The Clever-Lever

" Cleverness is good, but (something else) is better."

I will have to ask Flo if she remembers the rest of this, but this was the "marriage motto" of the couple in whose house she and I first met; so I am forever grateful for their "houspitality" on that day.  They already had at least one child by then and were a bit older than us.  I assume that the "something else" might have been something like "kindness" or "compassion"--but it's probably more "clever" than that.

I have in the last 35 years come to the conclusion that cleverness is not good for much. It is more or less meant to draw attention to itself, and I fail to see the gain in that; and can sense much loss if this tool is misapplied. Obviously it is a gift; since most of us have a very limited supply of it--but is it not also deception universale, since compared to God we are not clever at all?

So it is in essence more of a "clever" concept than a reality--or denial/evasion rolled up into one tight little ball of self-persuasion?

Thinking things through to their logical conclusion is the opposite of "cleverness" in that if one is consistently logical it will lead, as it did for Aristotle, to the reality of at the very least a "Prime Mover."  But internal logic from within that leads to the inevitable conclusions that, "He can, I can't" and from thence, "I think I'll let Him." (This is a summation of the first couple of steps of the 12 step program--something that was essential for me to understand that God is not a concept but an actual affective/effective Real Live Being--far beyond mere biology but creating biology and tasting of it as well, for our sakes by actions that are not mere theory or discussion points or speculation; but also) far beyond the ken of the Very Cleverest Indeed, their role model being Supreme Commander Screwtape... whose desire to get as far from God as possible has already been granted in spades. As CSL once said, men pursue God in the same way that mice seek the cat--in order to stay away from it.  Wish granted?  Far too often, yes...