There’s a cute response at this incredibly self-indulgent post about some depression I was going through circa Thursday night. Helian remarks, in a rather playful way:
It’s selfish of you to be depressed. Some of your insignificant readers, hearing of it, may feel grief that a really smart person could actually be sad, and sit speechlessly in front of their computer screens.
Which actually contains an interesting point, beneath the snark: is there any kind of a correlation between intelligence and happiness? I should imagine there is more of an inverse correlation, though it is counter-intuitive in the Anglo-American tradition to admit this, unless one is looking at old portraits of the intelligentsia in the thralls of “melancholy.”
There is, of course, the Sarah Conner answer to the problem of intelligence: “I didn’t ask for this ‘honor,’ and I don’t want it.”
To which God and the Universe generally reply, “whatever.” This often comes across as “you’re stuck. Deal.”
Which makes me mad, but Madeleine L’Engle once remarked in one of her novels (via a character) that “God can handle your anger.”
And I believe she was correct in that. Thoughts?
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s not being smart that makes us depressed. it’s having to live surrounded by idiots.
So perhaps ignorance IS bliss.
I notice less intelligent folks tend to be a lot happier, unless they’re being force into situations that are designed for more intelligent folks.
Intelligent folks tend to get depressed if they’re forced into situations designed for less intelligent people, and they’re forced to abandon their shortcuts/workarounds what have you. (Best example I can think of is the smarter kids who when through school aimed at two or three grades below their level– but didn’t get depressed because they could read in class, whatever.)
“So, perhaps ignorance is bliss.”
I have no idea what you’re talking about.