Today I was thinking about the way we think. I have always found it very interesting to self-examine my thought process and see "how" I came to a particular conclusion.
I can remember doing this in high school. I am not sure why. Perhaps it was something I read in Scientific America or in a documentary I watched, but I am not sure.
I am in no way a psychologist or have any training in the mind or synapsis. However, I think, wonder, and examine thoughts, and I love drawing mind maps. I love mind maps and literally use them every day. They are a great way to get the many ideas into some sort of order to create sense.
I believe the mind, overall, is made up of a few categories, focussing on thought, that is. We know the brain has many known and unknown features, such as controlling organs without our consciousness being aware. But this article is about thought.
I drew a Venn Diagram to help illustrate what I am talking about in this article.
The first, and probably most important, is intelligence. Intelligence is our unchanging ability to learn and understand. Generally referred to as our I.Q., or intelligence quotient. My daughter and I once talked about how intelligence has nothing to do with ignorance. However, a person's ability to learn does not guarantee an education. I think about the billions of people in this world and the underdeveloped countries. It makes me wonder how many potentials are lost not for lack of ability but for education.
This brings me to the next significant role in thinking, knowledge, or what a person has learned. This can be either through formal education, self-taught, or discovery by experience, which we will discuss later.
Experience is the last of what I consider to be the three major contributors to thinking. It is a great teacher.
I believe each of these three influences is important in its own right, but when they operate together, they significantly impact our lives.
So we have Intelligence (I.Q., unchanging natural ability), Knowledge (education through schooling, self-taught or discovery), and Experience, which lends to discovery and understanding.
When I first drew the mind map, then decided to use the Venn Diagram, I placed what I considered wisdom in the center of these three.
Wisdom is "good judgment" derived from intelligence, knowledge, and experience.
Here is an example.
If you have a person who has a high I.Q. but common knowledge and no experience, his "wisdom" may not be enough to handle a task. Say he has to service a fusebox in a home. His I.Q. may help him open the box, and his common knowledge may prompt him to shut the fusebox off. However, his lack of experience and having only common knowledge about electricity and its dangers would not inform him that power is still going to the fusebox and is still as dangerous as before.
So our wisdom increases as our knowledge and experience increase. Our I.Q. is set at birth and only affects our memory and understanding.
Intelligence and experience grant us understanding. Knowledge needs our intelligence to remember what we acquire; through experience, our knowledge makes discoveries, and we learn.
All of these factors have a hand in wisdom.
I am sure we could discover more circles if more time were spent thinking about this. Especially since we are ignoring emotions, subconscious, and who knows what else, for the sake of discussion.
Anyway, just a little something I was thinking about this morning. Hope you enjoyed reading. Like and share if you know of anyone who may find this interesting!