Getting a High IQ: Truth behind Intelligence
It is a known fact that the world’s greatest people, the world’s most idolized people and the people who are known to have changed the world were deemed to be ‘intelligent’ and more intelligent than the average person. This notion was put forward by a theory known as the ‘IQ’ which stands for Intelligence quotient; the measure of one’s intelligence using a series of ‘tricky’ and seemingly challenging graphical riddles against a ticking clock. This method was known to man and is still considered as the way to find out how intelligent a person is and the result of this test is widely used all around the world to narcissistically describe how great you are when compared to the average human being: you and me.
It is also a known fact that some of the world’s greatest human beings have had high IQ’s, Albert Einstein: 160, Benjamin Franklin: 160 and Sir Isaac Newton: 190 (wut wut). It is also common for the media to use this ‘IQ’ to provide a ‘rational explanation’ as to why some of these people do these ‘great’ things and why some just don’t. ‘I wonder how she did that! It’s so great!’, ‘Well she has an IQ of 150!’… ‘Ah that explains it’.
So here’s a question that popped up in my head while looking at a dozen pages dedicated to stating each modern celebrity and their IQ levels. Do you NEED to have a HIGH IQ to change the world?
But of course the test is scientifically proven to be a valid method of testing one’s intelligence and its roots go deep in to the history’s oldest smelling pair of socks. Different kinds of IQ tests are used to determine the Spatial Intelligence, the Musical and Interpersonal Intelligence, the Kinesthetic Intelligence, etc. That sounds great isn’t it! However if you gave it a try and you ended up getting an IQ that is deemed to be ‘average’ and ‘not-so-inclined-towards-the-genius-side’, that must definitely mean that we can’t change the world. Right?
Here’s a brick… catch it: NO. Humans have always made it a habit to categorize people, to recognize people by certain qualities and have always labelled people to ‘rationally describe’ why they do what they do and why some others don’t. Just like some of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs, scientists, researchers and speakers, I would like to change the world someday or even cause the smallest of ripples to reflect a positive impulse on the human race but wait… I don’t have a high IQ. Damn it.
If we choose to live inside a box and label ourselves as ‘not good enough’, we will always choose to ignore the possibilities outside of the box. The cold hard truth that was fed in to you by the society which is ‘if you don’t have X, then you are not good enough’ was sadly programmed in all of us. An innocent child, not knows that the society is bound by constraints. If he/she decides that they want to climb a tree… they would. As you grow up you are burdened with the many null and void expectations of the society that you need to blindly live up to. If you don’t… ‘Well, you are not good enough’. To hell with that… You are good enough and you have the ability to change the world or positively affect everyone around you just as much as Steve Jobs did. Isaac Newton was an average man who thought ‘differently’. He chose to step out of the dark box that society expects you to be in and saw the world through the eyes of a curious wanderer. The society saw this behavior as ‘amazing and talented’. So they labelled him ‘a man with high IQ’. Oh that explains why he’s so smart!
Step out of that dark box you are living in, human. You have the power to positively affect the world just as much as Mahatma Gandhi did. You have the power to lead a horde of humans to enlightenment just as much as the Christ or Buddha did. Let’s not judge ourselves and our abilities with a number. The IQ is a void limbo for the ignorant. Let’s not fear the number.
Dinuka Jayasuriya
