Intellectual Euphoria

I have half stolen and half developed this theory that I call "Intellectual Euphoria". Intellectual Euphoria is the high you get from using your mind, specifically from using it on some level that is slightly out of your comfort range. Perhaps you are one of those people who really get into a good lively debate, or love to work out crossword puzzles. I believe that the reason Chess has been so long standingly popular of a game is that it provides it's players with this "Intellectual Euphoria". Win or lose, if you play a good game of chess you will feel more alive and more aware when you are done.

All of this is fairly old hat, as far as the idea goes. People have been tossing this and similar ideas around for years and I think they are pretty much taken as a given.  I think I first heard about it back in '96 in college.
So flash forward 5 years, and I'm working security at a crappy ass bar full of gangsters, drunks, crack whores, homeless people, and ... well some pretty damn cool people showed up in there too. I went to work there on a whim, not really my style, but I thought I might find something new in life. Boy did I ever. I found drama ... drama drama DRAMA. The customers, the employees, the owners, it was like watching every crappy ass soap I'd ever seen all rolled into one smoky, stinky, stale beer smelling mess. He slept with her, she slept with him, then she slept with her, she cheated, he cheated, they cheated, he insulted me, she insulted my friends, I'm going to kick your ass my ass EVERYBODY IS GOING TO GET THEIR ASS KICKED. I thought it was rediculous. Up to this point in my life I had been surrounded by fairly educated people, and I had never experienced anything like this. And that got me wondering. What is this driving need in people to have drama, if they don't find it in their lives they will create it, but they must have it.

I was sitting with a dear (if estranged)...

Intellectual Euphoria

I have half stolen and half developed this theory that I call "Intellectual Euphoria". Intellectual Euphoria is the high you get from using your mind, specifically from using it on some level that is slightly out of your comfort range. Perhaps you are one of those people who really get into a good lively debate, or love to work out crossword puzzles. I believe that the reason Chess has been so long standingly popular of a game is that it provides it's players with this "Intellectual Euphoria". Win or lose, if you play a good game of chess you will feel more alive and more aware when you are done.

All of this is fairly old hat, as far as the idea goes. People have been tossing this and similar ideas around for years and I think they are pretty much taken as a given.  I think I first heard about it back in '96 in college.
So flash forward 5 years, and I'm working security at a crappy ass bar full of gangsters, drunks, crack whores, homeless people, and ... well some pretty damn cool people showed up in there too. I went to work there on a whim, not really my style, but I thought I might find something new in life. Boy did I ever. I found drama ... drama drama DRAMA. The customers, the employees, the owners, it was like watching every crappy ass soap I'd ever seen all rolled into one smoky, stinky, stale beer smelling mess. He slept with her, she slept with him, then she slept with her, she cheated, he cheated, they cheated, he insulted me, she insulted my friends, I'm going to kick your ass my ass EVERYBODY IS GOING TO GET THEIR ASS KICKED. I thought it was rediculous. Up to this point in my life I had been surrounded by fairly educated people, and I had never experienced anything like this. And that got me wondering. What is this driving need in people to have drama, if they don't find it in their lives they will create it, but they must have it.

I was sitting with a dear (if estranged) friend of mine listening to her talk about all the crazy ass drama in her life, and I realized that she was absolutely LOVING it. She was eating it up. It was like watching her gorge herself on a smorgasbord of tasty drama tidbits and there was no end to her appetite. Right then it hit me. Intellectual Euphoria. She doesnt know how to play chess. She doesn't know how to sit and have a philisophical or socio-policital debate. BUT, she is a PRO at drama. She knows every in and out of the lives of everybody she meets. She knows who their enemies are, who their friends are, and quite often which friends are really enemies and vice-versa. She knows who's slept with who, and who wants to sleep with who. She knows it all. What I also realized is that she usually knows what will happen next, too. She has taken drama to a science, or perhaps and art. She see's patterns and predicts who will be on who's shitlist next week. Who will be looking for a new place to live, and who will be looking for revenge. The thing is, she may not be the most educated person I've ever met, but she is damn smart, and her mind craves the same Intellectual Euphoria that a philosopher or scientist might crave.

So my theory is this: Everybody craves Intellectual Euphoria. Not just the educated, or the intellectuals, everybody. This is why soap operas are so popular. Nobody really thinks they are quality TV, but they can get into them, and spend time hashing over the possiblities with them, just like pondering their next move in a game of chess. The fact is, that it doesnt matter what you are thinking about, just so long as you are thinking. The brain needs excersice, and it will get it with or without your help.

This has also led me to believe that all of those people out there who consider themselves "intellectually superior" are probably just the ones who were lucky enough to find education or literature as their Intellectual Euphoria before they found drama or video games, or TV or any of the other distractions there are in the world today.  There are truly intelligent and intellectually powerful people in all walks of life.

Go ahead and read Walden Pond, and discuss it over coffee, but don't think that it makes you superior to the people at the next table talking about their "stories" because it's all the same in the end, Intellectual Euphoria..