Question by Hussain L: What is the difference between “intellectual” and “enlightened”?
While answering, I really hope get some examples. What I mean by examples are: a name of one intellectual person, and why you called him as “intellectual person” and a name of an enlightened person, and why you called him as enlightened person.
Please be aware that I am not a native English Speaker. So, step-by-step please :d
Best answer:
Answer by Karl P
An ‘educated idiot’ without God and a Holy Spirit-filled person WITH God.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Intellectuals have lots of knowledge about worldly matters, like science, philosophy, economics etc…
An Enlightened person knows the deeper truth, about God, as well as being an intellectual, they are able to see proofs of God, where the common person does not.
For instance, the number or concept of 1, 1 comes from no where it has no beginning, it has no end, for 1 can be added to any number, hence the concept of infinity, 1 represents the truth.
Intellectual – William Buckley – He used large words and was good at debating issues of all kinds.
Enlightened – Ron Paul – He is a down to earth doctor who tells the truth in a straight forward way.
It depends on the context. During the enlightenment period, there were huge leaps in scientific knowledge and experimentation. An enlightened person was the same as an intellectual. They used experiments to justify their ideas and tried to study or learn about the world around them.
Now intellectual person is perceived the same way. It is simply a person who tries to learn and study a lot (however this can also include religious or theological study).
Now, the enlightened mainly refer to Buddhist and Hindu religions. In which an enlightened person has obtained liberation from the material world.
Intelectual generally means given to rational or acedemic thought.
Enlightened is an overloaded phrase. It depends what you mean.
The light is a metaphor for truth and goodness in Genesis 1.
Enlightened can just mean figure something out and see somethign more correctly.
Enlightened can mean, that God by grace turns on the lights and lets the sinful fallen rational mind see a spiritual truth instead of fighting it.
Enlightenment can mean being a humanist and is almost the opposite of the previousl.
Intellectual is easy to prove and understand. Someone who has a lot of knowledge and is quite obviously intelligent.
Enlightened is not so easily proven or understood. While is does NOT have to mean that you believe in a God, it does mean that you are emotionally intelligent.
I would call the philospher Friedrich Nietzsche an intellectual. The word “intellectual” means using the mind and the ability to rationalize, as opposed to emotion or instinct. If you want to know about why I consider Nietzsche to be an intellectual, consult this volumnous text on the works that Nietzsche read and involved himself in:
Thomas H. Brobjer, “Nietzsche’s Philosophical Context, an Intellectal Biography,” published by the University of Illinois, 2008
I would call Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi an enlightened individual because of his active work throughout his life, a person who was able to achieve liberation for India from the British in a non-violent resistance manner – including his ability to cross religious boundaries between Hindu and Muslim with his close working friendship with Jawaharlal Nehru. I also have a similar respect for the same purposes for the Dalai Lama of Tibet. Both of these men represent ceasless spiritual and intellectual work toward non-violent change, which must be the only answer we have against the insanity and despotism of violence. To me, enlightenment does not so much mean that we have achieved some kind of blissful state of nothingness as the Buddha would reflect, but rather, enlightenment is more a matter of whether or not we know who and what we really are and then choosing to be that. To me, enlightenment is not a state of being, enlightenment is the practical application of spiritual common sense in the world.
There are 2 ways of knowing the truth.
(1) By analytical methods of thinking , theorizing , considering various possibilities , eliminating the bad choices and selecting few which seem likely and then selecting the one with most probability. — This is the intellectual method. This is similar to the results which Einstein found out by mathematical calculations(such as bending of light by gravity etc.) But these were verified by observations many many years later.
(2) Direct observation (by enlightened) : If a person has the capability to observe the truth about a phenomenon directly then he is enlightened. Buddha was such a person who could see anything in past, present & future.