To be human is a testimony of genius

To be human is a testimony of genius

By John Phillips

YOGYAKARTA (JP): A book about Indonesian culture, Culture
Shock, Indonesia, advised readers to use the word rasa (feel)
instead of the word pikir (think) when talking about ideas in
Indonesian. Whether this advice still holds in Indonesian society
reflects an older wisdom about people that is a key to
understanding intelligence.

Westerners often pride themselves on being logical and
analytical as expressed in the philosophy of Descartes, who
wrote: "I think, therefore I am."

This self-concept is so strong in some Western cultures, in
particular American, that it has become enshrined not only in the
language, but more importantly in the expectations Westerners
have about the behavior of others.

Westerners expect everyone "to put on their thinking caps" in
order to analyze problems, and come to a decision logically and
rationally -- but not emotionally. Asians are seen negatively in
this respect as being too subjective and for basing their
decisions more on relationships among people and the feelings of
the group. Some Westerners may even view Easterners as being
unwilling or unable to think logically or to make decisions
rationally.

But I have also heard Asians express similar sentiments about
themselves. They often despair at the ability of the average
person in Indonesian society to "think" without being told what
or how to think.

In consequence, there is a phenomenon here in which some
intellectuals and scientists are labeled "geniuses" because of
their technical prowess; one such person is Minister of Research
and Technology B.J. Habibie. Whether or not he meets the
definition of a "genius" is really not up to me to say.

This is an example of how some Asians who achieve prominence
in intellectual fields are seen as outstanding exceptions to the
general belief that average Indonesians are incapable of
performing intellectual tasks, thus echoing the worst prejudices
of Westerners. An example of this occurred recently at a seminar
when an Indonesian educator told this joke:

Imagine in the future when brain transplants become common and
people begin to "sell" brains for transplants. A shopper comes in
to select a brain and the salesperson first shows him an American
brain and says "This one costs $10,000 because its very
scientific. Then, he shows a Japanese brain and says, "This one
costs $20,000; it's very clever. The shopper is still undecided
and he points to another newer looking brain that's labeled
"Indonesian" and asks, "How much?" The salesman says, "Oh! This is
our most expensive brain. It's never been used."

This joke was greeted with laughter by the Indonesians present
and astonishment by the foreigners. The prevailing attitude among
Indonesians seemed to be "we know what you're talking about",
while most foreigners were clearly uncomfortable and surprised.

The point is that Westerners do not understand the idea that
to engage in intellectual behavior is unusual. On the other hand,
many Westerners also mistakenly believe that intelligence is
based solely on ability in the areas of science and technology.

In contrast, Westerners are seen as being deficient in
spirituality and morality by most Asians. It is true that many
Westerners embrace secularism and individualistic morality, but
many, if not more, publicly proclaim their faith and rigorously
follow moral precepts that most Indonesian would ascribe to.
However, Westerners also tend to put a lot more faith into
scientific reasoning than it probably deserves.

My contention is that intelligence and genius come from an
individual's ability to be fully human, which means the ability
to think and to create, the ability to integrate spirituality and
morality into a rational life, and the ability to understand and
to utilize the full range of your own individual human abilities
and to work around your limitations.

In this sense, Albert Einstein was a "genius" not only for his
brilliance as a theoretical scientist, but also for his profound
spirituality and even his political morality. In fact, he once
tried (albeit erroneously) to dispute a scientific theory on the
basis that "God does not gamble", thus in a sense acknowledging
his and our own limitations.

Similarly, the great Asian nationalist and genius Mahatma
Gandhi was not only a spiritual leader and profound moral
thinker, he was an extremely intelligent man who understood human
nature far better than did the British he was fighting, including
the fact that he personally had to marshall all of his inner
spiritual strength to overcome his quiet human nature.

His use of passive resistance and non-cooperation was seen by
him as not only effective moral tools against his adversary, but
also as a means of testing his own human nature with all of its
limitations.

The point is that true intelligence and genius are much more
than what can be measured by an intelligence test or even by
technical achievements -- it is in fact the ability to combine
thinking, empathy (having a true understanding of others) and
spirituality (having a true understanding of God) into a fully
human being.

The writer is an education consultant based in Yogyakarta.