intelligence

intelligence is the ability to make accurate predictions about the

world. you can think of the mind as a *model* of the outside world. but of

course it's never a perfect model. the self is the model, and the not-self

is the aspects of the world not captured by the model. we're perpetually

afraid to relax the self, to allow the model to capture more aspects of the

world. there's a moment of "little dying" when we do this. the self never

wants to let go of the idea that *it is the whole world*, or in other words,

it is already a perfect description of the world. fundamentally, it has to

be this way, because the self is a homeostatic system that maintains its

integrity because it constantly enforces its own pattern against the chaos

of the outside world. but fortunately, the world forces little bits of the

self to relax, so the self can grow and become a more honest and faithful

model of the world (it might be fair to call this the universal principle of

"love").

that's why taking care of yourself emotionally makes you smarter.