My son Andrew sent his homework assignment to me recently and I thought you’d enjoy a good read.
Richard
Andrew Himmer
February 18, 2010
English 201
Synthesis Essay
A World Without Intellect
Among the many diseases plaguing our society none are more corrosive and dangerous than anti-intellectualism. Logic, reason, creativity, critical analysis, and pursuit of knowledge are among the qualities contained in intellect. This is not to be confused with the intellectualism which omits God. Intellectualism is the exploration of learning. Reason and rational thought at the expense of emotion, are discouraged in the LDS and public education. Evidence of the prejudice of mental expression is present in our Church meetings, our conversations, and in our education system. This inclination is perpetuated by Television entertainment, and a general sense of apathy. Such a disease can only be controlled by increasing one’s knowledge through reading and study.
Many people feel inclined to avoid mentally stimulating conversations. Hugh Nibley, a distinguished scholar of History and Church doctrine, affirms warnings from Brigham Young that people willingly, “decoy [their] thoughts, to get [their] minds on trivial thoughts, on the things of this world, against which we have so often been warned” (118). Our minds easily dwell on the frivolous fads of society. Nibley continues, “Sin is waste. It is doing one thing when you should be doing other and better things for which you have the capacity. Hence, there are no innocent idle thoughts” (118). The trend of mental idleness becomes apparent with Nibley’s observation.
Some LDS church members and both civic and church teachers falsely embrace the idea that knowledge and intelligence are subject to emotional expression and feeling but in fact the reverse is true. The two should be yoked together, but not equally. The mind explores and the spirit gives the mind greater direction as to the boundaries within to search. The danger is that out of fear the emotional side will put boundaries on what the spirit can do. Thus, we falsely replace emotional feelings with the feelings of spirit.
Testimonies often become contests of strong sentiments. Very few dare to challenge or question what we say over the pulpit in the passion of hot emotions. On regular occurrence fast and testimony meetings stand as strong evidence that “emotional surges” (116) trump the eloquence of logical reflection touched on by the spirit. The proper balance is a combination of the heart and the mind working together, with the mind taking the presiding role.
Recently in Elders Quorum, the instructor taught that we need to concentrate on teaching with the spirit. He counseled that we shouldn’t teach with our logic or intellect. He endorsed the feeling that knowledge and intelligence need to be simplified and bridled. He encouraged us to rely on our feeling and emotions to discuss and teach the gospel. He repeated that we should not confuse intellect with the spirit or teach with our intellect.
My teacher that Sunday suffered from what Nibley refers to as ‘Zeal without Knowledge’ (111). It is but a symptom of the anti-intellectual infection. Nibley would refute such teachings in this manner, “Note well that the Prophet makes no distinction between things of the spirit and things of the intellect” (116). My teacher embraced the idea that reason and intellect are a hazardous material that contains a “keep out of reach of children” label on them. Although such advice sounds innocent, it identifies a popular trend today; that embracing intellect, critical thinking, and logic is sacrilegious.
The frequency of this type of condemnation is superseded only by the censure of preaching “deep doctrine”. Deep doctrine can be defined as any church tenet or belief that illuminates mystery and removes ambiguity. The very audacity of teaching anything that is mentally “deep” is a sensitive topic in church settings. Some members feel reassured that this trend is the status quo. I often hear members make the argument that we need to be careful about going into deep material for fear if there are new converts who will be overwhelmed and turn away from the Church. There is no scriptural basis for diluting the doctrines of the Church. Members fail to understand that the brethren have encouraged us to “dig deeper” (Hinkley, 1984) into the “basics”. The “basics” are doctrine and doctrine is deep. “Deep doctrine” is not the same as “fringe doctrine”, which Joseph Smith chastised the Saints for, embracing “wild, enthusiastic notions” (Nibley, 116) The very crime of embracing these wild fantastic ideas was due to a lack of intellectual qualities, not a surplus.
This behavior of condemning deep doctrine is at the very heart of the anti-intellectual plague. It is little wonder why Aldous Huxley felt inspired to write,
Intellectuals are the kind of people who demand evidence and are shocked by logical inconsistencies and fallacies. They regard over-simplification as the original sin of the mind and have no use for the slogans, the unqualified assertions and sweeping generalizations, which are the propagandist’s stock in trade. (78)
LDS classrooms reveal that the pattern of questioning, challenging, and testing people’s words and assertions are intolerable. A common feeling is that many enjoy and relax more when things are dumb-ed down. Avoiding thinking and analyzing has become a popular American past time.
This habit of lazy thinking cannot escape the logic of Hugh Nibley as he explains with a sobering example from the Book of Mormon,
Those officials whom Moroni chides because they -sit upon [their] thrones in a state of thoughtless stupor (Alma 60:7) were not deliberately or maliciously harming anyone-but they were committing grave sin. Why do people feel guilty about TV? What is wrong with it? Just this-that it shuts out all the wonderful things of which the mind is capable, leaving it drugged in a state of thoughtless stupor. For the same reason a mediocre school or teacher is a bad school or teacher. (Nibley, 117)
Nibely explains that it is improper to believe that thinking idly isn’t damaging. It is the very mark of ignorance. That little intelligence inside each of us feels guilty as we reach mental idleness during TV viewing and other mind-numbing activities. When we recognize such trends we are compelled to ask why this happens. What causes discrimination against intelligence and knowledge?
Neil Postman, in his article “Amusing Ourselves To Death,” reveals a major influence in this behavior. He discloses that the average American adolescent views “5000 hours of television” (182) before he or she ever gets to school. “The only activity that occupies more of an American youth’s time than TV-viewing is sleeping” (182). Our media usage heavily manipulates our thinking and mental activity. How we think and how much we think is swayed by the messages of Television. Postman argues, “The problem is not that TV presents the masses with entertaining subject matter, but that television presents all subject matter as entertaining. What is happening in America is that television is transforming all serious public business into junk” (182). This supports the precedent further that true thinking is corrupted and discouraged.
The problem with Television, Postman divulges, is that:
Television has little tolerance for arguments, hypotheses, reasons, explanations, or any of the instruments of abstract, expositional thought. What television mostly demands is a performing art. Thinking is not a performing art…Ideas are irrelevant to political success…people do not so much agree or disagree with politicians as they like or dislike them for the image is not susceptible to verification or refutation, only acceptance or rejection. (183)
This exposes that much of our society is more dependent on pursuing comforts and indulgence than introspection and judgment.
Public classrooms supply ample evidence of teaching methods that contribute to the rising trend of mental slavery. Frequently students are trained to take the path of least resistance and avoid the expression of creative thinking and the art of learning. Instead numerous teachers teach the cookie cutter method of their subject rather than the ability to develop and progress within the topic. Alexander Calandra explores this in “Angels on a Pin”. A student borders failure on a physics exam. He proposes every solution but the conventional answer. The student feels that, “he was fed up with high school and college instructors trying to teach him how to think, to use the ‘scientific method,’ and to explore the deep inner logic of the subject in a pedantic way, as is often done in the new mathematics, rather than teaching him the structure of the subject” (32). This trend is repeated daily in various classrooms and our homes. The majority of people are attracted to routine, mental conformity, and standardization.
What antidote is available to save a world starving for mental food? Gordon B. Hinkley, President of the Church, answers with his counsel, “I deplore the terrible waste of the intellectual resources of so many people of this nation who devote countless hours watching mindless drivel. What a wonderful thing it is, on the other hand, to be found submersed, as you are, in a world of books wherein you can walk with the great minds of all time” (64)). Hinckley emphasizes the pursuit of knowledge and thinking through consumption of books.
David McCullough, a historian and Pulitzer prize winner, reaffirms the lack of knowledge and literacy by quoting a government statistic to a graduation celebration, “In a single year, according to the U. S. Department of Education, among all Americans with a college education, fully a third read not one novel or short story or poem. Don’t be one of those, you of the Class of 2008.” Controlling the intolerance of true intelligence can curbed by an individual’s increase in knowledge. This is obtainable by immersing oneself in personal study and reading quality books. The food of the mind is knowledge. Reading and studying provides the mental nutrients required for a healthy and active mind; that tests, questions, challenges, and pontificates deep concepts of the day.
Aldous Huxley again graces us with his wisdom concerning this health forming habit, “Unlike the masses, intellectuals have a taste for rationality and an interest in facts. Their critical habit of mind makes them resistant to the kind of propaganda that works so well on the majority” (79). The majority or the masses are susceptible to propaganda because they lack sufficient intellectual filters to take away the harmful lies and half-truths.
Our world is sick with the cancer of anti-intellectualism. LDS Sunday school class and public schools are deeply infected with intolerance for deep conversation, critical thinking, a questioning mind, and a thirst for knowledge. Those that seek the intellectual mind are discouraged; those that are comfortable in mediocrity are heralded. We require a balance of heart and mind to remain in spiritual harmony.
Works Cited
Hartvigsen, Kip, ed. Thinking about Thinking. Mason: Thomson, 2001.
Hugh Nibley, “Zeal Without Knowledge”, In Hartvigsen, pg. 111-122
Aldous Huxley, “Propaganda Under a Dictatorship”, In Hartvigsen, pg. 75-80
Neil Postman, “Amusing Ourselves to Death”, In Hartvigsen, pg. 181-186
Gordon B. Hinkley, “Out of Your Experience Here”, In Hartvigsen, pg. 61-66
Gordon B. Hinkley, “Praise to the Man”, In Liahona January 1984
Alexander Calandra, “Angels on a Pin”, In Hartvigsen, pg. 31-32
McCullough, David. (2009). “The Love of Learning”. In W. Brugger, D. Hammond, M. K. Hartvigsen, A. Papworth & R. Seamons (Eds.), The way of wisdom (pp. ). Rexburg, ID: BYU-Idaho. Retrieved date, from http://ilearn.byui.edu
