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Homo Sapiens and Homo Stupidus: On Giftedness and its Price

By Anita Mathias

898px-Vincent_Van_Gogh_0013

 

I live-blogged in Cambodia recently, fund-raising for a charity. We were to be accompanied by a “Christian celebrity” who had promised to do national talks on her return. The posters had been printed.

Well, she was not at Heathrow. Among several possible forms of ID, she sent off her passport to get her driver’s licence renewed. Had not paid for expedited processing.  So no passport. So despite the charity having paid for her (and ours) ticket, hotel etc., despite extensive logistical planning on the part of charities in Cambodia, she couldn’t fly out!

* * *

Hmm! Clever, successful, achieving, experienced people can do stupid things. It’s part of being human, these flashes of stupidity.

The scientific name for man is “homo sapiens,” literally “wise man.” Our wisdom supposedly distinguishes us from the animals.

However, Linnaeus who first used binomial nomenclature (and whose garden in Uppsala we’ve visited) could just as well have called us homo stupidus, “man the stupid,” for animals are never stupid. They act out of an unwavering instinct for self-preservation, common sense if you like. And their instincts are more reliable than our reason.

* * *

I was surprised at Heathrow. So other adults, sensible, intelligent, achieving adults make such mistakes?

I would have had a disproportionate reaction if it were me—would have felt crushed by shame and guilt and sorrow. I hate to mess up, especially when it messes others up.

Ah, I would show myself and my family grace for occasional flashes of stupidity, I resolved.

Practising… Practising…

* * *

My teenagers, Zoe and Irene, were to fly out to India on the 30th July to stay with my mother.

At midnight on the 29th, the witching hour when one is tempted to throw things, Roy asked, “Don’t they need visas to visit India?”

They didn’t have them.

To my credit, I didn’t throw a thing. Didn’t even say a cross word.  Getting visas didn’t cross his mind, Roy said, though he bought their tickets for them, and went personally to get their visas for their last two visits. How can you blame someone for something that did not cross their minds? Especially when it didn’t cross yours.

They did not fly out. We changed the tickets, and paid a penalty. Ouch!!

* * *

We are homo sapiens and homo stupidus at the same time. They are both equally part of our nature.

As The Book of Job commences, Job has everything: ten children, and thousands of oxen, donkeys, sheep, camels and servants. Then in his Great Depression, he lost everything, even his health.

His wife crumbles. “Curse God and die,” she says.

But Job says, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Shall we accept gifts from the Lord, and not the liabilities that are the shadow side of those very gifts?

* * *

The fact that we had overlooked getting visas was, ironically, linked to our strengths, our intensity. We got the tickets to India, got tickets to Helsinki, got tickets to David’s Tent, a Christian worship festival, and then, summer logistics done, (we thought!) turned our thoughts to other things: writing, for me; creating new garden beds and worrying about our family business for Roy.

The intensity caused the forgetfulness.

* * *

 Our marital counselling included a DISC assessment (which showed that Roy and I had diametrically opposed personalities, each on the far ends of the graph) and a psychologist administered IQ test. Both of us had IQ in the “superior” range, in the top 5% of the population. (My verbal IQ was significantly higher than my non-verbal IQ. Which explains why I might get lost on my way to your house, or my cooking can be erratic.)

Anyway, the pastor looked at the scores, and said, “Anita, you are the most gifted person I have every counselled.” (And I looked gloatingly at Roy–God forgive me, so I did!)

The pastor’s wife was doing a Ph.D in gifted and talented education, and he lent me a book on giftedness. Part of giftedness, I read, is intensity: your mind works a little faster; you get impatient with slow-moving, frivolous conversations; small talk bores you; you cut to the chase. Waste of time or money, stupidity or folly can feel like a crisis.

When gifted people marry other gifted people, life can be “crisis squared.” Factor in the gifted children who’ll likely result and family life can be “crisis cubed,” they said. In our case, “crisis quadrupled!”

High IQ makes academic work easier. It’s easier to assess, absorb, collate and retrieve information rapidly, abilities which are the foundations of academic success. And these traits are assets in starting a business from scratch, I discovered.

However I also have a higher degree of forgetfulness when it comes to things my reticular activating system has pegged as irrelevant—my mobile number, say, or driving directions, or transferring the laundry to the dryer…

* * *

 My husband once stayed with a fellow mathematician in Tuscon while at a conference. A fellow guest was the legendary Hungarian mathematician Erdos (who has written so many papers that every mathematician has an Erdos number. If you’ve written a paper with Erdoz, you have an Erdos number of 1. If you written  it with an Erdos collaborator you are Erdos 2. Roy is Erdos 3).

The phone rang at breakfast. It was the neighbour. “Do you have a mathematician staying with you? I have him here.”

Erdos had gone on a morning walk, wandered into the nearest big house, located the coffee maker, made coffee, then settled down at the table, scribbling formulae, not noticing his different surroundings at all.

The abstraction, homo stupidus behaviour, was the shadow side of his genius.

* * *

 The shadow side and difficulties of giftedness is particularly pronounced in school. When I was nine, in my first year at boarding school, I was reading the books in the cupboards for 16 year olds. Sister Josephine, the senior school English teacher, read my essays out to the seniors, I was often told.

However–though I had skipped grades and had been put with the 10 year olds– physically, emotionally and spiritually, I was nine, probably younger, because I had concentrated my energies on reading everything I could get my hands on.

All this made my life turbulent.

* * *

 In Baudelaire’s famous poem about the albatross, the very wings which help it soar effortlessly make it ridiculous when captured by mariners who make it waddle on deck, where its giant wings hinder its walk

The same IQ which was an asset at Oxford University or graduate school often made me feel restless in Bible study and sometimes in church. I moved from small group to small group, and church to church in my first years as a Christian, seeking something focused, meaty, fast-paced and intense.

“You will have to remember that in an average group of 20 people, you may well the smartest person,” the pastor explained, looking at my scores. I stared. I had grumbled to him about a fluffy, vapid Bible study.  Yes, that explained my occasional restlessness and irritation during group Bible study, and boredom during sermons.

I realised then that the purpose of church and small groups was not to stretch my brain, but a far more important organ: my heart. To become a student of the people in the group as much as the Word, to learn to love. The purpose of church was not intellectual stimulation, but to worship God in the anonymous great democracy of the faithful–on earth as it will be in heaven.

* * *

Giftedness is a double-edged sword. Our whole personality leans that way. If our gift is composing or writing or painting, and we do not do it, we feel as psychically crippled as if we were trying to function without an arm or a leg.

However, if we develop our gifts single-mindedly, there will be a price. In the phrase of Greg McKeown of Essentialism, we might not “protect the asset” that enables us to exercise the gift—i.e. our selves. We might pursue our gift at the expense of sleep or exercise or rest, thus affecting our physical health. We might pursue it at the expense of time with family, friends, or paying attention to the inner river of our emotional life . We might pursue it at the expense of our spiritual life.

The personal lives of many gifted people betray the scars of having pursued their gifts, or their career, at the expense of their physical, mental, emotional or spiritual health and their relationships.

* * *

 I don’t want to do this. I want to protect the asset—become physically strong (which I am not, though I am “healthy” as defined by the absence of disease or meds). I want to have good relationships with my family and friends. I want to be healthy, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

If we led a balanced life, got our sleep and exercise, spent time with family and friends, spent time with God, kept our homes and lives orderly, would we have enough time to make our gifts shine?

Would I have less time to write? In the short run, yes! Balance means we will have less time to nurture our gifts and passions.

In the long run, not necessarily! We might instead burn brightly, though not dazzlingly, throughout our lives, instead of burning out.

* * *

Fortunately, there are ways to be healthy and balanced and still exercise your gift.

A Do-Not-Do list is one. Mine is extensive, and helps provides fallow time to “sit and stare.”

Part of it: No recreational shopping. I don’t clean (we hire someone); we outsource all handy-man type jobs and heavy-duty garden jobs (though I do garden every day). I outsource all techie blog maintenance. I don’t watch TV. I get together with people twice a week, but am picky about social life, preferring encounters which offer meaningful conversation. Essentially, I try to eliminate trivia, to leave room for what interests me.

* * *

Giftedness is fire which can scorch or destroy its possessor, if not well-managed. And it’s fire which can warm, illuminate and comfort many if wisely managed.

How manage it? Surrender it to God, place the gift in the hands of the Giver, seek his wisdom on how to use it, so that your gifts become gifts to you and the world, fire that will light, warm and comfort, not burn and destroy.

 

Have you ever been Homo Stupidus? Tell me your stories.

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Filed Under: In which I explore writing and blogging and creativity Tagged With: balance, Baudelaire Albatross, DISC assessment, Do not do list, Giftedness, Linneaus Uppsala, mental health, Paul Erdos, Shadow side of giftedness, X Greg McKeown "Essentialism"

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Comments

  1. Anita Mathias says

    August 23, 2014 at 5:59 pm

    Linda, thank you for visiting and commenting. How kind of you! I don’t think I am naturally organised, but in this season of life am not particularly disorganised either, simply because I have pruned everything I can prune!

  2. ~ linda says

    August 23, 2014 at 1:54 am

    This was a truly wonderful read, Anita, and between your words and many of the comments, I have much to ponder. I am a detail person, needing a list of to dos and what to pack. I like the homo imperfectus thought for I kick myself enough for not being good enough.
    You are my “almost” neighbor at Lyli’s today and really thankful for that.
    Caring through Christ, ~ linda

  3. Terri Williams says

    August 20, 2014 at 9:10 pm

    I am visiting your blog from Coffee For Your Heart. I love your last paragraph – putting our gifts in the hands of God so they become a fire that will light, warm and comfort, not burn and destroy. Only God can help us find that perfect balance! Blessings to you!

    • Anita Mathias says

      August 21, 2014 at 1:10 pm

      Terri! Thanks for the visit. Yes, indeed!
      And thank you for reading right through. It was uncharacteristically long, oops!

  4. Ron Murphy says

    August 19, 2014 at 2:03 pm

    Hi Anita,

    On the preliminary issues of stupidity:

    We’re not stupid. We are simply not perfect. Our significant error is not that we forget stuff and don’t think of stuff, it’s remonstrating with ourselves for doing so.

    We cannot account for everything. Our brains are not magically enabled to anticipate, plan for, and then remember, everything necessary to perform some task. What makes us think of something necessary for a task? There has to be some prompt that comes from somewhere. Often this is memory, or assisted memory with to-do lists, or with lists of things needed for some deadline (such as the departure time of a light, or for a meeting).

    Sometimes we make lists and intentionally, sometimes lazily, of sometimes for efficiency of the list, we leave things off – “Of course I won’t forget my passport. That’s so obvious it needn’t go on the list.” The, as the flight time gets nearer the passport is not only not on the list of active prompts, it’s pushed so far back as an assumption, not really forgotten, but it’s location isn’t triggering any concern.

    I got a call from a friend heading down from Manchester in the UK to the Channel Tunnel. They’d forgotten their passports. They were in the bedroom drawer at home, and since I had the key to their house, if I got the passports and drove down to meet them half-way they could still make the trip in time. I searched their house, and made frequent update calls to them while they were heading back. No passports. Eventually thy missed their trip and arrived home. They searched the house and couldn’t find them. Eventually they realised what had happened. Their last trip was in their previous car, and my friend has hidden their passports in the boot (trunk) of the car – always the paranoid type he worried they might be stolen. Coming home from a trip he’d inexplicably tucked them back into the same spot after passing through customs. There they stayed. And the car was sold some time later, without a thought of trips abroad and the need for passports, without a thought, when emptying the car, for checking nooks and crannies where passports might be hidden (why would you think of that?)

    If humans are stupid then other animals are stupid too. Look on youtube at the stupid things animals do. It’s rather stupid of an albatross to get caught and made to look stupid by waddling on deck.

    We don’t notice the stupidity of wild animals, because they don’t do the complex things we do. Making lists, thinking ahead, planning, checking, are all complicated things that stupid animals can’t do, and so they do make mistakes doing those things that make them look even more stupid.

    We are all natural animals. It seems unlikely that humans evolved a specific capacity to remember passports, to to even think about the concept of requiring some document to pass through some port. About the most complex animals do is mark their own territory. They may also sniff the rear of similar animals to make sure they are part of the same group, so does that count as a passport? But you can hardly forget to take your own rear along with you.

    We are all natural animals and we don natural things. It has become a natural thing of human brains to invent stuff, like passports, since sniffing rears doesn’t work. You might identify a foreigner in that way, but it doesn’t say if their homeland has a mutual agreement with yours to allow them to come into your area. Human brains invent stuff on different scales, thanks to our brains. But they are still animal brains. The intellectual stuff is an add-on; and there’s no reason to think it should be an more reliable than any other capacity.

    Since reason and memory, and making lists and checking them twice are complex tasks, we should expect to get them wrong sometimes.

    If we were so good at this stuff that we never forgot to put stuff on lists, and never failed anticipated problems, we wouldn’t need lists in the first place.

    • Anita Mathias says

      August 19, 2014 at 2:23 pm

      Okay then, “homo imperfectus” not “homo stupidus.”

      I always pack from a list, or I would leave vital things out. Amazing how things not on my list get forgotten, often new “necessities,” like the mobile wireless printer, or the charging box for my iPhone.

      The passport story is something we could easily do. My husband has arrived at the airport without tickets (£75 per person fine), but never without his passport–so far!

      Thanks for the very interesting comment, Ron!

      • Ron Murphy says

        August 19, 2014 at 3:04 pm

        Good idea with the Don’t Do list. Though it will be pretty long I somehow don’t think I’ll forget not to do what’s on it.

        • Anita Mathias says

          August 19, 2014 at 3:16 pm

          LOL!

  5. Steve Ratliff says

    August 19, 2014 at 1:34 pm

    Thanks for the insightful thoughts, Anita. You’ve given me lots to think about today. And I’m always glad to have a new Latin phrase with which to impress my friends (he said tongue-in-cheek). Blessings on your day!

    • Anita Mathias says

      August 19, 2014 at 2:19 pm

      Lol. I was trying to think of what Latin phrase I had used, and actually burst out laughing when I remembered. Homo stupidus, indeed!
      Thanks, Steve!

  6. Andy says

    August 19, 2014 at 8:43 am

    Reading this I started to catch my breath at the profundity and the sense it makes of my perennial frustration at hopes dashed and dreams lost. I wanted to do so much! Instead, and not by choice, I find I am ‘giving myself away’, building better relationships with my elderly father with whom I had a poor one most of my life, my stepsons and their families, and my wife. Friendship is so important to them. And what of the (other) gifts? Well, I don’t have an answer. It’s a funny life. Perhaps it’s like looking at my reflection in a mirror and seeing myself not at all like others do, especially God.

    • Anita Mathias says

      August 19, 2014 at 1:13 pm

      “my perennial frustration at hopes dashed and dreams lost. I wanted to do so much! ”

      Oh Andy, I identify so much. I too have failed in many things I set out to do, and do not know for sure if I will succeed in the enterprises I currently have in hand.

      What gives me peace is putting the things I am currently working on, and my dreams for the future in God’s hands, and saying, “If I fail, I fail.” You God will still be able to fill my heart with joy. I will still be happy with simple things: my garden, travel, reading, prayer, Scripture, my family, my friends, writing, blogging, thinking, art,…

      I mean it. I do not actually believe I will fail, but I am cool with the possibility that I might…and know that I will still be happy either way, with what Rilke calls the things which will never leave me, nature, God, beauty…

  7. Elizabeth Jones says

    August 19, 2014 at 2:51 am

    Hello, Anita.
    Boy, did I resonate with great portions of this post.
    Thank you so much. I’m sending you an additional email.
    Grace and peace to you!
    Elizabeth
    @chaplaineliza

    • Anita Mathias says

      August 19, 2014 at 1:07 pm

      Thanks so much for the comment, and fascinating email. Coincidentally, I too was moved up in the middle of the year from 1st to 2nd grade. I guess school and college values academic ability above all else. Not so life!!

  8. Dave Malnes says

    August 19, 2014 at 12:22 am

    The fruit of peace usually comes when we truly thank God for our limitations as His gift to us. I belong to the family of Homo Stupidus. Whenever I think I’m a detailed oriented and organized person, I flub. I tend to be forgetful, but I certainly have trouble forgetting my sins. When the negative self-talk gets too consuming, I have to deliberately tell the accusations to “Be Quiet!” When done in the name of Christ, the storms cease. Always appreciate your posts.

    • Anita Mathias says

      August 19, 2014 at 1:03 pm

      “Whenever I think I’m a detailed oriented and organized person, I flub.”

      Me too, me too. Isn’t that strange? I’ve read that workers who cut trees that obstruct electrical lines are given a mantra “Don’t get comfortable.” Accidents happen once they assume they’ve mastered their job.

      It’s God keeping us humble, I think, and reliant on him.

  9. mari howard says

    August 18, 2014 at 7:43 pm

    Hey, lucky you choosing to have a cleaner! Though I actually find doing my housework is good time off from the more intense stuff, so there you go – we are all different – but so agree about not bothering to watch TV – whatever’s on there which is worth it anyway! My problem is sleep – brain to busy to switch off – nuisance.

    • Anita Mathias says

      August 19, 2014 at 1:00 pm

      We’ve only had a regular cleaner for 6 years, but it was life-changing. (Nobody cleaned much before that). I relax by gardening, but even then, we pay someone to cut the grass and the hedges, dig beds, maintain paths etc. The garden is an acre and a half, so it would take me hours to do it myself. I only budget an hour a day for it.
      I don’t sleep well either on the days that I have not exercised. Try to train and discipline my mind to pray when I cannot sleep.

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anita.mathias

Writer, Blogger, Reader, Mum. Christian. Instaing Oxford, travel, gardens and healthy meals. Oxford English alum. Writing memoir. Lives in Oxford, UK

Instagram post 2186714755975443652_1686032450 A sunny day in Porto and Coimbra.
Now back home, back to Yoga classes and the like.
I find if I get a spot up front near the instructor and next to someone accomplished, and follow them as bravely and gaspingly as I can, I get a thorough workout, totally break a sweat, do things I was certain I could not do, and get so much stronger in the process.
A bit like following Christ. Read what he said, take a deep breath and do it as exactly as you can, and you will slowly find yourself becoming a little bit stronger, wiser and yes, happier! My thought for the day 🙂
#porto #portugal #ilovetravel #happiness
Instagram post 2185957583540871908_1686032450 Images from our week in Porto.
Both my grandmothers, for as long as I knew them, were homebodies, spending their days in just one or two rooms.
I love travel, and excitement, and living as big and expansive life as I can.
But I too spend several hours every day in a quiet room, reading, writing, thinking, praying... And in the quiet room, one can interact the best thoughts of men and women down the ages, and more with infinity.. God, The sweet Spirit, The Lord Christ. #porto #portugal #travel #novembersun #marriage #marriedlife #beaches #portoribeira #fun
Instagram post 2180132061531496763_1686032450 Images from the Ashmolean Museum’s exhibition in Pompeii, death suddenly arriving in the middle of hectic life. Leaving in its aftermath particularly fertile volcanic soil.
When we become stuck in bitterness, when we recount the same sad story, again and again, in our own minds and to others... we forget that EVERY death has the potential for resurrection.
Have you suffered financial loss, financial injustice, completely untrue slander, deep sadness, failure? I have. Many humans have.
Give it to God. Give it to God of resurrection. Ask him to bring beauty from those sad, dead things.
The soil in the aftermath of a volcanic explosion is particularly fertile.
God can bring new life and beauty from dead things.
He calls out to sad hearts, "Come alive. Come alive!" #pompeii # Ashmolean
Instagram post 2175440736861042753_1686032450 Thoughts on avoiding the holes we habitually fall into, and BELATED images from one of my favourite active holidays https://anitamathias.com/2019/11/11/an-autobiography-in-five-chapters-and-avoiding-habitual-holes/
Instagram post 2156925313647782363_1686032450 I am inspired and moved by the story of Dirk Willems, a hero of the Reformation who lost his life to save his enemy, and have written a little book about him. 
It's on http://Amazon.co.uk  https://amzn.to/2Bk9Shl  and on http://Amazon.com  https://amzn.to/2VQOSYN 
Please do consider reading it & reviewing it. I would be immensely grateful.  Thank you!
Instagram post 2156141167803371501_1686032450 Okay, an unabashed Latergram on our first day in Iceland in Thingvellir National Park. Isn’t it dramatic.  And a short blog  https://anitamathias.com/2019/10/16/on-checking-in-before-you-fly/ #thingvellirnationalpark #iceland #travel #beauty #joy #adventure #life
Instagram post 2148813562469383835_1686032450 Family walks in assorted parks and gardens.  On my new spiritual discipline of Bible-walking, listening to and engaging with Scripture on the hoof.  https://anitamathias.com/2019/10/06/the-spiritual-practice-of-bible-walking/ #walkingandpraying #walkingwiththeword #biblewalking #walkingwiththelord
Instagram post 2134504882437551900_1686032450 I am in New York for a couple of weeks, for my niece Kristina’s wedding. We are having an amazing time, and I have taken a zillion pictures, and it is hot. So here’s a #latergram album from our trip to cool Iceland last month.  I have also blogged on experiencing deep peace in times of political turmoil.
https://anitamathias.com/2019/09/17/deep-peace-in-times-of-political-turmoil/  #iceland  #ringroad #icebergs #glaciers #glaciallagoon #beauty
Instagram post 2118440928208588573_1686032450 I don’t know how to do justice to an amazing trip to Iceland... glacial lagoons, icebergs, glaciers, volcanoes, puffins, seals, geysers, black sand beaches, and these aren’t even my best pictures, but here’s a start.
And here’s a blog https://anitamathias.com/2019/08/25/on-returning-home-to-yourself-and-the-things-you-love-more-than-yourself/ #icebergs #glaciers #glaciallagoon #iceland #travel #love
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