We enjoyed a restful Christmas. We head out tomorrow night for a trip to British Columbia where my 88-year old mother lives. Over the past few days, I thought about what I hold true and came across this Rumi poem. I will be working more on the literature review for my dissertation and I need to assure myself that I distinguish between two types of intelligences: one that grounds me and one that is simply the currency of the day.
There are two kinds of intelligence: one acquired,
as a child in school memorizes facts and concepts
from books and from what the teacher says,
collecting information from the traditional sciences
as well as from the new sciences.
With such intelligence you rise in the world.
You get ranked ahead or behind others
in regard to your competence in retaining
information. You stroll with this intelligence
in and out of fields of knowledge, getting always more
marks on your preserving tablets.
There is another kind of tablet, one
already completed and preserved inside you.
A spring overflowing its springbox, A freshness
in the center of the chest. This other intelligence
does not turn yellow or stagnate. It’s fluid,
and it doesn’t move from outside to inside
through the conduits of plumbing-learning.
This second knowledge is a fountainhead
from within you, moving out.
About ivonprefontaine
In keeping with bell hooks and Noam Chomsky, I consider myself a public and dissident intellectual. Part of my work is to move beyond (transcend) institutional dogmas that bind me to defend freedom, raising my voice to be heard on behalf of those who seek equity and justice in all their forms.
I completed my PhD in Philosophy of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. My dissertation and research was how teachers experience becoming teachers and their role as leaders.
I focus on leading, communicating, and innovating in organizations. This includes mindfuful servant-leadership, World Cafe events, Appreciative Inquiry, and expressing one's self through creativity. I offer retreats, workshops, and presentations that can be tailored to your organzations specific needs.
I published peer reviewed articles about schools as learning organizations, currere as an ethical pursuit, and hope as an essential element of adult eductaion. I published three poems and am currently preparing my poetry to publish as an anthology of poetry.
I present on mindful leadership, servant leadership, schools as learning organizations, how teachers experience becoming teachers, assessement, and critical thinking. I facilitate mindfulness, hospitality retreats. and World Cafe Events using Appreciative Inquiry.
I am writing and researching about various forms of leadership, how teachers inform and form their identity as a particular teacher, schools as learning organizations, hope, nonviolence and its anticipatory relationship with the future, as essential elements to teaching and learning.
Academic publications can be found at Ivon Gile Prefontaine on ResearchGate
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 
My opinion is that the two intelligences I identify with in your poem is knowledge and wisdom.
That is the way I would understand it as well. I am hoping as I move down the dissertation path, the latter plays a large role in my writing.
Knowledge and wisdom have a close relationship, they need each other to work. Knowledge is the foundation, wisdom is the house built on the foundation. Good luck in your dissertation.
I, likewise, have seen this distinction as between knowledge and wisdom. Perhaps, though, as the poem suggests, it is just as much a question of different kinds of intelligence. I know, try as I might, I seem incapable of acquiring some technical knowledge and putting it to use. Ask me to analyze a piece of literature, though, and I can usually hit the nail on the head.
Thanks for the post and have a great trip.
brilliant find .. I need to work to realise this in my own self.
I opened a book and this was the first poem I saw. It was fortuitous.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom. Have a nice trip, Ivon!
As long as our Alberta and British Columbia winter cooperates, we should be OK.
What a pity for those who have stopped desiring a fresh spring. :). I’m also picking up that you are not a proponent of the tabula rosa concept. (I’m assuredly a “my junk DNA is my best-kept treasure” kinda’ gal.) Best wishes moving forward; I’m currently working on conceptually mapping out my research.
Each moment should be its own reward. I am looking at my lit review right now.
Thanks for sharing your poem. I agree with the rest that wisdom is the opposite of knowledge. Knowledge you get from books and teachers, etc; whereas, wisdom comes from a more intuitive understanding of how the world works. You don’t need to go to school to be wise but you do if you want to be smart/knowledgeable. I think wisdom is more important than book smarts…this despite my thirst for formal education! LOL
I like the word you used: intuitive. Even things we think we know, are usually the first thing that comes to mind. When we start to second guess and use our brain, we often find we are wrong with the second and third answer. A lot of what we end up knowing is from the gut, the heart, and the mind rather than the brain.
Absolutely! 🙂
Enjoyed your poem, Ivon. Happy New Year to you and yours, Bette
Thank you Bette. And a Happy New Year to you and yours.
Reblogged this on akkaoldfart and commented:
Have read this Just before I was about to fall of my lemon tree….LOL
LOVE IT…Don’t ask me why .
Thanks ” ivonprefontaine “
Thank you. It is one I enjoy a great deal as well.
Most welcome 🙂
Thank you for being such an inspiration to me…I have nominated you for the Blog of the Year 2012 award. You can check out your link here http://viewsofmyworld.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/blog-of-the-year-awards/ and I would be honored if you would accept the award 🙂
~Lyann
Lyann, I am honoured to accept. I will take care of the post in the next few days when I get to my destination point.
Lovely thoughts and words… is that a Coleman Barks translation?
I find it fascinating that my grand-children refer to other people’s e-Q – emotional intelligence, which is another form of intelligence we are only now beginning to honour., but that they take for granted……
Valerie, it is nice to find you back on the blogging scene. This is a Rumi poem. He was a Sufi mystic in about the 12th Century.
Another form of intelligence that is surfacing is spiritual intelligence. Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall are the contemporary authors most associated with it and, in education, the work of Linda Lantieri is the focus.
Ivon, how lovely hear from you. Thank you.
Yes, isn’t it interesting about newly recognised forms of intelligence -… I read an article about it in an educational magazine some years ago, and one particular race ( which I will not name for fear of being racist) were rated as very high in other forms of intelligence, but very low on emotional and spiritual intelligence according to the figures in the article !!!.
Even before this, the questions had been changed at the Med School here, as though they were getting graduates with the highest exam scores, when it came down to other factors like communication – their emotional intelligence didn’t match up, which meant doctors who couldn’t relate to their patients!
Unfortunately, I don’t think the med school was interested in spiritual intelligence!
Thank you for those names, which I’ll enjoy following up, and exploring
Yes, Rumi is a favourite of mine – I wondered if the translation you used, which was so beautiful, was by Coleman Barks
Yes, I appreciate the later form of intelligence much more — natural, evergreen and infinitely boundless in its being! Happy holidays once again! 🙂
Thank you and Happy Holidays Brendaline.
Happy New Year, Ivon! I’m happy to see you on this side of 2013! My wish and prayer for you is continued happiness, serenity, success and awesome inspirations for those great poetry you create and share with us! Thanks so much for that! 🙂
Your insight is brilliant. Good journey. I would lean toward the second as more evolving. Facts are enjoyable and important sometimes to know. But insight and developing thoughts from deep inside of your mind are hopefully more enriching and keep developing throughout your life to sustain you.
I stopped by to leave a message for you. Seeing that you will be journeying and hope the weather will be in your favour, I will just leave my message and when you are able you can check it out. One more thing before I do that I would like to add that I hope you have great success with your dissertation. It will be a good challenge I hope and bring out your inspiration to help in your studies and discoveries.
Now for the message:
Have a very HAPPY NEW YEAR in 2013. Hopefully, we will all find our dreams and wishes listened to and become a reality in the GOOD sense of the word. Love Peace Joy and Bliss I wish to you.
Oh! & also, I Nominate You for the “Shine On Award.” All You Have to Do is To Enjoy the Award and if you choose you can Post it on Your Own Blog.
Come to my blog at “the secret keeper (dot) net” and go down the right column to under the Beautiful Panther’s Image and Save the Award to photos. And if you would like, read what I wrote on the post Shine On Award and anything else you would like to do. Just enjoy yourself. Peace, Jennifer ps. And definitely good luck in your travels and your future challenges that look like they will be many.
Thank you Jennifer for the award and the kind thoughts. I will check out the award in the next few days. Have a Happy New Year.
hope ur travels were safe. you are welcome. happy new year, peace, jk
Thank you. They have been so far and busy. Kathy has found new family and we are meeting them for the first time, so that has been a wonderful and interesting experience. Take care and enjoy your New Year.
Great Poem. As knowledge fascinates Wisdom prevails.
Lets welcome the year which is Fresh and New,
Lets Cherish each moment it beholds,
Lets celebrate Blissful Year 2013…..
Wishing you a
Happy New Year
And a Great Year ahead !!
Thank you Lvsrao. Take care and enjoy your New Year with those close to you.
It was by no mistake that your were blessed to have this fall into your being…since it always shares true treasured beauties for many to consume and blossom more. I hope your mother is well my friend…and thanks for a minds taste of bliss! God bless!
We try to make these trips because, at 88 years, health is fragile. Thank you for the kind words.
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Thank you
Beautiful and encouraging!
Rumi’s poetry has a long life and carries wisdom over the ages.
If all we ever read was Rumi, it would be enough.
You are so right Jamie. Some wisdom transcends time.
Ah, I love Rumi. I read this poem quite some time ago, and it is always great to read it again. Thank you for sharing, Ivon. 🙂
Ivon, I know this is the 9th of January, but I hope it is not too late to wish you a wonderful New Year. May 2013 bring you more happiness, love, and success. I would like to thank you because you continue following my blog. I hope my blog posts do not disappoint and that your visits in there have been a joyful ride.
I have been having trouble with my subscription, so now I am resubscribing, looking forward to reading more of your posts. Thank you again, many blessings and much love to you. 🙂
Subhan Zein
Subhan, it is never too late. I was reminded the other day that everyday could be a New Year if it were approached with openness. I find your blog inspiring and look forward to the posts.
Thank you for the kind words and take care in this New Year.
Ivon
Thank you for showing your interest in my work, Ivon. If you like, you may want to consider subscribing through email so you do not miss the posts. I only post 1-2 per week, so this won’t inundate your inbox, I hope. Current WP subscription only allows new posts displayed in the Reader section, which means only those doing email subscription are regularly updated. If you are interested, I would be more than happy to send you a brief instruction for email subscription. Just let me know. Thank you, many blessings and much love to you. 🙂
I will check it out further. It shows that I am following and I think it does come into my email, but I will check later today to confirm. Thank you.
Incredible post.But l think the third source of child’s progress is the home he lives in .Its as important as the rest.Thank you for liking my post (S O L T A N A) .Best regards.jalal
Thank you Jalal. It is always a pleasure.
Wow Ivon, what a powerful piece! It will stay with me all day and the weeks to come. Thanks, Terri
I am glad you enjoyed Terri.
Insightful piece! The power that all of us have within should be the most highly regarded, not the “book by it’s cover” view that the world seems to have.
I have learned the hard way at times about not judging books without opening them and reading a bit. It is a beautiful poem.
Thank you for this poem Ivon. I know exactly who in my life I will share this with….
You are welcome. I am glad you enjoyed it.
Good cold morning. Thanks for dropping by.
It is cold here and the wind is not helping matters, but lovely comments warm the place up. You are welcome.
I admired your endeavor to pursue a Ph.D. after you retired. I got mine Ed.D. while I was working as school district administrator. I did my dissertation during my final (3rd) year of classes, so it was pretty crazy. Only 2% of the doctoral students would do that. Fortunately I had great company. Three classmates also wanted to do the same. We had regular monthly meetings to push each other through and we all made it!! This post was posted in 2012. I think by now you have completed your Ph.D. I have to come back to read some more.
No, I am just finishing the dissertation. Thank you for coming to my blog. It is appreciated.
You’re very welcome. Wishing the best for you.