sdi

A common question in philosophy and spirituality is, what are Intelligence and Wisdom, and how do they relate? causticus posted an essay which catalyzed several thoughts that had been bouncing around my skull, and so here is an attempt to throw my hat into that ring from a Neoplatonic perspective:

• Truth, Wisdom, and Intelligence are all related: in fact, each is a reflection of the last.

• The Intellect (nous) is the definition of all things and is therefore Truth. Plotinus himself says as much in many, many places.

• Wisdom is each soul's reflection of Truth. As such, it is no longer universal, but is specific to each soul's particular nature. (That is to say, what is wise to one is not necessarily wise to another, even in the abstract. To say it another way, every deity is an embodiment of a particular kind of Wisdom. This is contrary to the notion that a particular deity—say, Athena—is a deity of Wisdom in its totality: rather, She is a deity of a particular kind of Wisdom, perhaps practical cunning.)

• Intelligence is each body's reflection of its soul's Wisdom. As such, it is no longer timeless and abstract, but rooted in a particular experience of time and place and context. Since different bodies have different souls, what is Intelligent for one body is not Intelligent for another (since they are rooted in different Wisdoms); but what's more, what's Intelligent for a given body may not even be Intelligent to a different incarnation of the same soul, since while both Intelligences reflect the same Wisdom, they do so from different perspectives.

• In the same way that I said it would be an error to consider a soul-deity (e.g. an Olympian) as the deity of Wisdom, it would be an error to consider a body-deity (e.g. a planet) as the deity of Intelligence. For example, Mercury is typically considered the planet of intelligence, but I think this is an error: every planet has a kind of Intelligence unique to it's nature. (Mercury is certainly the planet of wit; but Saturn is the planet of study; and just because Mars is better with His hands than His head doesn't mean that He lacks Intelligence, too; and the Moon has an amazing tendency to just "know" things without "knowing" why, is She any less Intelligent for it? And so on.)

• We may therefore infer that Intelligence can be acquired with time and effort, but is not necessarily conducive to bringing body in alignment with the soul—it may be, or it may not be. Wisdom cannot be developed, as it is timeless, but it can be tapped into—and, indeed, will be the more a body is aligned with its soul. Truth may not be obtained even in theory, since to obtain it would be to become the Intellect, itself.