Intelligence is a subset of wisdom

Once upon a time there were two trees. One of them was calm and serene and the other was quite arrogant.

The arrogant tree was so selfish that it did not allow any animal to draw fruits from it and even did not allow any bird to build their nests over it.

Thus all the birds and animals shifted to the calm tree for getting food and finally they made it their new home.

The new tree shared all its resources with its new guests. It used to provide them fruits and leaves to eat and its branches and trunk to build their nests.

All its fruits were regularly eaten up and some of its branches used to break every other day because all the animals and birds had migrated on it. Also the ground became very dirty because the animals used to throw the seeds and excrete over there.

The arrogant tree was proud of its ripe fruits, sturdy branches and clean ground and used to tease the calm tree by displaying it.

The calm tree did not pay any heed to it and they both continued with the same routine.

One day some men came to the forest. They saw both the trees carefully.

First they saw the calm tree which had no fruits on it, had a dirty ground, had broken branches and had all kinds of animal life living on it.

On the other hand the other tree had ripe fruits hanging over it, had a neat and clean ground, had sturdy branches and had no animal life residing on it.

The arrogant tree tried to show its best to those men whereas the other tree kept his usual calm and serene nature.

Immediately the men declared that they would cut down the arrogant tree as it would sell at a higher price as compared to the calm tree which neither had fruits that could be consumed nor it had sturdy branches which could be used to make furniture.

Moreover the calm tree had animals and birds dwelling in it and nobody out of them wanted to make them loose their home.

Thus at last they cut down the arrogant tree using their machines and sold each and every part of it whereas the calm tree stood firmly and happily served its dwellers.

Moreover the seeds that the animals threw on the ground grew into new plants and there left overs and excreta worked as manure for the new plants.

Thus the arrogant tree’s shrewd intelligence looked favourable for himself at the beginning but the calm tree’s wisdom was a long term planned approach.

It initially supported its dwellers for some time without getting anything in return from them but afterwards its inhabitants saved it from being cut down, provided it manure and spread its seeds which helped it to propogate its species.

We usually tend towards using intelligence without wisdom, thereby having a narrow gaze which helps us achieve short term goals like the arrogant tree but are cut down later.

Only few use intelligence as a subset of wisdom, caring not only for themselves but also for others, thereby having a wide gaze like the calm tree and thus propogate forever.

21 thoughts on “Intelligence is a subset of wisdom

    • Birds are emotional beings. They dont care about the outer beauty rather they look at the inner beauty. The arrogant tree was very beautiful but still they migrated to the calm tree. What is the use of outer beauty if you are not beautiful in your heart?

      Liked by 1 person

  1. Well written nishant…good thought which is rare to find these days…..thinking of others, serving others before self…..but at the same time gives a lot hope if we find a few like minded persons like you.
    keep writing…

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Silence within spreads invites prospeeity and abundance whereas inner restlessness that speaks of insecurities attracts only dis comfort and loss!
    Awesome story…apt to understand from life’s point of view…Kudos!


  3. Wisdom is god gifted ,intelligence can be gained and bought ,kabir ,rahim etc never went to school ,they were illiterate but extremely wise ,ironically today’s kids have big degrees ,huge pay ,and zero wisdom

    Liked by 1 person

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