Intellectual Pretense – evidently, I had a past post about it. You should take a look at it to see my attitude about it – Intellectual Pretense.

Then I heard a talk about a brilliant, brilliant man and his perspective on it. No one would question his intellect and genius, but he had the best perspective on it. He hated it. He did not like the jargon and the philosophy behind it. Very smart people can hide behind terms and ideas – that they might actually understand but definitely cannot communicate.

What this intellectual titan was saying was that the ability to simplify any idea was the mark of an intellectual – not the terms and the jargon that they hide behind.

I love that. You’re not smart because you understand difficult concepts. You’re smart because you can take a difficult concept and simplify it so that someone can understand it. The ability to give a simple explanation is what makes you smart, not the understanding of it. It takes more intellect to keep things simple.

As always, if you didn’t understand what I just said – it says more about me than it does about you.