We hear people saying you don’t need to listen to the teachings. But what if you are not intelligent at all. Can you find the truth without the teachings? I don’t think so.
Who are the “not intelligent at all?” While the teachings have made me more aware to an extent, truth is ambiguous when navigating the sensory, technological, economic, and relational aspects of humanity.
The unintelligent ones but I didn’t say that , I said IF you are not intelligent at all then what?..
Is intelligence an absolute, wavering, conditional, or something that can be learned? What determines “if you are not intelligent at all?”
K spoke of the “awakening of intelligence”. I take that to mean that, despite how much more intellectual one may be than others, no human brain is intelligent in and of itself, but can only awaken to the existence of Intelligence (which is beyond the brain) and commune with it.
K also speaks how when confronting an immediate crisis or physical threat, humans respond appropriately. Is this “awakened intelligence?”
The organism learns from experience how to manage itself, preserve itself. It’s muscle memory, physical intelligence. The intelligence K refers to is not mine or yours, but the intelligence of Mind, which is beyond the brain.
À
in•tel•li•gence
(ɪnˈtɛl ɪ dʒəns)
n.
1. capacity for learning, reasoning, and understanding; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.
2. mental alertness or quickness of understanding.
3. manifestation of a high mental capacity.
4. the faculty or act of understanding.
5. information received or imparted; news.
In the same way that a mentally ill finds out that he is ill and sees a doctor. But the topic is not about intelligence but people who think that they are above the teachings and advocate self reliance.
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Not being dependant on words/theories/concepts, not being fooled by authority and dogma - ie. being aware of our relationship to the teachings, is part of the teachings - isn’t it? (btw 
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Alone-ness too methinks. We are ultimately alone when considering our personal experience/existence.
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Aloneness as experience may play a role in understanding, or the expression of understanding, but what then is isolation in relation to aloneness?
I.e., what’s the difference between loneliness and aloneness?
Do we call aloneness loneliness-- or, can we only experience loneliness, therefore our comprehension is limited by experience?
I think this also relates to the movement of time. Our physical reality is constantly shifting; our bodies and minds grow and change and eventually die-- beginning and ending in nothing ess (or absence of experience). In one moment you are in the company of others; the next, you are physically alone. But, through memory, there can be a recollection of loneliness when we are not physically alone and when we are.
I’ll end my rant with this: when we talk about loneliness or aloneness, is it in relation to the memory/experience of loneliness?
Howdy DeeRC, welcome to the forum and may the force be with you.
Loneliness is pointing to the unpleasant emotional feeling of separation - its a habitual function of being the central self, at odds with its environment, in its perpetual struggle to survive and progress (stay alive and feel good in the future).
Aloneness in K speak is more of a “magical” quality - one necessary for us to see clearly. Its a sort of an innocent curiosity and courage. Its the state of being free from the authority of the known. (eg. cultural knowledge)
If I’m accustomed to living and working with others, with friends, family, a partner, and I haven’t learned how to be alone, I will be lonely when no one is there to prevent it. But if I have found out (by being alone) why one needs solitude, I can only be lonely if I’m being held in solitary confinement.
when we talk about loneliness or aloneness, is it in relation to the memory/experience of loneliness?
Depends who’s talking. To me, loneliness is the fear of solitude for what it might reveal, and aloneness, (solitude), is unaccompanied being without distress or discomfort. For anyone who dreads the feeling of being lonely, loneliness is assiduously avoided by always being involved with someone or others.