Intelligence from Steven Kaufman's blog

When it is thought

that thinking

is the height of intelligence

then true intelligence is lost.

 

When it is thought

that the mind

is the source of intelligence

then the true source of intelligence

becomes obscured.

 

What is true intelligence?

No one can really say,

because true intelligence

is non-conceptual,

and so beyond words.

 

What is the true source of intelligence?

That too

cannot really be spoken,

because the true source of intelligence

is also non-conceptual,

and so also beyond words.

 

And so true intelligence

and the true source of intelligence

are not two different things

but are one thing

that is not a thing.

 

And what is this one thing

that is not a thing

that is both true intelligence

and the true source of intelligence?

 

What sees when the sun rises,

and hears when the bird sings?

What feels love when the heart is open,

or hate when the heart is closed?

What knows when the mind thinks?

 

That alone is both true intelligence

and the true source of intelligence.

 

And that alone

is what you truly Are.

 

What you truly Are

cannot be known

through the intermediary of form.

But what you truly Are

can be Known directly,

as That by which

all form is known.

 

What is seen when the sun rises,

or heard when the bird sings,

or felt when the heart is open or closed,

or thought when the mind thinks,

are all forms.

 

What you truly Are

is not that,

is not a form.

 

What you truly are

is the formless Consciousness

that knows all those forms,

and on occasion,

mistakes Itself

for the forms it knows.

 

What you truly are

is not the word Consciousness,

for that too is but a concept,

and so is also a form,

and so is not what you truly Are.

 

What you truly are

is the formless Isness

that is pointed toward

through the use of the word

Consciousness,

and through the use of the words

formless Isness.

 

The formless Isness

that sees the sun rise,

that hears the bird sing,

that feels love or hate,

and knows what the mind thinks,

even when It does not Know Itself,

even when It has obscured Itself,

as a result of knowing itself to be

a form,

as a result of knowing itself to be

what is seen,

and heard,

and felt,

and thought.