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.