Insight doesn't mean knowing everything

A perceptive person is immediately recognizable. He exudes vivacity, energy, curiosity. He acts as if he were in a eternal movement of thoughts, constantly looking for something to grab before others. insight It is certainly a quality, very useful for orienting oneself in the world of complexity and also for advance payment where seeing things before others can bring enormous advantages.

PERSPECTIVE

But like all human qualities, perspicacity too presents the risk of wasteWe tell you about it through the words of one of the greatest writers of the nineteenth century, Mary ann evans, who signed her books with a male pseudonym George Eliot. With an autobiographical touch and a touch of pure literature, Evans describes the risk of wasting perspicacity as follows: «There is nothing more deceptive than perspicacity if it happens to take the wrong track. That perspicacity which is convinced that men always act and speak with precise ends is certainly destined to waste his energy to chase an imaginary prey."

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HOW TO BE INSIGHTFUL

Let's go back for a moment to the characteristics of the perceptive person. He certainly has a level of above-average intelligence, and this allows him to base his reasoning also on intuition, on a speed of judgment that others cannot afford. Perspicacity, although an indicator of speed and quickness, does not exclude the time needed for to broaden the horizon of our gaze, to learn more about people and things.

And this is also contained in the etymology of the word which derives from the Latin perspicax-acis (sharp look) and perspicacious (look inside, observe carefully). So if you consider yourself a perceptive person, you should not feel compelled to express hasty judgments, to fall in love with a belief that excludes any possibility of second thoughts even in light of the evidence of the facts (it is the "wrong track" that Eliot speaks of).

BENEFITS INSIGHT

In the long-term perspective of perspicacity, there is a keenness of evaluation that digs, delves, considers all angles of a person or circumstance, and ultimately allows us to draw conclusions. That is, it allows us to act, resolving facts, situations, and problems. From this perspective, the perspicacious person is who does not waste his intelligence, unlike the procrastinator, and uses it constructively: few words and many facts.

Intelligence, intuition, acuity, speed, energy. All ingredients of perspicacity: so where does the root of its waste come from? And how can we avoid it? Following Evans' reasoning, perspicacity goes down the wrong path when, with the driving force of presumption and narcissism, we feel able to express a conviction about others. Or, more precisely, about why others act a certain way. Thus, insight is no longer a thorough, cautious, and unbiased look at things. It becomes an a priori judgment, a mechanism we can all master.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING INSIGHTFUL

To avoid distorting our insight and its irremediable waste, we have some preventative tools that we can deploy very easily. The first: always cultivate doubts, and don't get stuck in your certainties. If you start with this premise, and you are perceptive, it becomes very unlikely that you will take "the wrong path". doubt, by its very nature, is a path that leads to the truth, if we know how to follow it with patience. Second tool: humilityWe absolutely need it, especially if we've been fortunate enough to receive a good dose of intelligence. Often, and this is another waste, it's precisely intelligent people, naturally perceptive, who slide through the quicksand of presumption and into the terrain of arrogance. They even wonder if it wouldn't be better, in order to live better and in greater harmony with others, to be born stupid. Third: avoid judgmentsBut why in the world do we have such a need to judge others? Doesn't life seem easier, and therefore more pleasant, if we grasp others' qualities and try to eclipse their flaws? Judging people, unless one is called by a professional duty to exercise it, is still a mistake and an act of vanity. The reason is simple, and we should repeat it frequently in front of the mirror: I'm no one to judgeThis doesn't exclude having opinions, even about people's characteristics. Preferring some over others. Choosing your traveling companions. The important thing is not to put yourself on a pedestal of judgment, wasting your perspicacity chasing, in Evans's words, "an imaginary prey," fabricated by our imagination, our prejudice, and perhaps by that resentment we harbor in our hearts rather than in our heads. Finally, let's never forget that insight is an energy, and as such, it must be used constructively. To move forward, not to remain stuck at the edge of our intelligence and the insights it allows us to have.

PERSPECTIVE FAMOUS QUOTES

• < The heart of the wise gives insight to his mouth, and adds persuasion to his words.> Book of Proverbs, Old Testament

The ability to resolve situations also through intuition and speed, typical of the insight, however, they need a next step: convincing others. And this is where the ability to build relationships comes into play. With humility and patience.

• Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The boundary is arrogance. If you understand too soon, you must move on, but also stop before it's too late. When you've crossed the boundary ofarrogance, then your insight is of no use.

• Julian Marias

Insight is strengthened and expanded when we look at life with the optimism of the will.

• <The perceptive person is always surprised at being obtuse> José Ortega y Gasset

Once again, the line becomes blurred: you can be very perceptive, therefore intelligent, but you become obtuse, therefore stupid, if you fail to calibrate this quality. At that point, you are overwhelmed by it.

SIMPLE IDEAS THAT MAKE YOUR LIFE SO MUCH BETTER:

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