Many Talents

To adapt the old comic-book joke, there are those with many talents as they knew them in bible days, and there are those with abilities.

I believe there are many very able people among the brethren. Those who look down on the entire group are confusing intelligence with education. The wider world has many examples of successful autodidacts, and even more examples of natural ability. So unless the brethren are operating Darwinian selection in a downward direction, a group of however-many-thousand should have a reasonable proportion of people who can hold their own in various fields of endeavour.

What I'm getting at is that I'm not particularly unusual. I can write. That doesn't mean anything at all about my upbringing or the society in which I live. I'm mildly insulted that anyone should think that only a person who's already left the fellowship would be able to string words together.

There is an odd thing I've noticed while thinking about this. The people who are most successful at living the brethren life fall into two groups: the lower-to-middle intelligence bracket, which I'll widen to include those who may be more intelligent but lack self-confidence, and the very intelligent. Those who are most dissatisfied are the merely intelligent.

Before going any further, I should make clear that I'm not talking about classical intelligence so much as the modern broad definition, which as I understand it can signify any ability to grasp and manipulate concepts, from the physical arena, to interpersonal empathy, to the highly abstract.

If I were being cynical, I could say that it would take a very highly developed intelligence to grasp the unyielding principles that underlie the shifting brethren doctrines, but that's not quite what I mean. What I'm tentatively observing is that some people seem to be able to move beyond the troubling inconsistencies, and treat the whole thing as an interesting exercise in creative living, and that those same people manage to get into positions where they can live very comfortably within the rules. It is certainly possible to live well among the brethren. Those who are intelligent enough to see the inconsistencies but don't have what it takes to do anything about it are the unhappy ones. I count myself among them.

Interestingly, it is beginning to seem as though the tide is turning a bit, and the brethren are starting to value classical intelligence too. The best pupils in the brethren's schools are being strongly encouraged to stay on for further education in practical academic subjects like law and accountancy, with businesses guaranteeing them jobs at higher pay after the delay. It's too early to take that as a good sign yet, but it makes a pleasant change. It will be interesting to see how the challenge of blending academic thought with unquestioning acceptance is met.