Turns out... I'm not so smart! Why the difference?

by misspeaches 25 Replies latest jw friends

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  misspeaches

  After exactly 1 year on discovering JWD and working through emotions, feelings etc, I feel the need to relate this.

  As a witness I really believed I was smart. I believe I must have had a high IQ. That I knew so many more things then others. I believed that I was more intelligent then a lot of people in my congregation.

  BANG... Real world. It turns out I am as average in my intelligence as the rest of the population. That there is a whole lot more important things that i know nothing about. I am learning constantly. So why? What actually went on?

  • Was I perhaps too much of an independent thinker in the congregation which is why I felt the difference?
  • Was I just full of myself in a typical JW behaviour and I've since realised my limitations?
  • Anything else?
  • Am I alone? Did anyone else feel like this?
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  DanTheMan

  Intelligence and knowlege aren't the same, and there are many varieties of intelligence, so don't be too hard on yourself. I kinda had the same experience when I came here, because there are a lot of very knowledgeable people on this board. I don't absorb information like a sponge the way some people seem to, nor do I get the itch to find out all there is to know about some particular subject and consequently read and research into the wee hours of the morning until I know all the particulars, that's just not my personality, maybe it's not yours either, but again, don't judge yourself too harshly. I'm sure you're plenty smart :)
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  ballistic

  You realised the world was a lot bigger.
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  JW_Researcher

  Intelligence and knowlege aren't the same

  Go to any Mensa meeting and you will prove this point. :-)

  There are lots of dumb smart people and smart dumb people (as in "dumb is as dumb does").
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  Gretchen956

  You aren't alone, I felt the same way. In some of the congregations I was in an average intelligence would have BEEN way higher than what they had going on!

  The other thing I would say is, that the pool of knowledge you had to draw from there at the KH was limited to what they allowed you. Now you have the entire universe to explore. Don't feel alone in feeling a bit small! (oops is this the wrong thread for a size comment?)

  Its really kind of fun and exciting to have access to all of this forbidden knowledge, don'tcha think??

  Sherry
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  serendipity

  
  Supposedly I have an IQ of 135 and have never been intellectually challenged by other JWs. (It's probably just the company I keep.) JW's I know don't seem to have a broad range of intellectual interests and don't even value education and reading. Maybe they don't talk about it among JWs because of the reaction. I know I tried to discuss globalization at one gathering - you should have seen the looks on people's faces.

  At the risk of sounding conceited, I seem to be smarter than 80-90% of the people I work with, and I work around IT people, who are pretty smart. I don't think our company recruits the brightest people though. And considering how cavalierly we're treated, we're not too bright to stay.

  I've been humbled coming to discussion boards like this because there are a lot of really smart people here and I've learned a lot.
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  ballistic

  Another way of putting it, we studied, attended meetings and assemblis constantly, and tapped on peoples doors to tell them about it. What does the average Joe know about the bible or Jehovah's Witnesses? Nothing.

  Since leaving the witnesses I studied in a different field. I could now knock on your door and tell you all about encryption protocols and I'd probably realise you know nothing about it.

  The difference is... that was all we thought there was to life. The real world is full of amazing knowledge of different subjects. The knowledge we were constantly brainwashed with before, we believed was the ultimate truth...
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  kristyann

  You're probably so much smarter now! (actually, it's pretty much guaranteed). JWs tend to condition people to be smug... although I think a lot of them deep down are very insecure about their intelligence and that's why they need to try to act that way. It's kind of a protection, I think.

  I know I didn't really answer what you asked... but I do think it's fabulous that you are learning new things all the time. Now that you are, doesn't that make you so much smarter? I think it's neat that when you were a JW you thought you were so smart, and now that you're not and you actually ARE so much more intelligent... you don't think you're that smart!
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  MsMcDucket

  I really believe that Jehovah's Witnesses think other people are D-U-M-B! The people that we studied with acted as though we had just dropped out our mother's wombs. They would constantly tell us stuff that we all ready knew, and disregard anything that we told them. They were so haughty. I remember telling the guy that "you don't think that we know anything". I said "It's beginning to get on my husband's nerves!".

  It must be your experience with the Witnesses that got you to feeling so smart. I never met a Witness that didn't think that they were better off and smarter than everyone else. No offense.
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  ballistic

  The one subject we all used to know proved pretty much useless apart from proving them wrong. But my point is kirstyann, I bet you know one subject or another far better than me if you think about it, and if you make it your goal now, you can know more about any subject you like than just about anyone. (and not the boring stuff I'm learning).