Intelligence is the measure of an individual's capacity to acquire, retain and analyze information while knowledge is the data that he/she has obtained through education and personal experience. Mysticism refers to belief systems that have been employed by humans throughout our history to explain what we don't or cannot understand.
Early humans were surely as intelligent as modern humans. However, their knowledge, while perhaps superior in some ways (especially resulting from their intimate relationship with natural ecosystems) was very limited; the advance of science, technology and other fields of human enlightenment lay far in the future. Indeed, their lives were dominated by mysticism, which they used to explain most natural forces and events.
Today, as our knowledge about the Universe and life itself has greatly expanded, mysticism has faded in significance. Yet, it retains its power among a sizable segment of human society, especially those who are not well educated. One might expect that intelligence and education would protect most humans from mysticism but we are also subject to fear and guilt which fuel those primitive beliefs.
Early humans were surely as intelligent as modern humans. However, their knowledge, while perhaps superior in some ways (especially resulting from their intimate relationship with natural ecosystems) was very limited; the advance of science, technology and other fields of human enlightenment lay far in the future. Indeed, their lives were dominated by mysticism, which they used to explain most natural forces and events.
Today, as our knowledge about the Universe and life itself has greatly expanded, mysticism has faded in significance. Yet, it retains its power among a sizable segment of human society, especially those who are not well educated. One might expect that intelligence and education would protect most humans from mysticism but we are also subject to fear and guilt which fuel those primitive beliefs.
