Stupid?

Or, in possession of different gifts?

Lately, I have heard many of the following phrases a lot:

~He is so stupid, he just can’t seem to understand~

~She is as dumb as a box of rocks~

~I just can’t work with this person, she has zero intelligence~

When we speak about our fellow humans like this, we are automatically going into a 1-up position. This position is about arrogance and grandiosity. Though we humans often go in to a 1-up position of grandiosity so we can feel good about ourselves by putting another down, this never works.***

There is another way. The 1-up position is  the  most common position of  the “lizard-Brain”.  The Lizard brain is where the Amygdala resides and it is the part that tells us that survival is all we can hope for.  The Amygdala is the part of the brain that looks for danger and it tells us whether we must Flee, Fight or Freeze.

If all we could hope for was survival,   then of course, we would have to put people in categories of good and bad. We would think it is OK to say: “You are stupid, I am smart”.  But the other way is how the “wizard-brain”, guides us. The Wizard Brain is a cute way of talking about the part of the brain that houses the Neo-cortex or the part of the brain that guides higher mental functions. From this part of the brain, we have a deep knowing that we humans have the ability to do more than just survive. We know that we can move past survival to Thriving.  However, true thriving can only come to pass when we work for thriving for all creatures, not just some humans.

The Wizard brain helps us be compassionate to all creatures. We don’t have to compare our intelligence to another because even if we have a higher IQ than someone else, they may have a higher EQ(emotional intelligence) or a higher RQ( Relationship intelligence).

We all have different gifts, combinations of strengths and awarenesses and to the degree that we learn to accept this, respect this and celebrate this, NO ONE will ever move forward

***Unfortunately, the 45th President of the United States operates from the Lizard brain most of the time in my opinion. And, because he does this so well without any shame, he encourages others to do the same. The way he has  called people names,  calling the media, ” fake news”, and the way he has talked about minorities and women is all reflective of his choice to take action from the Lizard Brain.  Of course, it can, at times, if you are unconscious feel good to take “bullying” actions from this part of our being, but as Gandhi said and I paraphrase, ” an eye for an eye will only make the world blind”.

There is another way. And, all of us know this; it is now  a choice that we must make, that is, to live from the part of us that leads to compassionate action and loving acceptance of all people, all creatures, whether of fur, fin, feather or skin.