[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
“I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance”
Socrates
“Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults”
Socrates
I think that both apply to the discussion at hand, but the second quote is the one that the OP should really pay attention to.
Kombatathlete,
The reason that this thread has gone on so long and hasn’t seemed to really get anywhere is because you have failed to realize that the people responding to you, even the ones doing so in a brash and/or abrasive manner, are trying to help you.
They are trying to point out, or “reprove”, a fault that everyone but you seems to see. Yet, you don’t seem to want to humble yourself to realize this. So, you have been stubbornly trying to defend and deny that you have this fault. You seem to want to convince us, and more importantly yourself, that your problems arise from your superior intelligence and that it couldn’t possibly be the result of poor communication skills, or perhaps the fact that none of your friends are interested in the same things as you, etc…
Then, when someone makes a really good point you seem to be like “yes, I already knew that”.
This reminds me of the story of the student who goes to learn from the old master (I know you may have heard it before, but by the chance that you haven’t I’ll briefly tell it)
The young student goes to the old master and says, “Master, please teach me”.
The master accepts and proceeds to teach the student. But, every time the master starts to teach something the student interrupts with, “yes, I already knew that.”
So, eventually the master simply stops teaching and begins to poor the student some tea. Only he doesn’t stop when the tea cup becomes full and the tea begins to overflow out of the cup.
The student yells, “Hey! You’re pouring tea all over the place!”
To which the master replies, “Yes. But if you do not first empty your cup; how can you taste my cup of tea?”
I know, I know. This story has become somewhat of a cliche. But it really illustrates what is going on in this thread. Your cup is full, so to speak, and you are unwilling to empty it and “taste” the tea (advice) that older more experienced people are offering you. Yet, you chose to come here and post this thread, thus suggesting that you were looking for guidance.
If you expected to get a verbal pat on the back, or something along the lines of, “yup, looks like you’re just too damn smart. Maybe we should all just bow down to you and make you our king”, or maybe, “Yeah, we all have that problem too, why don’t you come join our SuperBraniacs club”; you’re in the wrong place. People here are honest, sometimes brutally honest.
But that’s why this is such a great place to come; because people here will tell you the truth, no sugar coating involved. We’re not here to inflate each others’ egos or perpetuate each others’ dellusions. But rather to give each other honest advice, suggestions, and/or opinions.
Do you see how ridiculous every one of those responses would have been? And yet, you seem to have gotten angry that people have been completely honest with you in their responses. That is what you should have been hoping for in the first place. And truthfully, there has been a lot of good advice/quotes on this thread that if applied will greatly help you out.
See, at least in my opinion, stupidity isn’t a function of IQ. It’s actually more a fuction of humility.
What I mean is that a person who has a low IQ, but is very humble can learn. They can improve themselves and adapt, thus becoming “smarter”. But, a person who has a high IQ and is very arrogant and unwilling to humble themselves to the fact that they might just not know it all (though perhaps initially at a higher intelligence level), can’t improve.
Why? Because they think they already know it all. Therefore, it is they who are actually the “stupid” ones, as they will stand less of a chance of surviving so to speak.
That is what I believe Socrates meant with the first quote that I posted. If you are in that place of humility where you just outright admit to yourself that you "know nothing"then your cup will be empty and you will be able to grow, learn, and improve yourself.
I know that this is a tough thing to do, at any age, and especially at your age as you have yet to actually get out into the real world yet and therefore don’t really have any real world experience to call upon. But trust me, and the many others who have been trying to help you out so far, you need to stop thinking that you know it all.
You need to stop thinking that everyone else is the problem. They’re not. The problem has to do with you. If you honestly do some self reflection, and really read back through many of the posts on this thread, you’ll figure out what that problem is. Then, it’s up to you to apply the knowledge that you have gained and fix it.
Good luck and good training,
Sentoguy [/quote]
I understand you’re point (not that that doesn’t fit in with what you’ve just said above). But the most ironic thing about this was that I never started this thread to prove I was intelligent, to be told I was intelligent, or anything along those lines. I simply asked if anybody had a similar experience or could relate to what I described, not for a validation of my intelligence or what I said. I really don’t know why I even posted 1/2 of my replies. Nevertheless, the replies were interesting and this thread is still alive a month after it was created.
Upon re-reading everything a month after it was created, the intonation of what I said was not what I thought it was when I typed it. A lot of the responses I got were wise and helpful, but a lot of them were responses to assumptions other people made based on their own experiences with people that they think are like me.