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So I have the strong urge to be well.. Exceptionally smart.. I wish I was a genius.? Anyway is it normal to wish I was like some crazy smart genius person? Like Reid off of criminal minds, or other people like that. is it normal ?
Do you know what intelligence really is? It's curiosity. It's finding wonder in things that others don't give a second thought about. All the most brilliant people I've met in my life share one thing in common and that is a passion for learning and constantly improving how they approach and think through the things life throws at them. Trust me.
Obviously some people are more naturally smart than others but no matter who you are, there is someone smarter than you. I really don't think that's a reason to give up.
If you look for something, you'll find it. Of this I have no doubt.
Find people smarter than you and play shadow to them. It's unavoidable that you'll pick up their characteristics and be like them.
Sure. It's normal to aspire to be superior, it's a very ordinary human desire.
Wanting a greater intellect isn't so dissimilar to wanting to be taller, wanting to be stronger, wanting to be more attractive etc. However certain desires are more achievable than others. Smartness in the conventional sense is something you can train at and maintain, but there will always be a ceiling, an upper limit beyond which your brain cannot go.
It's better to think of yourself as the only measure of your success. By that I mean learn all that you want to learn, then compare your more learned self to your once less learned self. Great intellect is only useful to you if you apply it in some way to your own life and consequently improve your situation. A genius might invent some wonderful contraption or theory or solve some elaborate conundrum, but they still might go home at the end of the day miserable and wishing things were better.
So yes, wanting to be better than you are in some way is normal, but it's only worth pursuing being better if you genuinely think that a) it's achievable and b) it'll improve your life. If neither a) nor b) are true, move on. It's not something to worry about.
At least you want to be really smart, and not really stupid. Yes, its normal!
"The grass is always greener on the other side" certainly seems to ring true here. The truth is that a lot of human happiness is a result of lying to oneself and not over-thinking things. Intelligence makes this much more difficult. Hence people of very high intelligence are often quite unhappy.
I'd say a lot of human happiness is down to the OPPOSITE of lying to oneself i.e. being honest with oneself and accepting of certain truths rather than relying on self-deception as a coping mechanism.
But you're right about over-thinking things. Our minds are adept at creating stress out of very little.
The benefits of being honest with yourself only apply to problems which you can change. For example take death.
You are going to die, and then in all likelihood nothing will ever happen to you ever again, you will not feel anything. You will not be aware of your condition but you can never again experience any of the joys of life.
If you can fully comprehend that and feel what it means, then it should scare you unless you strongly dislike life. Thus you could either spend time worrying about this and lamenting it or you could make up a story about an afterlife and convince yourself of it (note that death is unavoidable, obviously the situation would be different otherwise). To me the second option seems much more appealing; I'm just not good enough at lying to convince myself.
By your reasoning all who are not religious or self-deceiving cannot achieve happiness, but I strongly disagree with this sentiment. I don't think honesty with yourself is inherently depressing, it's down to optimism versus pessimism, positive outlook vs. negative. I admit the inevitability of death is unsettling, but at the same time I appreciate the here and now and the prospect of having a future, even if it isn't an indefinite one.
You can be happy in life if you can accept certain truths. You don't need to be religious or self-deceiving; making peace with that which you cannot change is key.
I'd rather live a life of wisdom and knowledge than "blissful" ignorance, even with the pain it comes with though. I don't know, seems rather pointless to live on the basis of pleasure to me
You will always want this. The need will always be there. You will study and explore and develop your mind your whole life but it will never be enough. You will always want more. You might actually achieve great things with your hard work and dedication, but alas, it's never enough. Your efforts are NOT meaningless though, don't misunderstand, this is just the way it is meant to be.
Me too. I actually got bullied back in elementary for being smart. They would pull my ponytail if I didnt answer their question. (I had long hair.)
I wish I were more creative. I studied a lot of math on my own but even if I understand it reasonably well I'm deeply frustrated that I can only solve problems I'm familiar with ans not move the goalposts myself.
Exceptionally smart people like Einstine consist of 1 or 2% (I don't have statistics) of the population, just my guess. He was famous for being known as a very intelligent man and his brillance of thinking and new ideas. I'd say it's normal. Even though I'm not stupid, I too sometimes wish I was more intelligent and less ignorant about things (ignorance you change, but I just have poor motivation to be bothered to learn anything worthwhile). But I wouldn't like to be so intelligent that I'd be a crazy person. That's what intelligence does to some people, but to some people, such as Einstine, they become brillant thinkers.
Einstein* ;)
But yep, I guess people who are comparably intelligent to him are complete outliers from the rest of us.
You can't really measure intelligence in a way that will give you an ultimate and universal definition of what intelligence is and who qualifies for it though. So einstein might be a genius to some whereas a wise old grandma might be a genius to others.
Yes i wish i was so i could make somethnig awesome and have lots of monies.