60. Intelligence is not the experience but the lessons learned from experience

Intelligence is not to do with the information that you have or receive. That is only intellect. In other words, intelligence is not the totality of your experiences, but the lessons learned from those experiences. Understanding happens only when you are open and spontaneous without prejudice. If you are with prejudice, the complete understanding does not penetrate you. If you are open, then the complete understanding penetrates you and you become intelligent.

For example, a person touches a burning matchstick and learns that it burns. Next, the person touches a gas flame and learns that it burns too. Next, he touches a blazing fire and finds that it also burns. If that person waits for learning this way, from experience, it will take him ages to learn the lesson that fire burns. And when he finally learns, it will be time for him to go to the burning cremation grounds!

The intelligent person figures after touching the first fire of the matchstick, that any type of fire burns. But the even more intelligent person does not even wait to touch the fire of the matchstick, he learns even when he sees another person touching it!

There is a beautiful story from the life of Buddha:

Once a philosopher came to Buddha and asked, 'Without words, without the wordless, will you tell me the truth?'

Buddha remained silent.

The philosopher bowed down to Buddha saying, 'With your loving kindness you have cleared away my delusions and I have entered the true path.'

After the philosopher had gone, Ananda, one of the closest disciples of Buddha, asked Buddha what the philosopher had attained.

Buddha replied, 'A good horse runs even at the shadow of the whip.'

There are three types of horses. With the first type, unless you beat him he will not move even an inch. If you beat him, he will move forward a little but then again he will stop and he has to be beaten again to get him moving again. With the second type, there is not as much coaxing needed. If you even threaten to hit him he will start moving. The third type of horse is the most intelligent. This horse does not even need to see the whip, just seeing the shadow of the whip is enough to make him run!

It was similar in the case of the philosopher who came to Buddha. The urge to know the truth was burning so much inside of him he only wanted the truth and nothing else. He had had enough of words and techniques. That is why he wanted the truth from Buddha in neither words nor wordlessness.

So, in the silence of Buddha, the philosopher saw the shadow of the whip and got his answer.