The intellect is a faculty that can deduce the entire universe. If used with sufficient discernment and intensity, the whole of creation will make sense because why must truth be any other way. It rests upon the eye of the beholder what is being seen and ignored, though the entire scene is before all – the freedom to choose superstition, make assumptions, or perceive our selves perceiving, is an intellectual exercise. This intellectual capability of a human being functions best when unidentified, unknowing, untamed, and thereby also unlimited.

Unidentified means that the intellect is not associated with a sense of individuality. Though an intellectual may seem to project a strong sense of individuality in terms of a personality, it is so because their identification is with the intellectual capability of the person they think they are. It becomes the most dominant force to how their mind works, and the sense of exclusivity they can feel to resonate with, which separates them from the rest. This, the intellect is capable of creating because its nature is of discernment. The intellect identifies this from that, and works best when it is itself not identified with neither that nor this. For example, to intellectually know how heaven and hell has come about, one needs to not be averse to one and partial to the other.

Unknowing means that the intellect is not sullied by memory. Memory is on a variety of levels. Here again, the intellectual is the one who is banking on information and their intellect can feed on that to make permutations with the data. In such a case, the moment the information feed is reduced, the mind feels dull and lost. Suddenly the intellect, which has not known to look at things without a backlog from past knowledge and experience, feels starved and insufficient. The true merit of the intellect is in not feeding from the past or entertaining in intellectual speculation. To simply look at the truth of the existential will enable the intellect to explore in an unknown way, where its constantly stepping into newer terrain. Understanding comes as a result of this, in ways which would not have been possible for the intellect to consider if kept within the limits of knowledge.

Untamed is that the intellect is kept sharp but left lose. The intellect is not a one-track-pony to perform one particular task. It does not have one way of functioning. It does not hold a persona. It does not have an algorithm to follow. It is a certain instrument in the human mind which is capable of determining the physical existence and creating things out of a certain mastery in skill. It is like a tool that one needs to learn how to use. And the nature of the tool is such that it needn’t be used for one particular task or in only a particular way. The more flexibility the intellect is allowed to find expression in, the sharper it gets. It is just like an algorithm that keeps getting smarter with more context provided.

Unlimited is the intellect when it is treated with dispassion, equanimity, and unprejudiced discrimination. To be aware is that the intellect is not the ultimate, but just a by-product of an evolving mind, supported by an absolute intelligence which is the basis to life itself. The absolute intelligence is not for the intellect to determine, but a realization which is a consequence of the intellect consciously kept low and steady, determining the known and the unknown, reality from imagination. It has to break its own rigid patterns which can be practiced through awareness, or by frustrating the intellect to a point where to transcend its limitations is itself rational.

Our intellect will not know what it is capable of if it is not allowed to be unidentified, unknowing, untamed, and unlimited. This is how this tool can be used to explore the physical world effectively, and also what we term as consciousness, efficiently.

Yuvraj Goswami is the author of #NoPointTalking, available on Amazon in January 2019. Excerpts from the book can be found on www.elefemel.com