intelligence is just that narrow perspective you believe as the truth and adamantly stand-by like the world is flat! What a truly narrow way of life we have accepted.
And here is to you Kate Burns for re-embracing the true intelligence you have held from the outset – honouring and claiming it as you did as a child. Your article takes my true intelligence by the hand and brings it blinking out into the light again… properly inspiring!
Thanks Kate this is a great expose of our education system. My parents were told after an IQ test given to me at the age of 8 that there was no need to bother about giving me a university education. I was a little dyslexic so could not spell long words so was labelled ‘not university material’ even though I always in the top 3 of a class of 60 children right throughout primary school! I was devastated as this labeling made a huge and lasting impact on me for the rest of my schooling years.
Just goes to show how trapped and suffocated those teachers were and many still are Kathleen. I too could fill a tome with the stories about my education. Kate’s sharing and yours are similar in that the ‘thin narrow line’ removed all responsibility for connection with us as students. This connection could have pulled us into full expression and exposed how limiting and contrived, ‘grades’ are and what true intelligence is.
I love that “I too could fill a tome with the stories about my education”. Yes I agree a tome is the appropriate place to lay these devastating stories about education. And I agree every child comes alive in the full expression of themselves if they are connected to. There are some beautifully dedicated teachers that really do manage to do this. I know my grandson was at first a handful in his first year of school until the teacher realised that instead of punishing him which made him go wild all she needed to do was connect to him. When she did everything turned around and he transformed from her worst nightmare to her most loyal and loving pupil.
That is super harsh and proof that the way that we operate our education system is so flawed. You could argue that things have improved slightly from your day but they haven’t really, just made to look a little better.
True Sarah, nothing has really changed in the school system, it is just made to look a little better. The schools number one priority is still to get higher scores than other schools, and the pupils need to adjust to that or fall out and are left to feel like losers.
Wow, Kathleen this really shows that the education system needs to change, To be given such a prognosis at the age of 8 does not make sense. Imagine if they had taken you in and connected with you and offered you support how different your schooling years would have been. Giving someone a label at such a young age is extremely damaging and harming and can have an impact on the rest of our life.
Yes Alison, hahaha. . . just imagine I would have been a famous psychologist by now, as that is what I wanted to study. But in reality I may have been looking for an excuse to give up for as Debra pointed out Einstein was dyslexic but that didn’t put him off his game. It goes to show that the more self love we build in our bodies the more likely we are to not get toppled or cave in so easily and we can have come into life with this self love even as a child. .
So true Kathleen building love in the body is what is needed to keep us together and not give in to things that don’t support us. I know giving up was the easy option for me at school and I then chose a job that didn’t really need qualifications. Giving up on the education system affected my life, to this day I have a problem studying, finding any excuse as to why I shouldn’t do it…..It is never too late as they say, to start studying Kathleen to be that famous psychologist:)
Yes so true Alison, sounds like you had a very similar experience to me. About 16 years ago I did go back and study but not at universe level I got a diploma in textiles which was a pattern design and garment manufacturing course and also went on to study counselling so have a diploma for professional counselling. And I have looked into a degree for as you say it is never too late . . . it is never too late to heal ones hurts.
These are such great examples of the impact, and potential problems of ‘labelling’. The same goes for the other end of the spectrum when you are placed at the top – the amount of pressure to be lived up to. Neither version allows true expression and natural evolution.
Yes spot on Jenny. And that seems to be the name of game as education seems to be more about getting good grades to make your school look good on paper so that they can attract more funding and more pupils than it is about ‘true expression and natural evolution’.
Wow Kathleen, that experience goes to show how from such a young age kids are told that in order to be of worth and value they had to be number 1; the absolute top in their class. Number 3 just isn’t ‘suffice’…
I have heard so many similar accounts where educators or other professionals have told people they would never amount to anything. On the flip side I have also heard of how inspirational some teacher have been in the lives of many. We have a huge effect on the people we come into contact with, good or bad. Ps Einstein was dyslexic.
Hey Debra yes I agree there are many inspirational teachers and I know that they find it very tough working in a loveless system but despite that they still managed to shine their light and make a difference. PS.On another note I am very glad that dyslexia did not put Einstein off!
I remember my 6th grade teacher with a great deal of fondness and up until this moment have considered myself lucky to have had the experience of a supportive teacher who loved me. But hang on a minute, shouldn’t we be able to have this kind of connection with every teacher?
Thanks for sharing that, Kathleen. It is amazing how damaging such classifications can be on a young person, when they are in the process of finding their place in the world.
Wow, how utterly ridiculous. And how exposing of the fact we are oriented towards university at such a young age. Where is the focus on trades, for example? Or are roles that do not depend on a degree relegated to a mass of people we don’t really care about? This is no way to support children to grow into who they are.
It is astonishing when we consider the number of people left devastated and unsure of themselves as a result of the current way of looking at intelligence and pigeon-holing people. All that seems to matter is whether individuals tick the narrow box or not whilst comparison and competition is championed. We could really do with instead nurturing awareness, appreciation, responsibility and brotherhood which are the actual foundations of life.
There is such a lovelessness in being labelled, irrespective of what that label is. We feel the lovelessness and react to it and as you say, Kathleen, it affects our entire life until such a time as we are prepared to deal with the hurt that it brings. As children, all we need is to be met for who we are, not labelled and pigeon holed into something that others think we should be or not be.
Yes Elizabeth it is interesting that when I look back on my life I can see just how I have used all these little memories to feed a hurt that kept me from being all that I could be. Children do need to be met but when they are not it would be great if it was widely known that first and foremost that the most valuable connection is our connection with our selves, as presented by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, for this invaluable knowledge certain turned my life around and would never allow a label to stick on anyone for there is nothing to pin it on as we would know ourselves as the multidimensional beings that we actually are.
Kathleen the labeling is pure evil. I was offered a job just before I left school and I was strongly urged to take it as ‘what else would I do?’ seemed to be the question. My wisdom that was felt from a very small age was considered irrelevant if I was not a scholar at maths.
Yes Kathryn, also having been considered ” not university material” and a bit of a dreamer, another statement that was strongly put to me quite often was “You had better find someone who can look after you”. . . referring to finding a husband!
Yes ‘finding a husband’ or even ‘finding a rich husband’ were other common expressions used when anything was needed to be done or it was felt that the woman couldn’t get through a university degree. Wow so many underlying beliefs that taint the way we see ourselves.
Yes Kathryn, labeling children as unable to deal with the world does little for self esteem and self confidence. Through the presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I learned that anxiety and lack of self confidence can be remedied by being in the body rather than in my head worrying or dreaming off in order to escape the worry. This has completely changed my life!
Mind-blowing. That these teachers can wield such swords of devastation. Striking down the glory and magnificence of a child in one brutal swipe.
Yes Otto it was in the 1960’s and I don’t think it was the teachers it was a psychological IQ test given by IQ test administrators to determine whether you had any learning disabilities and to estimate what academic achievement was possible for the participant. Everyone had to get tested. I have recently read up on it and the damage it caused to many young children by giving them labels that imprisoned them. It was later found to be totally unreliable of course
In the UK they have just decided to start SAT testing 6 year olds!!! When will they see the pressure and stress that these children are under? How much worse do the suicide and mental health statistics have to get??
How ironic Kathleen! Amazing how brutal the system is and the abuse that it dishes out under the guise of being ‘practical’ even though it does not make sense at all.
Reading your awesome blog, Kate, I realise how checked out I was from a very young age. I loved school to be with my friends, but I was never engaged with the ‘work’, it never felt very important to me. I have always thought I just wasn’t a very ‘good’ student, now I wonder, maybe I just didn’t want to play the game.
This paragraph beautifully exposes the education system for what it is ‘I felt a majesty in the world, in nature, in all people and in me, and a kind of transparency of the value and seeming limitation and narrowness of what we were taught and asked to regurgitate on cue – all to make someone else, parents or teachers, look good.’ And to achieve results to perform in life as an adult. This is exactly what all children feel from their little bodies when they enter schooling.
I remember in Yr 7 having an IQ general test because I had migrant parents who didn’t speak English at home. I failed miserably because I had no understanding as what they we asking. So as a consequence I was put into special English classes. I felt separated and considered less than from my peers because of it.
This is a great point Loretta when we compare and judge people according to very limited skills and abilities we totally reduce them from their whole amazing being.
Awesome article Kate exposing what is true intelligence, and how it is defined in today’s world- a very limited and narrow approach indeed.
It is very interesting to open true intelligence in daily life, when this is attempted to be made sense of within the confines of the fine lined boxes it is clear that the boxes we have constructed as a form of security in the world actually cannot contain the whole, and that is where the insecurity lies. True intelligence in the world is a gift of reflection to return to what is truth, and the simple truth is that is its sole purpose and value, it is to simply communicate and express without end. And since it is a whole and not a line, it simply keeps expressing and expressing deeper, without destination and without end. In the process of this unfolding of expression, it is not what is said but the process of unveiling deepening, the process of forever returning back to the source that would eventually be felt by others. This is a process of being deeper and deeper in the world.
Beautifully expressed Adele; the created boxes that contain our so called intelligence are a decoy and keep us from ‘opening true intelligence in daily life’.
Natalie Benhayon epitomises the fullness of intelligence, from the practical, the common sense and insightful wisdom she shares. None of which has come from a book, but from life and relationships as her classroom. This intelligence is what we all can bring to whatever profession or trained specialty, which is super inspiring.
Totally Johanna. Natalie Benhayon is a walking living body of intelligence and as she said at the retreat, it is all because of the way she moves. This means we are all able to access the same and it is wonderful to see that this is possible. She’s a total inspiration.
True intelligence is not an achievement or state of prominence but rather a state of being where there is no separation to who we are with what we do, through every aspect of our living day. True intelligence represents the wisdom that each and every one of us holds within and as such equally have access to, as in essence we are all Divinely part of and connected to this same universe we are living in.
You capture the vastness of true intelligence so well Carola and how impossible it is to pigeon hole it into a narrow box. We can all connect to this innate wisdom and reflect different aspects of it which are all equally valid and needed in the world so everyone suffers when someone is labeled as less than and their contribution not valued.
Agreed Gill – this is the beauty of the U turn Serge Benhayon walks and talks.
Existing in our lives measured by the regurgitation of knowledge coming from a body/group/organsiation that deems itself intelligent by how much of the regurgitation they have recalled, mastered or refined does not make any sense. As with this we are overriding and forfeiting a powerful and essential aspect of who we are and our knowing of what is true, and in doing so keeps us held in this separation, thinking we are less and limits the true intelligence we all in fact are when we live connected to our essence.
Where were these discussions when I was at school Carola? How truly precious and powerful would it have been to grow in understanding of our true intelligence?
I have made a commitment to live by the truth of my body. From this commitment, I feel a steadiness and resolve in the choices that I make and the way that I live. As such, my writing and speaking now comes from this lived authority, in the way that you describe Kate, and this kind of expression has an entirely different quality because the energy it comes from is total alignment with it.
Our mind is not in our head, it is in fact living throughout our whole body. So when we prioritise its intelligence, we begin to access the multi-dimensional macrocosm of the vast microcosm that our body holds.
We have been equally squashed for needing to fit into these intelligence markers; both those that carried the intelligence and those that didn’t. For if you did, life became about hard work and striving, pushing the body, straining the mind and compromising quality of life in every other way. And if you didn’t, you were labelled as unintelligent, ‘not that bright’ or even worse, as ‘stupid’ as was the case for some people very dear to me whose true intelligence is so very far from these ridiculous statements. We need to expose this intelligence for what it is, as limiting and boxing us into a life that ignores the whole picture of what is really going on. We all have access to the grand universal intelligence, waiting ever-patiently to pour through us so that we can return to living with our divine origins.
Great work Kate, exposing the embedded belief structure we hold about what intelligence is. This is a big one for me, coming from a highly ‘intelligent’ and high achieving family, where the top of the top was the norm. And yet, despite holding similar such capacity, the emptiness of it was pervasive for me as a child and whilst I played the perfectionist game throughout school, I ended up bent out of shape, desperately seeking the connection that I innately felt. Beyond school, like you, this took me into reaction and seeking utopia through alternative lifestyles, which most definitely was not IT. The clairsentience I felt as a child is now being re-kindled as a doorway to a multi-dimensional intelligence that we all have equal access to, through the grace and glory of our divine bodies. I feel an incredible responsibility to bring this power and capacity through for the benefit of mankind.
Our children are so wise and yet we do not honour the wisdom they bring as we dismiss so much of what they bring.
So true Fiona many children reflect that we are naturally connected to our own felt sense of the world and ourselves. Through our dismissive way we can cause children to drop this way of knowing what is truly going on and what they bring to the world.
Our so called ‘intelligence’ makes us arrogant and blind to the truth which is right in front of our noses.
Yes Fiona. We have a ‘picture’ of what it means to be a parent and how our children should behave or be in certain situations. All about identifying with a’ role’, when we could be open to the fullness of relationship and the wisdom that naturally flows from children.
I can remember realising when I was a young girl that the world was not set up for us to openly express the vastness of who we naturally are. It was clear that this way of being was not accepted by society and instead we are taught how to pretend, protect ourselves and shutting down this sense of connection as this was ‘not enough’ to get us through life, and in fact often deemed a sign of weakness or a lack of intelligence. Yet in truth our connection to our essence and to our bodies is what allows us to be open and have access to all the universal intelligence available to us. Imagine that, if we all were guided to know and empowered to express our true intelligence, how different our world would be today? Thank you Kate for presenting the truth of what intelligence is, and how we as a society need to re-define the meaning of the word intelligence in order for us to move on from the limitations that we have set in motion to this date, as we are missing out on so much, and instead live with the vast and immeasurable true intelligence of who we are.
Yes Syliva i too feel the marked difference, one (narrow intelligence) leaves me with nothing and the other leaves me with a sense of expansions, connection. It is wisdom speaking and wisdom is vast.
And isn’t this the great harm of redefining what true intelligence is to a far lesser form that leaves us empty, unfulfilled and devoid of true connection and Love?
Thank you Kate, this is superb as what we define intelligence to be in society is well defined by you as ‘narrow lines’ and it is. It has it’s limitations which does not allow for the expansion of expression to go beyond those lines and the space to see what would become birthed from our inner wisdom, all knowing, common sense and it would actually be so much more. Many of us who do not ‘fit’ into this category of ‘intelligence’ have shutdown, withdrawn, passed limiting judgments on ourselves, even lived less than our potential when in fact we are simply not tapping into what i define as true intelligence. As you stated Kate, it is available to us all it’s about ‘re-claiming our natural expression of the true intelligence we are all innately from.’ So much to be expressed by every single one of us.
True intelligence is us all – inclusive
Intelligence is not us all – divisive
Excellent reminder of what intelligence, as we are taught it, is not. Imagine the difference if we were nurtured as children to continue to tap into the intelligence we simply lived. Who needs to be taught right and wrong when you accept you already know this. You already know what it means to work with humanity and not along side it. We’re actually all already scientists, if we were given the chance to stay connected to our bodies, then we’d have far greater awareness around what to consume and what no to. The list is endless of what we’d actually know if we just allowed it, rather than forcing ourselves to conform to another kind of intelligence that is often simply an exercise in recalling information.
Everyone loses when competition is the name of the game, even the winner, because they are being given recognition for something they have done, which (like Kate has expressed) reduces us down to a pointy thin line. Who we are, our qualities and strengths and even our weaknesses should be celebrated as unique and needed within humanity and NOT competed with or compared against.
When we choose our heads over our bodies, the world loses because decisions are made primarily made in self-interest and not in the interest of us all. Our bodies are connected to the all.
Beautifully said Sarah the wisdom our bodies and innermost provides a knowing that is consideration of the all.
Gorgeous Sarah, and so very very true. The very sad thing is that much of the world has forgotten that fact.
Oh wow Sarah – that is so profoundly gorgeous, thank you. Since our bodies are made of universal particles it makes sense that they can only move in connection with the all, working together, each particle living in reflection of one another. This is what we are, this is where we are from and trying to reduce this intelligence to the mechanics of the mind is like trying to reduce the universe to a jam jar! The body knows true intelligence, all we need to do is connect to it.
Love the expansion you have done here Rachael, thank you. So true what you have written – there is no way we can fit the Universe in a jam jar – even a mason one!
Great analogy Rachael – we sure have humanised and, in the process, diminished our understanding of intelligence.
Wow Sarah that is something we should learn from day one: “Our bodies are connected to the all” – how would our world would look like if we all would live connected to our bodies?
Well said Sarah, the wisdom that’s living in our bodies is where true intelligence lies because it is connected with the all and everything it has lived, our heads however, on their own are nothing other than what they have taken in and can remember.
When we buy Society’s definition of intelligence – ‘high IQ’ or ‘Low IQ’, we are choosing to cap ourselves, we are putting ourselves in a vice that squeezes us down to be less than who we truly are. Thank you Kate for reminding us all that we are naturally born as wise, inspiring and expansive beings and that there is always a choice whether we stayed connected to this truth or not. The choice we make is up to us.
It was awesome to hear about how you incorporated the bigger picture whilst at school Kate and how you were/are able to realise that there is so much more. Education is simply about ticking boxes, no matter the consequences for the students and teachers
I love and feel inspired by how aware Kate was/is too Emily. For me, I can’t pin point a feeling of expanse of knowing what I knew at school but I could certainly feel the tension and complication of trying to reduce my intelligence to recall. We are so much more then our ability to remember information and regurgitate it when asked.
“I felt that a lived connection with my body and the beauty that surrounded us was being totally shunned in favour of a dis-connected mental capacity alone.”…this line is a standout within a standout article. Thank you Kate for penning these words and exposing the rot and corruption around how we view ‘intelligence’. As a human race, we live so much in our mental capacity for the bulk of our lives. And it cuts off so much of what you have shared that you knew as a child Kate. That the world is much grander than what we see. That we have access to a universal wisdom and true intelligence that encompasses all. But we trade that all-knowing for the me-knowing.
It’s amazing how rose coloured our glasses need to become to fit into what the world idealised. It would be amazing if we didn’t- allowing for so much more.
Emily wow this brings back memories to me of how I knowingly viewed stages in my life through rose tinted glasses, not wanting to see and stay with the feeling of how hurt I was about boarding school I choose to bury what I felt and see it as a great time in my life.
Well said Gill. Recall may seemingly better our lives in the short-term, but devastates our bodies in the long-term and in disconnection from our being, we are unable to access such vast intelligence that is forever available to us all.
A world lived in our head disconnects us from our heart and from others in Humanity.
We are sold a lie that intellect is ‘it’ for true intelligence is found within our whole being and in connection to the greater all.
Although different in many ways, I can relate to your experience of school and university (although I started 2 degrees and finished neither) in that I would enjoy the wonder of the discoveries, the connection with people and the world around us, but when it came to having to prove I had learned something by writing an assignment, I’d resist like crazy with having to wedge myself into such a narrow view. Then it all became about escaping the system – which I did and then spent the next 12 – 15 years checked out and uncommitted to life.
“When we ordinary everyday heavenly folk…” I am drinking this in as it feels to be the perfect description of the relationship we have with our true Divine origins and our earthly bodies. There is a beauty in this but also a tension which you have so clearly described Kate.
Kate I haven’t even read past the second paragraph but I feel there are pages of ‘I can feel exactly what you are describing here’ and there are elements of this “very old feeling” still in me. Thank you for the beautiful opening up to awareness of the way fitting in means, that we shrink and shrink and confirm and comply until eventually there is a box ticked from an external source. I can feel the degree we contract and hide depends upon how much it takes for us to feel we are ok by another’s approval. What happens earlier that this becomes the norm so readily accepted? With this awareness now, little ones by divine right should feel nothing less than the equal-ness they naturally feel to the stars and back and feel nothing but the loving reflection of this in the people around them. This is the world we have full potential to live in.
Totally agree Sandra Williamson, and a great reminder of the responsibility we hold in being that reflection for others, not holding back from expressing and communicating with children and young people too. It seems that the period between school and university is especially important as I have seen several young people floundering in their first year, wanting to be accepted but not necessarily wanting to do what is asked of them to be accepted and the inner conflict that ensues. Of course if children are aware of their worth and already have a strong connection to their true selves this selling out which often happens at university is much less likely.
With so much emphasis put on the intellectual accumulation of knowledge in our school system there is not much room left for the child to be able to be living a way at school that is natural and allows true wisdom.
Indeed Christopher, we seem to squash the life out of our children at a very early age, what ever happened to allowing the child some freedom to explore the world for themselves through playtime? What we seem to have completely abandoned is the value of play, which offers the child a relaxed open time to explore the world around them, find out how things work, build friendships and develop their confidence. Filling kids up with knowledge and forcing them to recall and perform to set rules it is not the only way to evaluate who they are. Curiosity, social abilities and connection to their own innate love and wisdom surely has equal if not more value in nurturing a child to grow into a wholesome integrated adult.
That is so true Christopher and I am wondering when we as a society will be so intelligent to change this.
Every young child knows almost immediately that school is not quite right and that the teaching and learning lacks love, aliveness and every day living. At some point many of us sell out to the images of fitting in and being liked and pleasing ur parents and teachers and we strive for good results. The school education actually lacks true intelligence ad so great to hear of stories of children who don’t sell out to it. It’s ok to do it, but with the awareness that there’s so much more!
Yes Danielle well said, and i agree Kate’s story is very powerful, even as a child she had an awareness from the freshness of an all knowing child and able to hold it through life and now in full expression from her depth and wisdom. I too knew it didnt feel right, but i got snagged in it, and held myself less ‘intelligently’ for a long time. Until now as i have seen what it actually is and express from the wisdom i hold within, from my body which is what i consider true intelligence.
I agree Danielle I can still clearly remember my first day of school thinking ” Twelve years of this!” I was horrified. How I had worked out how many years I cannot remember. I was 4 1/2 at the time.
what an incredible recording Kathleen – it certainly says a lot
Absolutely Danielle – we have so much to deal with at school and the tension between what we know is true and what we are being told is right can be unbearable at times. Great to know this know so we can support children to embrace what they know and see school intelligence for what it is. When we understand what school is asking for perhaps it is more simple to be a part of it without selling out.
Kate this article is so interesting to read, I can so relate to what you have written here, ‘There were boxes to tick that were made all-important, and from which our very worth was measured and compared’, I see this with young children, how they are so amazing and their expression is so unique but when they start school it seems like the school wants the children to lose this unique expression and all read and write and behave in a certain way that may not be natural for them, they seem to be compared with each other rather than encouraged with their unique expression, I can see the squashing that takes place and how the children get rewarded with a sticker for doing what they are told to in the way they are told to, it seems to be about being polite, sitting ‘nicely’ and being ‘good’.
I just got this image of robots actually rebeccawingrave. How interesting…that’s essentially the plan, to have everyone equipped with the organised information.
Totally Elodie, funny and true. Not so funny cause its just too true.
Yes Rebecca school and society can be very much about being ‘good,’ and the images of being good constrict and stifle children of their unique expression and natural way of being. What’s great to note from Kate’s sharing is that true intelligence is much more than knowledge as a lineal subject but a living wisdom which is a spherical expression and way of being that blows ‘intelligence or someone’s perceived ( i.e picture) IQ out of this stratosphere.
Awesome blog Kate… cutting through the illusion and grandeur of ‘intelligence’ and presenting true intelligence – the grace and wisdom we all know deep within.
We do and we simple need to allow it to be seen and expressed.
This kind of intelligence leaves us all equal – which for me is a sign of anything that is true.
I agree, Kate, that the education system and our understanding of intelligence is hugely limited by comparison to the vastness that we all have a natural connection to. Cognitive testing (or IQ testing) only evaluates a very particular aspect of intelligence and doesn’t take into account the other factors the impact on a person’s ability to access their true wisdom and intelligence in full. However, for the system that we have, there is a place for cognitive testing. It doesn’t consider the whole person by any means but it will give a fairly accurate representation of the cognitive skills needed for processing, memory, problem solving and perception, which are needed skills and without the full use of them people struggle and their opportunities in life are limited.
These tools can be elevated to support a much higher level of healing when the practitioner is able to read and consider the energetic factors behind why the person has not adequately developed these aspects of their intelligence.
Brilliant katemaroney1, Your last paragraph suggests what could be, and boy is this needed in every way in our existing eductaion system.
I used to get high grades at school and could feel how this seemed quite easy for me and not others. Often people would call me smart and each time I would correct them and say I am not smart I just have a good memory – for that is all that is required to get good grades from my experience.
Super wise Abby. It’s so true though isn’t it. The memory thing is ultimately what get’s us through school but no one is willing to look at this further. But how are kids equipped with dealing with their emotions, their situations at home, future relationships, themselves etc. None of this is taught…what’s the point of being able to do all your times tables if you’re depressed and cry every day? Something is hugely amiss here.
School can be really difficult if you struggle with recall, I have 5 kids, three of which seem to sail through in the way you describe, two of which seem to be having the same trouble I had in school. Its hard to watch them suffer in the way they do, as they are so intelligent but really struggle to tick the boxes that are required to achieve in the current education system.
Yes I know what you mean Sarah. Some children are so wise and aware and yet struggle with recall and repeating. It’s bizarre that this will affect their ‘success’ in the classroom.
Whats beautiful is that even though the education system is not really that user friendly, there are a lot of teachers and schools that want to work on different ways to support your children to learn, if they are not picking up things with the conventional methods.
This is interesting to hear Sarah. The education system has a very limited way of measuring intelligence then.
Spot on Abby – how cool to reflect back on your school experience with clarity that you knew exactly what was going on, that academic intelligence is all recall.
I can relate to this – all night cramming for exams, attempting to stuff as much information in as i could in order to regurgitate it out the next day to pass an exam. The information never stayed and once it was out, it was gone. This was not true learning nor true intelligence – just mechanics of recall and short term memory.
Excellent Abby I was the same, when I was on a roll with something and was called “smart” I corrected it as well by saying that “I was only repeating what the teacher said, I didn’t come up with it”
Thank you, Kate. This is an amazing description of what the world misses out on when we narrow ourselves down to human intelligence. Here’s to others like you re-connecting to the vastness of their all-knowing wisdom, and re-igniting the true love for humanity that naturally lives within us all.
Beautiful Janet – connecting to our all knowing wisdom and its vastness is about love for humanity. The human intelligence if honesty is brought to the table is about self under the guise of humanity, otherwise our world would not be in the state.
Very well said Janet – ‘Here’s to others like you re-connecting to the vastness of their all-knowing wisdom, and re-igniting the true love for humanity that naturally lives within us all.’ I couldn’t agree more.
Every young child knows almost immediately that school is not quite right and that the teaching and learning lacks love, aliveness and spunk. At some point most of us sell out to the images of fitting in and being liked and we gain our so called school education which in truth lacks true intelligence.
This is so true Danielle. We so often see how children, ourselves included have become affected by the lack of true intelligence and true connection offered through the construct of knowledge from our current education system. It is easy to lose the sense of who you are when the only guidance available how to measure up, to be part of society, by what only what you do.
Yes this is true, and we then need to not fall into the sympathy game also here as we are all very wise and we know we need to commit to life and bring about a true way of living.
Yes agreed Amina, great call as sympathy does serve only to hold another less than the so much more that we are, when in truth as you say ‘we are all very wise and we know we need to commit to life and bring about a true way of living.’
Misguided guidance.
Spot on Danielle, the system is so backwards and I fell for it myself, choosing the need to fit in and be liked. How awesome for projects like Teachers are Gold and blogs like this that tell another story based on the truly intelligent teachings of Serge Benhayon. Imagine some of the top dogs of Universities coming to a presentation of his, now that would be something to see!
True and such selling out is happening younger and younger – many before they even arrive in the classroom. The classroom and school setting is but one aspect of life in which we can feel that something is not right and where we are seldom met for who we are nor our natural shine nurtured and supported.
Wow Kate this blog has bought me to tears for I can feel exactly how I gave up on life as I too felt unnaturally squeezed into a box for which I had no inner reference or understanding. Equally today I can identify how my three children are figuring out ways and means to comply with this thin narrow line. Without the vastness, the teachings of energy or the humility of re-incarnation – all seems flat, lifeless and more over purposeless. Serge Benhayon has literally breathed life, meaning and purpose back into a self created existence.
I agree, Lucinda, it was very beautiful to read how connected you were as a child, Kate and then for people to encourage you to be validated for your ‘IQ’ must have been very confronting, very awesome how you chose to stand your ground.
I agree Lucindag, Serge Benhayon has pulled back the veil of illusion and allowed Truth to shine through to be both felt and seen. This is a great blessing and much needed one in the world as it currently is today as we can so easily see by just taking a look around us what is going. Our quality of life and the way we live seems to be one of exhaustion, stress, wanting to escape by tv and alcohol etc and illnesses and dis-eases increasing, and this is just some of what is going on! I think children and young people have it harder now than they have ever done before.
Well said lucingag. University, in particular, is a time I can remember feeling heavy, dull and purposeless. My body was also at its heaviest at this time and on reflection I can also recall a period of time during my studies having a sore lower back, which is not something I had experienced previously or since. This just goes to show how the intelligence that we champion through universities can completely suck the life out of us and leave us much less than who we are.
I totally agree Lucindag. Teaching is lifeless without love.
Spot on Kathryn Fortuna.
True Kathryn. I was blessed to have two teachers in primary school who brought their subjects to life because of their passion for the subject and their enjoyment of sharing this with the class. It was amazing how diligently we all worked in maths and english because we were inspired by these teachers.
Serge Benhayon has without any doubt opened the door to purpose in my life, and in the lives of many others.
Beautiful expression of you and your connection with the whole Kate. This snippet about university stood out for me today “I suspect I was actually at university seeking a ‘get out of committing to life early’ excuse and confirmation that the world was ‘all wrong’ and I would later withdraw from life into ‘alternative lifestyles’ – and give up on bringing me, and the broader awareness I naturally held to the world” as I find myself again grappling with university study. It’s very clear to me that in my 20’s university was an escape from committing to life because I didn’t really know what else to do. Now that I find myself committing to life in full, with a true sense of purpose and responsibility, I sense that university and its form of control on expression and ‘intelligence’, is asking for a conformity I’m not sure I can, or want to, deliver.
This is a very honest account Michelle and something that does definitely need to come to the surface as we are all so very blinded by what our education system is actually doing to the world. Having these types of open discussions will naturally bring light to that.
Yes aminatumi, “we are all so very blinded by what our education system is actually doing to the world.” I went back to studying after 40 years and I came face to face with the old education consciousness that was in me when I did my University degree. Even though I wasn’t intending to do more than pass the subject I felt the old pressure to get good marks and fear of not knowing enough etc all came tumbling back until I began to see that it was not me but a belief that was running me. It was only once I saw this that I was able to relax and actually enjoy learning and it then seemed so easy and not at all the hard slog I thought it to be.
‘The notion of ‘being better than others’ creates separation and comparison between people – with a not too small dose of arrogance in being identified with what we do and not who we actually divinely are.’ So true Kate.
Well said Jenny one can’t be better without making another feel less.
So well expressed Kate. IQ intelligence leaves a lot to be desired and separates more than it unites. There lies the truth. When we buy into it, we short change ourselves and everyone else.
Awesome point Amanda. Separation is a key word here. That’s exactly what we aim to do, weed out those that don’t make the cut so the others can seemingly get on with business.
Separation is a subject to be studied and made hugely open in discussions all over the world.
Separation and competition. Neither brings joy or appreciation of our equal, true worth. I’ve been caught up in recognition so have let both play their part in my life greatly. I’ve felt the tension and devastation they bring. I no longer want to partake in them and the more I choose to drop them the greater I feel harmony is restored in my body.
I agree Amanda – we have left intelligence to that of an IQ level rather than appreciating the intelligence of the body. Kate’s experience certainly shows how we can shut down our true knowledge simply to tick boxes, but the fact is we will always feel a tension of not honouring who we are or the truth of what we feel.
hvmorden I love what you share about the tension we feel of not honoring who we are or the truth we feel inside. This is not a common knowing and so most people try to get rid of this tension – so there are many things they do to made themselves numb to it. Kate’s amazing blog is such an inspiration and an invitation to re-connect to the true intelligence inside of us.
Hi Hannah, love what you have shared here because “tension” never leaves us – we reconnect and bring wisdom to this fact so we can return to live as the Son of God. This is true for every situation, and our lived wisdom supports us in bringing more love to each situation so as to be not affected, so we become the observer of these situations. My Livingness is returning me to this place, and like Kate in this amazing blog I also was too engrossed in looking at what was going on outside the classroom window.
Whilst the world has reduced IQ to recalling knowledge or even emotional intelligence we do indeed just separate ourselves from each other further and limit the innate wisdom and knowing from our innermost.
When you think about it, holding someone as different because they have a different measure of IQ is like holding someone different because of the colour of their skin, or their gender.
It’s awesome to have a high IQ, what an opportunity to use that for the greater good of humanity, but it doesn’t define us and it’s not something to be put on a pedestal above everything else. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses for a reason, we can help and support each other and united we have it all. We can learn from each other and become stronger in certain areas ….. we all have our own unique gifts to bring to the world, equally so. To single out certain attributes above others, as you say Amanda, causes separation and encourages comparison creating more dis-ease.
Those who seek to compare, compete and pitch themselves higher than another partake in self-made foolery for we all know deep to our core our absolute equalness and that we are all one.
It’s impossible to stay balanced on the thin narrow line.
…And it takes a lot of control and contortions of the body, i just think of a tight rope walker!
There is simply no possibility of staying on the tight rope when we live unbalanced in our bodies with all the weight in our heads doing all the thinking whilst the wisdom of the body is neglected.
Love the analogy of a tight rope walker with a huge head and skinny little body …. impossible to stay balanced like that!
I agree Jeanette and Karoline, I can feel my body tensing up imaging trying to walk on a tight rope – it is completely unnatural and you have to force your body into certain way – why for recognition that you can do it – but no amount of recognition is ever worth it at the expense of our body.
Love it Jeanette, so true, especially when our true greatness is immeasurable, reaching far and wide : )
Yes, Jeanette, to be squashed into a very specific box of conditions and parameters is switching everything else off …. like saying, it doesn’t matter what you’re feeling or however many colours of the rainbow you enjoy using, forget all of that, put it to one side, we’re only interested in yellow, used with these specific conditions, that’s it.
There is a feeling in life of all the rules we have to follow, be polite, be nice, behave as expected. It seems that these rules are a shadow of expressing the incredible people each of us are, and what is being offered here that there is much much more we can be living as.
True Jeanette if we play the game, however we can very much be in the system and hold ourselves on all the knowing of who we are.
And what an amazing reflection that is to others of what is possible. Perhaps also a way of laying a newer way of being in education. The system absolutely needs this.
Beautiful, Johanna, thank you for sharing this …. so very true. I wish I’d had an inspiring teacher like you when I was at school, to challenge me to be me, not to give up, withdraw and spend my lessons day dreaming! The education system is not going to change overnight, however, as you say, there is absolutely the possibility of us being able to hold ourselves in the glory of who we are whilst in the system, which in turn offers a beautiful reflection for others to feel what is also possible for them, equally so.
Beautiful Johanna by reflection.
And it’s impossible to feel expansive when we are confined to the thin narrow line.
Yes Tamara but it is us who each need to take responsibility to live full and not be confined by the line others set. It’s important for our reflection and words to expose the rot in the systems.
How many of who seek to live a balanced life, simply bring in more and more controlling measures to navigate life, live to pictures of what we believe ‘balance’ to be or to bring us and yet our so-called balanced lives can be without a particle of harmony or joy.
Ha! – Awesome Jeanette Macdonald – how true.
Everything is everything and nothing is nothing is what came to me after reading this amazing blog. It’s really making me ponder on how this has worked for me. When did I give up and consciously lost my connection with the Divine Wisdom. There’s such a fear and firm protection within me that doesn’t want to feel the hurts that are underneath my choices to deny the Grandness of Life. It’s very inspiring to read how you’ve kept your connection for quite some time. It’s amazing that our whole educational system is actually set up to squeeze into the narrow boxes, rather than fostering and confirming the Grandness that we are.
Interesting Ariana. For me it feels as if my Divinity can’t be lost. It’s innately there and there’s a knowing within my body that knows that in every cell. However, for me it feels as the part that chooses (free Will) can choose the connection with my body and in that with Divinity, or it can not choose that. As soon as it doesn’t choose the connection, it’s like I’m taking over by a different energy that pretends is me, yet is the polar opposite of being me. As far as I experience it, I’ve got to make a choice to connect and surrender to my body, including my heart. This choice however, is very natural and it’s very unnatural – yet it has become quite common after 39 years – to not choose to be with me. And I’m learning to accept my Divinity in full and surrendering to it.
So ignorance is not selective – it casts its invisible web over all of humanity – no-one misses out, not even those with very high IQs.
It is true that we are forever Divine – we cannot change who we divinely are.
We play the game of adorning different threads and adding to our lives the many fillers on offer yet nothing on this earth will ever mask our Godliness – it is deeply known and felt by all.
Our connection “cannot be lost because it is in the body.” Ariana, it’s true, the key is in the body. For as soon as we listen to it we are drawn back home. Yet we are under such illusion that we have lost our connection to love and we go looking for it outside ourselves – but why do we feel that ‘ache’ if we did not know it were there?
Somebody’s IQ does not say anything about the way a person lives on a daily basis, it does not say anything about the choices he makes, how he takes care of himself and what his relationship is with his body. Basically, IQ does not say anything about love, truth, appreciation and commitment to life and relationships.
If we are not choosing to work with each other in support of us all, to evolve humanity from the mess we have created for ourselves, it doesn’t matter how high our IQ is, we’re only beating our own drum.
Well said Mariette. The IQ of person does not determine the integrity and love to which that person lives.
Kathryn, I totally agree. It always surprised me the cold austerity in which some of the people with the highest IQ’s looked like they lived.
Choosing love as a way of life is a daily experience, one that has naught to do with anything but love.
The IQ may actually say a lot about a person but it definitely doesn’t say how much love they know and express. Hence you get quite a few people with high or very high IQ who behave quite strangely as no level of IQ makes you notice the importance of love.
I remember noticing this quite clearly when I was younger… that those with a high IQ were quite often not the people who had a high level of what we call ‘common sense’. The observation at the time was that it seemed to be an either / or situation, but no matter the IQ its always possible to connect to what is going on around you… and that is just good common sense!
We have adopted an intelligence measure that apparently is not intelligent at all.
In redefining intelligence as memory, recall and a score we have disconnected from the fullness and universality of what true intelligence is. If we don’t live intelligently we will never understand its true meaning.
Absolutely Deborah. And we truly are missing out on the whole of a person and all they can bring when this happens. This whole education system needs more true reflection from within.
“being identified with what we DO and not WHO we actually divinely are.” this says it all. Over and over again in our society. This is the epidemic and rot within the education system that we need to address.
The rot exists only within the education system because we allow it to be there and to be fostered. It cannot change while we allow false living to be the chosen way within society and whilst we are all content to live a lie.
Imagine if these qualities love, truth, appreciation and commitment were taught in schools or at least lived and reflected by their teachers? Thank fully there are teachers in the system being this role model.
‘As children equality was it, and this was not read in a book, or written on a blackboard, (or read on the internet or smart board) but known in our bodies, the trees, birds, and people all had a flow and there was no separation or difference other than that which we later learned and took on.’ – Beautiful Kate – children, if not tampered with, knows and lives true intelligence. This is why the school system feels crushing for so many.
The description of the school system being crushing is so apt. It’s like the children’s life force is being crushed out of them so that when they leave they aren’t whole like they started as but crushed flat. Of course they can choose to be themselves through out the system but without role models reflecting the truth of the system back it is very tricky.
We must never underestimate the power of true role models – we never forget those who see us for who we are, honour and show true care and decency. It is up to each of us to live this and bring this to the classroom and every pocket of society.
Yes Karin. Role models are currently lacking in our society. Children respond to truth when it is presented to them. They can see authenticity, and mostly love and step up to responsibility when it is given to them.
The sad part is almost all teachers would have chosen that profession because they want to foster the very best in each child, yet our systems and strategies for education are lost in a miasma of right and wrong.
I agree Karin – without true role models it is easy to think we are the ones who got it wrong and we give up against the system.
And why it must change. I have been inspired by how Serge Benhayon has presented true education and how connecting with children for who they are and not for what they can do makes all the difference.
Me too Simon – I have watched children blossom and express with true self confidence when they are being seen for who they truly are and connected with. What children recognizes is that Serge meets and treats everyone as equals.
Yes the current school system is devastating for many, and so reflecting to our children how to be in a world that is so unnatural and foreign to them is important.
Yes – how might things be if we nurture the innate intelligence in our children rather than assume they need to travel that thin line that we think of as intelligence? I certainly felt crushed by the school system and found it very difficult to be a part of.
I remember that feeling, when I was young, of the world being huge and fascinating.. yet as we go ever further down the thin line of narrow intelligence we become focussed on a particular aspect and lose out on the majesty of everything that we are, and the world is.
You write about your sort of pen pal friend. Your blog is the way you describe her expression.
It is extraordinary I agree Brendan that despite our understanding that there are other forms of intelligence – Naturalist, Musical, Logical-Mathematical, Interpersonal Intelligence, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Intra-persona etc. and although none of these are the true intelligence in full that Kate described, we still have an education system that predominantly falls back on recall as it’s primary measure.
That’s true Jenny .. and falling back on memory recall takes the joy out of life and from my experience tires my body where I seek to numb myself after the heavy workload I place on my body. It is nothing like I feel today when I research and feel my way to what is needed for people instead of any identification I seek to having more knowledge.
Yes Rik… it does have quite and impact on the body I agree. Attempting to get by in life by relying on memory recall is a very draining way to live life. The body holds far greater intelligence and ability to sense what is needed next. Living from that place allows a flow that holds a natural ease and this allows the body to remain far healthier and vital.
Given how far humanity has to go in our evolution, encouraging creativity and new ways of ‘seeing’ things would be a great start.
Yes, although creativity in itself is often just as far off-track as being so-called ‘intelligent’. At the end of the day, if we are not aligned to an energy that is true, then nothing of our endeavours, regardless whether creative or not, will be of true intelligence.
Am amazing sharing Kate and reminds me of how I was as a child, dreams I had of floating and being part of the universe, questions asked that no one could answer. Then I fitted in to what was asked of me, specially equalling qualifications gained with intelligence. I know many people who trust and express from their natural intelligence, in the way of your friend. I’m still learning to do the same, and and not cling to the thin narrow line.
The world is set up in a way where we are made to believe that we need the thin line to protect ourselves in the world of others doing the same. How extraordinary it would be if we all let go and trusted in the innate wisdom we have been denying through such reductionism.
Kate I can relate to feeling squashed at school, I could not connect to having to recall things from text books that in truth had very little meaning or purpose to me. I also remember feeling confused, I think I was hoping that school would offer me what I was looking for, something that I could already feel was missing in my life, and when it didn’t, I gave up and conformed to what was required of me and not what I felt. The schooling system is about results and figures and does not ask us to connect to ourselves or each other.
Thank you for exposing the fallacy that is intelligence Kate. What is measured as intelligence is often just ones ability to recall learned things. It does not take into account the ability to see the world for more than what it is, the interconnectedness of it all and the individual lived experience that people have. So called intelligence is highly overrated.
It is crazy that we rate intelligence purely by the ability to recall information when there is so, so much more to life than the limited mind – such as our inner heart which is limitless truth, grace and wisdom.
So true Lee. Intelligence is just a measure of your memory and how good you are at regurgitating the info
I often find that intelligence is too boxed as you say Kate. Only when the body all the everything else is included will anything really make sense.
Divine intelligence. Now you are talking and this has not one once of the mind in it! It is available to all equally so in our bodies we just have to be willing to connect or re-connect with this. Serge Benhayon is bringing this to light and reflecting to all so that this truth can once again be fully felt within our bodies. It was gorgeous to hear how you appreciate your friend and the great qualities you see in her, the beautifull thing is what you see in her is also all of you ✨
A great description of the vast difference between the thin line of IQ-measured intelligence and the vastness of the ‘surround sound’ intelligence that is forever omnipresent.
Thank you for sharing Kate and opening up the topic of what true intelligence really is. For me the thing that gets me is how can a medical doctor, someone who has gone through years of training about the body drink alcohol or smoke? When they know how damaging both are to the body? Yet they are some of the most ‘intelligent’ people in society.
Indeed James – the illusion about what or who is intelligent has no end, we have all contributed to this gigantic game.
It’s so arrogant to assume that just because a child is not paying attention in school that they have a problem and a lack of intelligence. You show very clearly Kate that this is not the case. It is school that is the problem! We are all spherical beings who as children can see and feel the wonder of life. To conform to school as it is at the moment is to squash ourselves into a little two dimensional box that does not recognise and honour our wonderful spherical nature.
I love how we are born with true intelligence, meaning we all know. Therefore no matter how far away from this we end up – we have the truth inside us waiting for us to return to it.
Great exposure of the narrow way our current education system measures ‘intelligence’ and the inequality that this engenders between those who can tick the boxes and those who don’t. I was good at regurgitating information in exams but always felt a fraud because I could feel that something was missing and I struggled to see the point of what I was doing. With the ever increasing pressure on results it is no wonder that more and more students are finding themselves switching off or getting burnt out before they even get to the end of their ‘education’. So here’s to reclaiming our true intelligence and sharing that with the world in whatever way feels true to us.
Thank you for sharing Kate, this is an incredible article. The education system is similar in my experience; geared toward developing the ‘intelligence’ of kids and teenagers and boxing them into categories based on their ability to regurgitate information in an exam. But what does this make, ‘intelligence’? The skills to repeat the contents of a textbook? As you’ve shared, I believe true intelligence is much greater than this – to do with the quality in which we present information to humanity so that it’s easily understood, how we know to look after ourselves and how we express.
The form of intelligence that is lauded in our education systems is so narrow as Kate describes, and it feels like it is held onto stubbornly by those it suits and works for. Yet if education doesn’t work for everyone can we really say it works at all?
‘Yet if education doesn’t work for everyone can we really say it works at all?’ Indeed Stephen, at what expense are we hanging on to our education system the way we do in society today? Something for us all to contemplate.
Until the education system becomes deeply people-centered, it will always fail…. for being set up like it is, is currently done so at their expense, not true development, for the kids are not coping and clearly suffering within it.
So true Stephen. And if children need to shrink their experience to fit into what feels like a narrow line in contrast to the expansiveness of life, it is debatable if our current set up truly works for anyone at all.
Awesome question you proposed there Stephen. Surely people know it doesn’t work from the state of people who are apart of it.
Kate you have triggered a memory of a very young boy who was part of a football team. His focus was often much more on his environment than the game and we would often see him twiddling flowers in his fingers rather than focusing on the game. I remember clearly that he was viewed as not only a bit of an odd ball but also as a bit of a ‘loser’ simply because he was not intent on scoring goals and winning. So many of our current ideas and institutions are set up to knock the God out of children.
Indeed many of our current ideas and institutions are godless yet in truth God will never be knocked out by anyone.
Difficult to knock him out when he is actually all that exists! Jees we’re deluded!
Kate what you have so clearly described is how our current educational system bullies our children’s naturally divine expression into submission. It is enough to make me weep.
Great way of looking at it Alexis.
Oh Kate, the glory of you shines through every word.
I completely agree Alexis. Humbleness and glory in equal measure.
Thank you Kate for highlighting the fact that even when children are highly intelligent they can still be classed and treated as less for not playing ball with the education system.
Amazing blog Kate. It is true, true intelligence does not only come from the mind but from applying this wisdom to the body and life.
Thank you Kate you have captured so beautifully how torturous and distorting the current education system can be for children.
Really we are all a bit like farmers at a market trying to win gold prize for the humungous marrow we just grew. It feels like it’s time for us to stop and deeply understand that true wisdom and intelligence comes from God not from ‘you’. It’s not something we can ever win, parade at the expense of another, store or wield over a brother but simply a door you can choose to open and let be expressed through you. Described this way Kate, it makes it clear we should stop every education institution today and include from the start the fact that true intelligence is God’s Love.
Well said Joseph, this derails the belief that anyone is more intelligent than another. If someone is good at recalling information then this is just that, the ability to recall information. True intelligence comes through when our whole bodies are open, then it can flow from the source through us and not from us.
There can be no competition in true intelligence as it’s very founding premise is equalness with all.
You evoke a great picture Joseph of just how separatist our current education system is and how totally we miss the point that God’s wisdom is available to all and that education should be set up to support this and young children to explore the fullness of them rather than trying to get them to conform to narrow boxes that leave them confused and switched off from an early age.
Absolutely brilliant Kate – this debunks the myth that intelligence can be gained from some external source, whether this be a book, course, the Internet (!) etc. True intelligence is never sourced externally, but always sourced from within. The fact that we have placed so much focus on the external, to the detriment of our own innate wisdom, is reflective of exactly how far from true intelligence we have actually moved away from.
Kate your blog held me in a space of wonderment – I could feel as I read your story your true beauty and divine intelligence so clearly, as if I yearned for this reflection in my own childhood. How ludicrous that a consciousness determination could be tolerated and encouraged that would have as its purpose to submerge any evidence or expression of your divinity and your connection with the heavens when you were a child. One has to wonder what energy has been behind and continues still to this day that is behind endeavouring to dull and destroy the true divine intelligence that was supposedly to be squashed at any cost in your youth. How truly beautiful it is for ones such as myself to have the privelege to read your amazing expression and experience when for my own personal journey it was one where I was deemed to be lost to the university system due to being labelled as not intelligent enough. Apart from not being able to tick the necessary intelligent boxes it was also a belief system that I was held in at that time was that girls worked for just a while after leaving school at year 10, get a job in a bank or such, find a nice man to look after you and produce babies to populate the country. I recall quite clearly that “populate or perish” was a catchcry in my childhood.
So many amazing points here, the biggest being the feeling of vastness this blog carries. I still can feel that sense of deflation I’ve experienced based on IQ measurements – how terrible to go through school and life feeling this was where our value lied. Very reductionist. We are so much more than these narrow systems of defining brain intelligence.
Precisely Melinda – reductionism from the start. We are reducing a being to a set of tick boxes that may please us and deliver the necessary recall that we can identify with as parents or as a school that will bring kudos and accolades. The being is reduced to nothing more than an object and an instrument for our purposes, manipulative and exploitative no less. We seldom celebrate and encourage true expression which enables us to each connect to the vast intelligence of the universe and wisdom on tap – if we were truly an intelligent species we would teach all children about energy and how to discern energy and how the universe truly works and support connection to our essence and each other.
Kate, this is a truly amazing account of what we feel when we are younger, and I love how you held onto and trusted your feeling no matter the push to go to that narrow line; and that you clearly knew and say where you were being asked to go was a narrow line, and you could see it made no sense. We have so much natural sense yet we allow ourselves to be beholden a caged narrow splinter of life and we loose that link to our natural sense and the wider world in the process. Our true intelligence is connected to that wider world and feeling the all, what we’re presented with at school can take us back into that splinter, into not being connected to ourselves or those around us. It’s not our natural way and we know it, even while most of us succumb.
Our bodies are made up of particles that have their own intelligence which align to the order of the universe. We just have to look at how the body operates to witness how this divine intelligence works without ‘us’ and our mental constructs getting in the way . We don’t need to ‘think’ for blood to pump around the body, or ‘think’ for the stomach to break down the food we eat. If we treat ourselves with the absolute tender love and care knowing that our bodies are part of this natural and divine order we are being truly intelligent.
Absolutely Donna and thus we are all naturally intelligent beings – for we are each ‘made up of particles that have …intelligence which align to the order of the universe’.
It is rather silly when we consider that we are seeking to chase a label, title or result outside of ourselves or a badge to wear that proves if not justifies our intelligence when all the while we have just disconnected from true intelligence in order to do so.
Kate, thank you for this awesome blog – I have no memory of feeling that vastness as a child – I lived in my own fantasy word that the adults around me had no access to. My ‘intelligence’ was celebrated my poor memory was not and I grew up feeling always inferior, with low self esteem and always feeling I wasn’t good enough. Learning to celebrate the body and how it feels and informs us has been a revelation that has opened up my awareness to the vastness of our being and, like you, has been inspired by the presentations of Serge Benhayon.
It is a very, very unintelligent ‘intelligence’ that ignores equality and everything that is known in our bodies; “the trees, birds, and people all had a flow and there was no separation or difference other than that which we later learned and took on.”
The world will be a very different place when the majority of people on the planet are operating from true intelligence. Clearly the intelligence in which most people are currently living in doesn’t work. We just have to look around and see the increase in illness and disease, the ongoing wars, the abuse etc. The current way of living isn’t working. Perhaps it is time we question this and look to another way, a form of intelligence that arises from the deep love and care that we have towards ourselves/our body first of all.
“…I am finally coming full circle back – re-allowing the surround sound knowing to begin to re-ignite, wake up, dust off the cobwebs and begin to become part of my natural daily landscape again.” – I love how you said this Kate, especially “re-allowing the surround sound knowing to begin to re-ignite” – such a brilliant way to describe it!
Yes for sure Brendan – the way intelligence is measured in general is very limiting and controlled.
Absolutely gorgeous Kate. True intelligence comes from our connection to and with our body. True intelligence is boundless and timeless with no restrictions, an expansion that extends out to the universe. It can not be boxed or limited and it comes with a feeling of equality for all.
I agree Donna that ‘True intelligence comes from our connection to and with our body.’
This is true education.
It can certainly all feel like recall and regurgitation, more words and empty phrases to say the very same thing over and over again within the narrow confines of what is deemed intelligent and academically acceptable.
It feels very controlled and limiting indeed Gabriele.
So true Gabriele, and you can feel the lack of vitality in their words thus their bodies.
If we are regurgitating words that are not our truth, things that we don’t even believe, isn’t it also abusive ….
Thank you for this wonderful account of how reductionism rules the world and how all institutions make sure that we comply and tick all the boxes, or not. Which is then deserving of yet another label, but a label nonetheless.
‘When we ordinary everyday heavenly folk reclaim our connection to and express from the vastness I knew and breathed as a child, it will be inspiring beyond measure, breaking down all the barriers we have put up to contain and shrink from what we all deeply know’ ~ this is true intelligence.
Hear, hear, an ordinary miracle restored.
Kate thank you, this is quite an amazing expose on what it means to be ‘intelligent’ and the reclaiming of the fact that it is broad and encompassing of something so much more than the narrow lineal line you describe as is fostered and measured through our current education system.
A stunning expose on the bastardisation of intelligence. Thank you Kate
You have confirmed for me that our beautiful ‘stargazer’ children – the ones that come across as continually distracted and ‘in a world of their own’ need to be celebrated. We can support these vulnerable ones and all our children by living and speaking more about the truth – that there is a much bigger picture and that everything is energy and everything is because of energy. This is our responsibility.
‘The notion of ‘being better than others’ creates separation and comparison between people’ –no truer line has been written, in my formative years I struggled with being constantly told I had to be better than others to the point where I completely switched off. I was then taken for hearing tests which of course showed there was nothing wrong with my hearing, I just did not want to be apart of their intelligence game. Awesome sharing.
Our education system is based on a very narrow definition of what intelligence is. For primary and secondary school its basically a test of how good your memory is, and the current system has become dominated by testing, especially here in England.
What you are sharing needs to be said and the fact that you have the awareness to put it into words is very confirming. This causes me to ponder all of our children and how they are syphoned through the funnel we call education and coming out the other end separated from who they truly are and the wisdom and higher intelligence of which you have articulated. We are starting to wake-up and this is to celebrated because our increasing awareness brings back the spherical view and understanding of all that is there to be lived. Your blog is very exposing of the system we call education and I love that it is being exposed – thanks Kate for sharing your innate wisdom and speaking up.
So true Brendan….this line really sums that up “And yet – get this – at school she was told she did not measure up to ‘intelligence’… did not tick the boxes ‘right’ and was branded as being ‘less’. This is the defining travesty of a very, very unintelligent ‘intelligence’.”. How many of us are stunting what we can bring through because we don’t “know” something or are deemed “unintelligent”. It is a great travesty of our time.
Beautiful Kate, so raw and true. I love this sentence: Had it not been for the support, true wisdom and divine intelligence of Serge Benhayon, I would no doubt still be amongst the lost.” This shows us that we can run deep , being lost, thinking we got true intelligence, whilst actually we know that we are playing silly and actually have all our inner-wisdom = which is divine. We just need to be reminded and open ourselves up in full to drop down the wall of illusion – and return to what true intelligence is. But we have to be prepared to give up something – comfort (illusion), which is a cover up over the truth of the choice we once made to separate from this intelligence a long way before..
There is much more, and much grander wisdom to be accessed outside “…that thin narrow line that we call intelligence”. Our current paradigm of intelligence is nothing in comparison to it and in fact rejects it when the wisdom of the universe holds the answers to all our problems.
I, like you Kate, have battled with the notion of ‘having intelligence’ and ‘not having it’ throughout my life. It is a total illusion. For me now, true intelligence is simple common sense that is connected through our way of living, not just the words we say
Awesome writing and heartfelt expression , Kate. I can feel your expression from your heart and this heart “intelligence” is making more sense to me than most of what I hear on a daily basis. Thank you.
Thank you Kate for this very powerful blog. I absolutely loved it. The way you described our education system is spot on. Your experience was so similar to many of ours and it makes me wonder how long this topsy turvy way of life can last as we can all see and feel it is not truly supportive. Incredible you are standing up and expressing in your power and deeply inspiring. To read your blog is an eye and heart opener.
“As children equality was it”. We know so much as children and yet we live with the belief that children need to be filled and trained and made into something. How very far off we are from the truth – our truth.
Indeed Esther. True education recognises that children are already complete before they step foot in the classroom and the role of education is to teach them the skills needed to bring their qualities and their essence to life. . . There were also times in our history where education was a vehicle to teach the science of evolution.
“When we ordinary everyday heavenly folk reclaim our connection to and express from the vastness I knew and breathed as a child, it will be inspiring beyond measure, breaking down all the barriers we have put up to contain and shrink from what we all deeply know.” Most beautifully said, when we speak from our heart no learnt intelligence can measure up to it.
I love how you describe intelligence as a thin narrow line, very apt. It is indeed an enormous squashing that needs to occur in order to just live within this thin narrow line.
Absolutely Esther, that thin line which we all try to squash into, can not be it, cos how can greatness ever fit within it? And there is no question, we are all great and super amazing, we just can’t feel it, cos we are too busy squashing.
I agree Esther, and living within this thin narrow line is absolute agony without lots of distractions and drugs and numbing to suppress because we are so much more – I loved Kate’s clarity in describing all of this and so relate to it.
It looks like for me that all we have on earth is a poor imitation from Heaven/Divinity. We all are intelligent by nature, we have access to an ageless wisdom, but by separating and reducing ourselves we also reduce our access and then we try to compensate with our own creations, which are just a little, narrow, and bastardized version of the truth. To claim back the bigger picture (space) we have to claim back who we truly are, where we are coming from and will go back to.
There are too many people like the friend Kate describes who are full of deep wisdom but utterly failed by the education system we receive. What our education system looks like just now is a way of learning made up by people with a very narrow mindset of what intelligence is, and an unwillingness to open up to a broader meaning of intelligence and a deeper serving of the uniqueness of each person going through schooling.
“There was this great big picture I felt that went out to the furthest star and yet totally glowed from within me equally – but I was being asked to shrink this vastness, or broadness, into this very (very, very, very – and here I could write a page or two of very’s) thin line, this itty bitty limited little box, with rules to adhere to in order to be ‘valid’ or ‘accepted’.” The travesty of what we have chosen to settle for in our world. It is such a blessing and a joy to be reminded that regardless of our choices in life, this inner essence never leaves us, it is always there waiting for us to reconnect once again.
I would also be amongst the lost had it not been for Universal Medicine, the Benhayon family and all the students.
‘…limited pockets, narrowed linear thought and contradictory perspectives that were debated endlessly with no terminal point of unity that depicted when ‘the answer’ was actually reached.’ The sad fact that stems out of this wonderful quote is that it can be applied to all aspects of society and still ring true. Try it on for size with local government, health services, boardrooms, peace talks, country unification and exit strategies, immigration, terrorism, market crises, Let’s face it, so-called intelligence has got us into this pickle and as Einstein put it, you can’t solve tomorrow’s problems with today’s thinking. Definitely time for a review of our experience and a rethink on the meaning of intelligence.
Yes, that is a good point.
Well said Cathy – “Definitely time for a review of our experience and a rethink on the meaning of intelligence.”
I love this line Kate “as children equality was it” so true. It seems to me inequality is a learnt experience and for many children it is one of the first affronts to our innate knowing that we are all equal. This early experience of separation is one of our first hurts that lies beneath the surface for most of our life.
I can so relate to everything you have expressed Kate but today this paragraph really touches me. Reading it conjurs that incredible expansive, limitless feeling I had as a child, as you say, a feeling that is like no other feeling can ever compare to – “When we ordinary everyday heavenly folk reclaim our connection to and express from the vastness I knew and breathed as a child, it will be inspiring beyond measure, breaking down all the barriers we have put up to contain and shrink from what we all deeply know.”
And we ‘think’ we have to educate our children…would be great to start to become inspired by them and THEN, when we live in a way that is harmonious and truly intelligent become a role model as well.
I agree, children are very inspiring in the way they love unconditionally, move gently, have deep connection to themselves and presence, are honest, know their right to be loved, nurtured, honoured and met. They value themselves and their skills and others. They have a lot of reflections to offer us before we start ‘educating’ them how not to be all of the above.
We have so much to learn from our children if we can but drop the mask of arrogance which dictates they must learn from us. They are our role models.
I am sure that many can relate to what you’ve shared here Kate in regards to how limiting the education system can feel to experience. How can such a system truly prepare us for a successful life if it is attempting to control and manipulate the type of life we are to have as adults? Because try as we might to fit into these boxes we can’t, our bodies feel that tension and so we seek to escape the tension. Thank God for Serge Benhayon and for this blog for showing us all that we need not play ball with the game of trying to box ourselves and that living free of these boxes and more in the vastness that our bodies can be aware of brings a greater quality to life.
‘As children equality was it, and this was not read in a book, or written on a blackboard, (or read on the internet or smart board) but known in our bodies, the trees, birds, and people all had a flow and there was no separation or difference other than that which we later learned and took on.’
We are robbed of this connection, our greatest asset through the education system simply because it is not endorsed. With more sickness (of every kind) and deaths occurring globally – when will we realise we are not here to perform but to connect with people in all we do.
Fabulous blog showing how our amazingness gets squashed by the system. What would happen if we put people first?
Great question Sue. What would happen if we put people first, and identification with intelligence second? It’s always amazed me that schools are put under so much pressure to achieve top exam scores across the board – they are the places where children are practically raised, yet the push to nurture the smartest minds and not the most joyful/confident children takes away their full ability to put the people/kids wellbeing first. Isn’t it corrupt that doing the latter could put them in an unstable business position, with threats of closure or teacher redundancy.
What could change in our education system, if what you shared here Kate became a study that was mandatory in the education of our teachers?
True Kate. When we are young we are introduced into a narrow form of education, which encourages separation between people and breeds competition and all sorts of things which eventually turn into bullying, jealousy and the self image issues. There were some excellent things that I learned in school, like you I felt extremely intelligent, but over all the missing thing was love and connection. If the teachers had love and connection then perhaps there would be a different way of teaching a class and there wouldn’t be so many academic issues and behavioural issues.
A must read for all in the Education system, our greatest intelligence is held within our bodies and not measured by how well we can regurgitate academia
Beautiful blog Kate – revealing our so called revered “intelligence” for what it truly is – a tiny, arrogant, harmful, narrow empty strip of consciousness compared to the spherical magnificence of the true intelligence we are and from, which needs to be shouted out to the world. Thank you for doing so!
Kate this is wisdom.
This is a beautiful blog. I have had similar results in tests but for me school was a way to get away from home and to be able to relate to people so I was quite happy with the paraphernalia of academia as it also supported my preferred coping mechanism when I was 10, which was reading all day long. You managed to keep your connection with the whole while I willingly sacrificed it for my needs.
Beautiful Kate, our true intelligence is not what we think, it comes from the essence of who we are, when we live and claim this in full what flows forth is truly powerful.
beautiful words kate, true wisdom, the intelligence of the inner heart is so all encompassing. That it is scary for the world to look at, as there are so many things that don’t work but we don’t want to be explained. Which is only possible in choosing to look on the small line that we created, and in turn teaching the children that come with this clarity to the world that it is not as they see it, but that the confined boxes are the truth.
Awesome expose Kate, blowing apart the much accepted focus on IQ tests as the measurement of intelligence and the subsequent placing of children into particular pigeon holes depending on the results. I too tested high but it never felt like a true measure of me, and it certainly didn’t stop me from lurching from one disaster to another in my life, making very unintelligent choices along the way, which made living a whole lot harder than it needed to be. Knowing now that true intelligence is a million light years away from an IQ score and instead it is how I live and how I love me, others and humanity, that is the truest measurement of intelligence, that’s if I was measuring, which I don’t need to anymore.
I once was titled as (at least) a ‘happy creature’ by my teacher, who assumed between the lines that I am not so intelligent…. Beside the fact that I felt judged, my family and I could see how my way with this teacher would go on – I was in a box and there I could rot, or: be happy stupid 🙂 . I had bad grades. Later my teacher did change and my grades did become better. I ended up studying sociology and psychology – becoming a Therapist… Today I am working as a manager for a natural cosmetic store – far away from what I studied. As example I am writing english comments on english blogs and feel more and more comfortable with this ;). For me, true Intelligence is to find our way through life without giving our hurts or any thoughts the control over it. True Intelligence is to surrender to the wisdom we all are connected to by being and to express this wisdom. This goes along with a deep joy and playfulness.
What a great example Sandra of the simplicity and joy of life and living from true wisdom. I can feel you through your words and it is very clear that you are not bound by other people’s conceptions of you, neither have you held onto their words, criticisms or beliefs – a very free-ing place to be.
Gosh Kate you have just given me a flashback of when I was a child actually feeling that I (and we … as in everyone) are so much more than how we were living within these very narrow lines of ‘life’ that we have built for ourselves! Not only is it a flashback, but a knowing and something I very much felt but ignored and instead complied to what was ‘normal’. What you have expressed here captures it beautifully ‘I felt a majesty in the world, in nature, in all people and in me, and a kind of transparency of the value and seeming limitation and narrowness of what we were taught and asked to regurgitate on cue’. Thank goodness to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine who not only know and see the true far grander and bigger picture, and who are soulfully aligned to this but remind us all of this as well.
Having not attended University I do find it quite amazing that students are forced or maneuvered into thinking in a certain way, into a narrow thought stream that clearly does not consider the whole. How is it intelligent to restrict someone to “thinking” a certain way if that way has lead to so many problems we find with the world today? Great article and thank you for sharing what true intelligence and listening to the body is all about.
Super-wow! Such a power-full blog.
Wow Kate, you have restored the sanity to our very limiting education system and in the process have explained to me why I struggled with school so much right from the beginning. As children our knowing of the world, the universe and who we are is innate, our connection to nature very strong, our feeling of equality so natural. And then we go to school and so begins the process of confining, curtailing, separating and judging who we are and our abilities, so that we loose sight of our connection with the All and our innate loving equality. I too bless the day I met Serge Benhayon, a man who rightly so challenges our ideas of ‘intelligence’ so that we can see once more just how limited we have become by our head driven ideals and offers us a lived expression of all encompassing intelligence, a quality felt first and foremost in our bodies, an intelligence that everyone has regardless of their ability to read, write, do sums, sign dance or whatever. Bringing us home to this truth is essential and thank you for claiming your knowing and exposing the ‘thin narrow lines’ that we run our education system by that sell us so short of who we really are.
I agree Rowena, Kates blog is a confirmation of how we have a natural intelligence as children, which is not supported by school or university institutions.
A joy to read and know for myself and all those who also know something does not feel right about how we are living currently. Our ever increasing rates of illness and disease and mental disorders are all telling us something is not right and your blog says it all. True intelligence is the only real way to live from. Thank you
Thank you Kate for sharing your lived experiences of true intelligence and how different this is to the current IQ intelligence that the world tries to relate to and makes it the all.Wonderful words of wisdom a real confirmation of who we all are in reality to be claimed.
There is so much to appreciate Kate that right from the get go you knew that the intelligence that was being championed in school was not true intelligence at all, rather a narrow slim line compared to the incredibleness we all come from. The fact that now you have turned full circle and reclaimed the lived knowing in you can be so supportive for others to connect to their innate wisdom also.
“I was so present and ‘in my body’, there was this great big picture I felt that went out to the furthest star and yet totally glowed from within me equally” An absolute celebration, a confirmation of the greatness we choose not to see.
Your blog sounds like music, like a masterpiece with intertwined layers and spheres, at the same time simple and easily accessible – also for a non-native-English-speaker like myself. What a great exposure of the contracted intelligence that rules our education system.
Beautifully expressed Felix… it is a deeply contracted intelligence that currently rules our education system… for it can’t even see the harm it is doing in it’s current form and so continues to push it’s lineal ways into those that are crying out to be seen for so much more than the marks they are labelled by… the result is out of control, drugged up, checked out, teenagers rebelling against a system that clearly shows it doesn’t care about them…. only their minds.
An expansive article Kate Burns, I can feel the space, appreciation and freedom of expression in it. Trusting what we innately know and not fighting/ reacting against the system has been something that I have been nurturing, it feels responsible, honouring and it is a joy to express myself more fully and reconnect with something that I naturally knew as a child. If I need to learn something for work / life I now go ahead and do it, without the struggle that was once there, knowing that I do it to develop skills and for service in the community.
Thank you Kate, so,so,so true what you have shared on supposed intelligence and box ticking. I have recently returned to studying and the tension(as well as other emotions!) that builds in my body when learning one small thread in life is huge especially when it is to do with us as human beings and I have this knowing and lived experience that we are so much more than this and this isn’t touched upon. Working to a preset framework that is either not based on any truth or has been reduced to only deliver a part to keep us ‘boxed’ and less can be really tricky and am seeing and understanding now why school felt so difficult as a child when we see and feel the bigger picture all the time. I can appreciate I am relearning how to learn in a world that expects and values a certain ‘intelligence’, qualifications and skills and as you say I am “..not expecting to find any answers, but simply to gain a piece of paper and a few practical skills, to take myself out to the world and commit to life and work..” in this way it is then all we naturally are and is already there within, rather than what is expected, that we bring to work and life.
“re-claiming our natural expression of the true intelligence we are all innately from” and not a label in sight.
Kate thank you – so much wisdom shared with us all.
Precious description of your experience and one that I can relate to “…re-allowing the surround sound knowing to begin to re-ignite, wake up, dust off the cobwebs and begin to become part of my natural daily landscape again.” I closed down at school, in my childhood, ‘dreamboat’ looked out of the window and checked out. I rebelled silently and lost my voice. I know I was numbed and closed down until my late 20’s. Then, something woke up inside me, it was sink or swim time…
Thank you, Kate, for exposing so clearly the “… travesty of a very, very unintelligent ‘intelligence’.”
It is amazing to read your account of how life was for you as a child and how clear you were about the truth about intelligence – seeing right through the game of separation. That is awesome and it is more awesome that you are now able to be in the intelligence you naturally have that is spherical in all ways and express from that – what a divine gift that is too humanity!
I too remember feeling the world to be so magical in the sense of divine, beyond human measure. I couldn’t ‘do’ university so left after a year which was a bit of a shock as I had done ‘well’ at school but university was so cold and messed up I couldn’t partake, I did eventually go back but not to a formal university education. I can see why so many check out by taking drugs to cope with the lack of connection to truth that these institutions hold.
True Vanessa – why is it not researched the amount of uni students who drop out and / or take drugs. The same institution causes this and has the resources and structure to work out this social issue but as has been spoken above there is lack of care and love for the students. Just to be clear I’m not saying this is the case for all the staff but across the board it is a fact there is no love in these educational institutions.
“at school she was told she did not measure up to ‘intelligence’… did not tick the boxes ‘right’ and was branded as being ‘less’. This is the defining travesty of a very, very unintelligent ‘intelligence’” this is what I see everyday in schools and it results in children choosing to give up on their education and then on their potential full stop believing the party line from the system to be correct – you are less, unworthy of space or time. It is us to us who see this travesty to call it out and shine the light on the way back to living the full potential we all have, not one person left behind.
Intelligence is defined by recall, whereas wisdom is defined by a lived understanding, one is empty, one is alive.
It is gorgeous to imagine a system that does not focus on some whilst leaving others behind to suit their own funding agendas and instead truly honours each child for what they bring the world and supports them to develop that. Currently the former is not working and the state of our teenagers is a testament to it’s failure.
Wow Kate, it is amazing to read your article,this really stands out for me, ‘I understand that for now, it is still pretty topsy turvy out there, and I am letting go of the need for it to be otherwise’, I can feel how supportive letting go of the need for it to be otherwise is, it is my attachments to people being a certain way and the world looking a certain way that can overwhelm me and stop me being my true self, I can feel that if I let go of these attachments and accept people as they are and not allow myself to shrink and be overwhelmed as a result how powerful this is.
I agree rebeccawingrave I feel the same. Although I sometimes go in to change things which, if I do so with that investment of them being a certain way, doesn’t work either.
Great point Rebecca – for all that Kate has unfolded about the empty pursuit of knowledge, there is no hint of reaction or solutions but simply a return to the space of our inner wisdom.
The schooling system these days only seems to set the kids up to fail, whether it be by getting top grades and then looking for the next recognition and going more into the head for the answers or failing the tests which adds to the lack of self worth and feeling less.
I love that you held out not to be boxed and put on display for your temporal intelligence Kate and have expressed here how your connection with the ALL never really seduced you to stay within the ‘thin narrow line’!
Yes quite something I agree bernadetteglass, few manage to sidestep the lure of accolade in any arena, let alone at school where fitting in and being cool is usually paramount to a good experience.
Thank you Kate. You reveal the vastness of the intelligence of the body and the contracted limits of the intelligence of the mind. There is beauty in feeling all there is to know when we choose to be aware of the Ageless Wisdom through our body.
An absolute gem of an article Kate. This ‘shrinking’ and ‘narrowing’ of all that we know to fit into a measured box is so discombobulating. You can literally see the contraction and the shutting down from life that this way of thinking and living causes in our children, particularly as testing, grading and grading become more and more encouraged. It is no wonder that our teenagers are out of control, looking at more extreme measures of checking out. And it can be of no wonder that as adults our rates of illness and disease are on the rise. This ‘intelligent’ way of living is in truth far from it.
Yes indeed Jenny – i also have felt the exasperation and struggle that our teachers are presented with on a daily basis – for they see first hand the impact of this narrowing, the box ticking agenda that sucks the life out of these all feeling, all knowing free wills.
Yes beautifully said Jenny, the escalating illness and disease is a very clear indicator that we are far from intelligent when it comes to our choices in life. And it is across the board affecting every aspect of life… education is the most obvious, but this same ‘intelligence’ is running our countries and making decisions about going to war etc. There is so much more to be understood about what is at play, and what sort of intelligence we are calling it to be.
I too was very “intelligent” at school and got very high grades until I dropped out in year 12 to replace schooling with drugs. I played up right through my school years, as like you Kate, I found it difficult to align with the bull…. The interesting thing is that I was always told I was stupid and I took it on hook line and sinker and have only recently been able to see it for the picture it is and to know that I am highly intelligent in the true sense of the word. I can see that it suited me to have this picture as then I did not have to take responsibility for what I know.
I can relate to that too Mary-Louise – both the system, and the bullying through the teachers, indirectly or directly gave me the impression that I was not intelligent .. so my choice to then do drugs right after school after achieving good results cemented that picture that I was not intelligent. I only really shifted this, and continue to really claim, that I am very intelligent after Serge expressed this to me. Through his supportive loving words and space he offered I felt this for myself. We either align to the intelligence of the Universe or the much lesser version of it.
Why do our schools have to be this way? Its as though they are purposely constructed to keep us small and squash our natural expression. I also feel they are getting worse with more pressure being put on our kids at a younger age and more stress being put on the thin line of intelligence than ever before.
Absolutely Kev… the current education system is very stifling of our natural full expression, with many rules and boxes to tick and or conform to – the exact opposite of the natural expansive flow of true intelligence.
There is a deep arrogance in the system that tells you it knows best what you need to do rather than nurture and support us to develop our natural expression and what that can offer the world.
It amazes me Kate how much you can remember about how you felt as a child, (especially after all that pot smoking) but you didn’t ever really lose the knowing that there is so much more than the narrow minded view on what intelligence really is.
Yes agreed kevmchhardy, I was completely lost to the system as a kid going through school, well and truly given over to measuring myself by where I fitted into what amounted to a sort of pecking order of importance. The less ‘smart’ you were, the lower in ranking you ended up, and unless you found another way of ‘marking yourself’ as worthy, be that through sporting ability, artistic ability, musical ability (that one rarely counted) through personality, or wealth (that was a big winner), you were essentially a ‘nobody’ at school.
Yes I suspect it’s a fairly universal experience of school to come away feeling unworthy… either that, or we come away confirmed in our cleverness and the fact we have done better than most.
Agreed Kate, I see this with children today who supposedly can’t read when they are natural communicators and wise beyond their years. When asked why don’t you want to read the answer is ‘it’s just rubbish, I just like to read about what I know, nature and the truth’. I feel this sums it up – who wants to indulge in ‘rubbish’ when we have a living truth within us that when expressed can change humanity. The question then is ‘why doesn’t humanity want truth?’. Maybe it’s about facing ourselves in the mirror and seeing how we have been indulging in ‘rubbish’ for so long we are not courageous enough to admit to the ‘rubbish’ we have fallen for.
Absolutely Susan… there is certainly a degree of comfort, pride and arrogance we have fallen for as a society. Clearly our current choices and way of living are not working when we look at illness and disease and the health and vitality of humanity… so why not just be honest, open and willing to feel truth, and then choose lasting change for all equally so.
For many of us, school has enhanced our ‘individuality’ through comparison, maybe we’re reluctant to let go of this, still hoping for some recognition, from somewhere.
Thanks for your awesome blog Kate. The intelligence that is taught and championed in our society is indeed a paltry thing in the face of the magnificent and humbling intelligence which comes from our essence which is one with the universe. I, like you, was looking for answers at University. I was looking for the truths of the Ancient Wisdom really, and thought I could find it in books. Because I majored in English Literature and was in the realm where I could write about human relationships and symbolism I was right in my element and so wasn’t hugely challenged by the university way of thinking as it didn’t apply so much to this subject. But I came out of there not really one jot wiser. It took until I met Serge Benhayon who introduced the importance of the role of the body and the embodiment of quality, that I began to reconnect to this true intelligence.
So true and so powerful
Words of absolute wisdom
I agree, this is a grand and awesome article that inspires expression and reconnection with the wisdom which is naturally within all of us equally.
A wisdom that does not and cannot come from learned knowledge but can be connected to through our living way.
How the entire system is set up so that the true intelligence does not get easily activated is just astonishing, and I have a sense that we all feel the constriction of it to a varying degree yet still are pretty attached to being an individual enough to find it hard to let that falsity go entirely.
Nurturing ‘true intelligence’ is wonderful to observe, my children ask me questions and I often ask them to feel for themselves what the answer maybe for them, they know, they have it all there…it comes in their words, with their way of expressing, our 5 year old expresses deep wisdom, without many of the issues that we some times layer ourselves with as we grow older. I honour this, as I am able and see that not becoming entrapped in what we think is intelligence is an awesome way to build life. I can feel how I went off course until my late 20’s and I am now finding my way back….it feels amazing and very natural.
There is so much wisdom in our children, well beyond anything they could have learnt or been taught. This shows that true intelligence comes from connection, knowing who we are and trusting our experience.
Very true Lee Poole, true intelligence comes from our connection to a source and knowing that intelligence does not come from us but through us.
I agree Fumiyo, this attachment we have to this false way of being is something most of us would like to let go of but it feels like there is a strong force and momentum that stops us from returning to truth. Yet with consistency and dedication without perfection we will be able to withstand this force simply by a day to day choice to continuously connect to truth.
Yes very true Fumiyo, true intelligence is quashed from a young age as it is altogether too exposing for everyone around when it is allowed full expression. Indoctrination into the false version and all the constriction and configuration that comes with it, begins very young, well before school I would say as parents these days often feel compelled to give their kids a ‘head start’.
It’s like parents do not stop to feel the harm cause by the perpetuation and pressure of such beliefs… for having a head start in life is married to the belief that being successful will protect you….. so it becomes about ticking boxes regardless of the great costs this is to ourselves and ultimately society… reduced and confined by such false beliefs.
Well said Samantha, it is all for security… a sign that as parents we have ‘done well’ when our children grow up to be ‘successful’ by virtue of an education and a good job. The price they pay to their health and wellbeing in every respect is often very secondary to the achievement.
Beautiful Kate. True intelligence is a truth lived from the body and expressed from this very same vehicle we have been divinely given. That is the true mastery of the divine. Thank you.
The narrowness and control of the current education/societal structure brings in a tension, which opposes our natural expansiveness and divinity. We then often choose, to narrow ourselves and retreat into our heads, we do not have as strong a connection with our true wisdom. Staying or reconnecting with our bodies is how we access our innate wisdom and divine intelligence. This has been my own personal experiment for the last 10 years of so and now with children I am seeing that this is naturally how we are all born.
Absolutely Samantha, “our bodies” and how we choose to move and express with our body “is how we access our innate wisdom and divine intelligence.”
So true. The education system struggles with individual expression. It is much easier to develop generic programs that push students down a path rather than support individual expression. This is where we have a responsibility to support this individual expression outside of school hours.
Exactly Greg – true intelligence is accessed by how we move and express with our body.
I agree Samantha. The current system is a terribly narrow and controlling structure that is in absolute defiance or care of the fact that we are more than just scores on a paper that serve only to reflect the quality of education of any institution.
Beautifully said Kelly “True intelligence is a truth lived from the body and expressed from this very same vehicle we have been divinely given”. I was one of the “unintelligent ones” in school and this label came came alive whilst ready this blog and getting caught in comparing myself with Kate as on the “very intelligent” ones. Knowing today the wisdom and divinity i can bring from my body it is time to appreciate myself to a deeper level and heal this issue. With the understanding that we are all different and comparing is not what it is about and what does not support us. Thank you Kate for writing this great blog!
Absolutely Janina, comparison does not support in any situation. It is so interesting that many of us are affected by being labeled as either intelligent or unintelligent. Is there just the right amount of intelligence that we need to be accepted? This shows how false holding any perceptions about intelligence is.
Because some qualities seem to be ‘celebrated’ so much more at school, it’s no wonder many of us leave with a perception that we are somehow ‘lesser’ …. how gorgeous it would be for this not to be the case, for all children to be celebrated for being exactly who they are, with all their unique preciousness.
Very true, Lee, even our understanding and definitions of what ‘intelligence’ is vary enormously ….
It seems we have much to understand what true intelligence is. What you’ve shared Kelly is absolute gold.
And our livingness each and everyday allows us to choose to connect to our own true rhythm which does keep evolving.
Absolutely kellyzarb. True intelligence requires to first listen to what the body is saying and then express this truth.
Yes, the body is the marker of all truth, and not the mind as is so commonly assumed.