Intellectual my arse

Here it comes again - the writer's block. After a prodigious number of entry last month I'm suddenly dry again on what to write about. I suppose Jojo was right in the sense that I like to try to sound clever by writing about topics that not many would talk about in a casual conversation but I don't really think they're that deep if you look at it anyway. I mean I write about what I think and feel about things just like everybody else in their blogs - ok, I might use more big words and like to obscure direct sentences with flourishes, but that doesn't make it any more 'intellectual' on par with say, the Tolkien Society.

Still, a good friend from a sister company called this 'intellectual intercourse', something along the lines of sex, but non-physical, involving only the mind. I read once about the mind being the sexiest part of the person, seeing that with sufficient imagination the mind becomes the entire person rather than a face, two hands and feet.

What are we when removed of our body? What is the person if not the mind? When we are attracted to somebody, our biological needs (read: reproduction) will be the first to ascertain if that person is physically attractive. Can't help it, we're all programmed this way - if you aren't then either you hormones haven't kicked into overdrive or you are simply not human.

Yet, rather than follow the law of natural selection - the prettiest, the strongest, the fastest etc - humanity would ofttimes defy this unwritten rule. We choose people whom won't be called hot or strong in common standards (which are pretty subjective anyway) for the other that is less good looking but attractive.

That is simply wrong, isn't it? Darwin's theory of evolution of the strongest doesn't quite explain it when it comes to humans due to the fact that unlike animals we get to choose against natural selection, if we want to. Normally we won't but we do. Sometimes the reasons aren't even rational. Soldiers die to protect the people they love, when they were supposed to be the one to carry on. We have health care for people whom are physically challenged when in law of the jungle, they perish leaving the strong to becomes stronger.

The one thing that makes everybody common however, is the existence of this thing called the mind. Without it we are no different to the ants that march the floor to the sugarcube you missed, the mosquito that gravitate towards the warm mammal body or even the panther stalking the kudu in the shadow of the tree. Whilst you can argue that chimpanzees (whom we share 97% of genes) show some sentience traits like using simple tools to get what they want, but they will still follow what the law of natural selection mandates of them - the strongest male will mate with the female. Rarely will you see a female chimp or bonobos choose the non-dominant male if it could, if ever.

The concept of who a person is depends greatly on his or her mind, compared to the idea of what a person is that depend on the eyes and perception of beauty. John Doe chose Jane Doe because she's Jane Doe, not Jessica Doe. He might choose Jessica Doe, yes, because Jessica Doe is Jessica Doe, not Jane Doe. And for whatever reason that he chose Jane Doe rather than the more amazing Jessica Doe for example, only John Doe will know. Did he prefer the interesting conversations he had with plain Jane to the more physically attractive Jessica whom he find to be too quiet?

He's committing a foul in the game of survival, worthy of a red card and expulsion.

The most interesting part though is that he doesn't care.

Heh, I'd be lying if I were to say that I wouldn't prefer a Jessica Doe - we all do, unless you're a straight female - but will Jessica Doe remain Jessica Doe forever? Whilst the body withers with time, the mind ages like wine - the older it is the more the flavour. If there is anything that is forever - notwithstanding diamonds (even this is not true) - it's the mind. People are still amazed when they step into the Sistine Chapel and looked at the fresco of The Last Supper - the physical manifestation of Leonardo da Vinci's mind.

Perhaps Jojo's statements are echoed the most when you at it from the perspective of tragic artists with beautiful minds - the most famous of them all Vincent van Gogh. Don McLean's famous song immortalised van Gogh as a misunderstood person:

how you suffered for your sanity
how you tried to set them free.
They would not listen
they did not know how

He died from the fatal wounds of shooting himself with a revolver, then deep in depression.

I won't go to the point of being a 'misunderstood genius' if any of you actually read what was written before, how simple they are about what I feel and think. The 'big words' used are nowhere near amazing if compared to what other literary masterpieces are out there, but perhaps the audience is too weary to be burdened with more deep thoughts after a long day, preferring something that doesn't require mental aerobics.

Still, my entries are all about what I want to say anyway - sod it if nobody cares. I don't carry this attitude in real life though (as in relationship with others) but it's a pity that we all choose to believe that being simple equals being happy, thus are happy to just remain simple.

I don't begrudge people like that though, far from it. 'Whatever rocks your boat', I'd often say. But I do feel as if it's such a waste to dismiss how rich the many things that make the world the more beautiful just because it sounds or look 'intellectual'.

Damn, I'm beginning to sound like that song...