The Miseducation of Intelligence: How Civilizations Forgot What It Means to Be Smart
Hey, I found a problem.
Growing up across cultures, I noticed something strange.
South Asian uncles would scoff at artists and poets. Arab elders would laugh off actors as "foolish dreamers"—until they made money. Even in the so-called "progressive" circles of the West, intelligence was quietly equated with productivity: a high GPA, a six-figure salary, a complex-sounding job title.
In schools, the "toppers" were almost always science students. The backbench poets or class clowns—those who challenged the rules, those who wrote essays with too much emotion or painted murals with too little structure—were never praised as intelligent. At best, they were "talented." At worst, they were a distraction.
At family dinners, the excitement reserved for someone joining engineering school was vastly different than the polite nods given to someone entering the arts. In conversations about success, lawyers and doctors were displayed like medals. Teachers, counselors, social workers—those who dealt in the messiness of human lives—were admired quietly but not respected loudly.
These weren’t isolated events. These were patterns. And I began to wonder: What do we think intelligence actually is?
Standing at YVR at 05:50, thinking to myself “What the heck does being smart even mean?”
Let's Look Into It
Let me ask you this:
If someone invents a life-saving device but cannot communicate it to the world—are they truly more intelligent than the quiet nurse who notices when a patient is slipping into despair?
If someone memorizes algorithms but doesn’t know how to apologize to their spouse, are they smart? Or just skilled?
Is the teenager who writes poetry about their trauma less intelligent than the one who excels in math class?
Let’s get real: we’ve built entire societies where the ability to analyze a spreadsheet is praised, but the ability to calm a crying child is overlooked. Where someone who manipulates data gets a corner office, and someone who heals hearts gets burnout.
And yet—none of us live in spreadsheets. We live in relationships, uncertainties, stories, deaths, dreams.
So why do we reward intelligence that only serves the system—and not the soul?
the National Safety Council (NSC) found that the risk of a fatality from commercial air travel has been 1 per every 13.7 million passenger boardings between 2018 and 2022.
What the Ancients Really Said
Before we try to fix the problem, let’s step back and ask: what did ancient civilizations, religions, and philosophies actually say about intelligence?
Islam
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: "The clever person is the one who subjugates his soul, and works for what is after death." (Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2459). In other words, intelligence is measured not by accumulation, but by discipline and foresight.
Imam Abu Hanifa, one of the greatest jurists in Islamic history, was also a businessman. His legacy came not from academia alone, but from his ability to understand life and apply the Divine message with moral clarity.
Imam Al-Ghazali, in Ihya’ Ulum al-Din, differentiated between "useful" and "harmful" knowledge. If knowledge doesn’t bring you closer to truth, or help the ummah—it’s not intelligence. It’s noise.
Christianity
In Proverbs 9:10: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." This frames intelligence as a moral and spiritual pursuit. Saint Augustine famously argued that knowledge divorced from love leads to pride—not enlightenment.
Jesus taught through parables, often confusing the elite but resonating with common people. His was a wisdom that required emotional intelligence, not institutional approval.
Judaism
The Talmud teaches: "Who is wise? One who learns from every person." (Pirkei Avot 4:1). Intelligence is seen as humility and openness to truth, regardless of source. Rabbinic tradition placed great value on debate—not to win, but to uncover meaning.
Hinduism
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says: "There is no purifier equal to knowledge." But this knowledge is not STEM knowledge—it’s Jnana, spiritual insight. In Jnana Yoga, wisdom is the path to moksha (liberation), through inquiry into self and the Divine. The wise person is not the one who builds empires—but the one who dissolves ego.
Buddhism
In the Dhammapada: "The wise are controlled in body, speech, and mind." For Buddhists, intelligence lies in awareness, not accumulation. It’s measured by how well you navigate impermanence with compassion.
Confucianism
Confucius said: "To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge." His tradition emphasized ethical living, familial respect, and proper conduct. Intelligence, in Confucian terms, is social and moral harmony.
Greek Philosophy
Socrates declared: "The unexamined life is not worth living." For Aristotle, practical wisdom (phronesis) was key: knowing how to act rightly in complex situations. Intelligence was not just logic—it was judgment, virtue, and self-mastery.
Indigenous Traditions
In many Indigenous cultures—like the Lakota, Anishinaabe, and Māori—elders are revered not for test scores, but for storytelling, spiritual insight, and land-based knowledge. Intelligence is relational: how well you care for your people, animals, and land.
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The Hidden Correlation
What do these cultures and religions have in common? None of them praise a purely cognitive or economic view of intelligence.
Instead, they define it in four consistent ways:
1. Relational: True intelligence is measured by how well you serve and uplift others. Whether through justice, healing, teaching, or listening—intelligence shows up in service. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was called the most intelligent—and he spent his life serving.
2. Spiritual: It’s not just what you know—but how aligned you are with Divine truth or cosmic purpose. A “smart” person in any ancient tradition is one who seeks meaning and lives with awareness of what’s greater than them.
3. Ethical: What good is intelligence if it doesn’t make the world better? Every tradition emphasizes how you use what you know. Your wisdom is only as strong as your character.
4. Emotional: Self-awareness, control of ego, and humility in uncertainty—these are the cornerstones of true intelligence across philosophies.
So how did we go from this… to GPA charts and job titles?
So What Got Lost? How Did We Forget?
1. Industrial Capitalism
During the Industrial Revolution (1760–1840), human beings were treated as extensions of machines. Education systems like Prussia’s were designed to produce soldiers and factory workers, not thinkers or saints. Intelligence became standardized: obedience, repetition, punctuality.
2. Colonial Restructuring
Colonizers imposed Eurocentric curricula across South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. British and French systems emphasized STEM as “modern” and relegated traditional, spiritual, and creative forms of knowledge as “primitive.” Macaulay’s 1835 “Minute on Indian Education” explicitly aimed to create a class of clerks—Indians in skin, but British in thought.
3. Post-War Technocracy
Post-WWII saw a rise in scientific prestige. Governments invested in physics, chemistry, and tech to win wars and space races. Universities adapted. Arts departments shrank. Funding no longer followed balanced truth-seeking—it followed industry, military needs, and political agendas. The value of knowledge became aligned with utility to the state, not service to the soul.
4. Digital Media Culture
In the 2000s, attention became the new currency. The algorithm praises speed, not reflection. An engineer who designs an app that commodifies your personal data receives world recognition. But a teacher who stops a teen from ending their life gets… maybe a local news story.
Our value systems warped—deeply.
Okay—What Next? Can We Wake Up?
1. Reclaim Language
Start by changing what we praise. Don’t just say “you’re smart” because someone scored 95. Say it when someone asks a beautiful question, comforts a friend, builds a bridge. Because inspiration influences thought, thought influences action, action influences people, and people influence mass mobilization. If we want to change how society thinks about intelligence, we must begin by changing what we recognize and celebrate. Every affirmation matters—it is the seed that either grows into shallow performance or deep transformation.
Ask yourself: “What kind of intelligence am I affirming?”
2. Relearn Our Tradition
Pick one thinker from your tradition. Read not just their quotes, but their logic. Why did Ghazali divide useful from harmful knowledge? Why did Confucius tie intelligence to ethics? Learn deeply. Sometimes it's not about yapping away. Even our Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should speak good or remain silent.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 6136).
Host reflection circles. Not for performance, but for presence. These spaces allow food for thought. They allow people to listen, to be heard, to process. Reclaiming our tradition does not trap us in an echo chamber—it gives us a foundation. A starting point to reflect, to revisit wisdom we’ve lost in the noise, and to root ourselves in something deeper than trends.
3. Center Character, Not Career
In job interviews, dinner conversations, family WhatsApp groups—bring character into the spotlight. Normalize talking about compassion, truthfulness, humility. And remember, your own actions in these circles carry weight. When you choose to elevate a value—when you listen deeper, question sincerely, or affirm someone’s growth—you subtly teach others to do the same. Change often begins in silence, through example. Influence doesn't always require a stage; it sometimes requires integrity in a living room.
Ask your friends: “What kind of person do you want to become?” Not just “what job do you want to do?” Ask your elder: “What are you most proud of in your life—and why?” You’ll often find that their answers revolve not around titles or achievements, but around people, relationships, and moments of courage. That’s the data we overlook—the intelligence that doesn't fit into resumes but shapes entire generations.
4. Build Countercultures of Truth
Don’t wait for society to change. Be the counterculture. Create media, classrooms, Instagram pages, or family spaces where wisdom is the measure—not hype. People often underestimate the power they have over their own actions. But it's those very actions—consistent, conscious, and quiet—that reshape cultures. When you walk into a room and model thoughtfulness, or when you pause to ask a better question, you're doing more than representing a value. You're laying the groundwork for others to rethink what they've normalized.
Start small. Even one group chat where people are real is a beginning.
Final Reflection
The intelligent person is not the one who aces an exam or builds a startup. The intelligent person is the one who knows themselves, serves others, and prepares for what comes next.
You can't outsource this.
You can't wait for others to define it for you.
Sometimes you just have to sit down—alone, unscrolled, unhurried—and think. Think about what you've learned. Think about what you carry. Think about what you forgot.
Because in this world of noise and metrics, remembering how to think… is the wisest thing you can do.
Written for the ones who were told they weren't smart enough—when in fact, they were just too wise for a shallow system.