I’ve been struggling to accept the concept that the path of dhamma is not an intellectual path. Saying so seems to diminish the incredible value of learning how to think. What would our world look like if people weren’t making intelligent choices. Could we really just let everything go and “leave it to dhamma” to take care of? It seems like that could work for a monk because us householders are supporting that infrastructure for them to live but what if we all stopped supporting that infrastructure? I don’t think it would work.

One thing I can accept is that the intellect can’t solve and fix everything. It didn’t take long after taking some college science classes to realize how little we still understand about the world. So a person shouldn’t be measured by their intelligence (IQ) alone. I’ve found that emotional intelligence (EQ) and intuition also play important roles in my life. Each one can teach me a lot about the world but I’ve learned not to rely on any of them independently.

Dhamma helps me balance and integrate these three forms of wisdom. Instead of over depending on one or completely neglecting another, my practice challenges me to develop all three. The driving force of this practice, meditation, doesn’t rely on any of these things being developed. It’s beautiful that one simply needs to observe the mind to make progress on this path. But even thought my growth on the path is spearheaded my pure observation, I find that I’m a healthier dhammic person when I learn how to develop and integrate my IQ, EQ, and intuition with my practice.