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Cognition is an evolving entity. With progressing times, our cognitive abilities have matured to cater to the needs of the present and forthcoming generations. We live in a world of complex abstractions conceived by the ticking brains of a few billion people. The blueprints proposed by these individual brains to various situations presented by life are unique in every sense. However, we exist in a society where subconsciously, we are expected to concur with certain principles that construct our perception of people and events. Although it is normal to harmonize across situations, we have regressed into a shell of our own misconceptions of cognitive ability and have begun to categorize people into the ranks of a toxic hierarchy.

A fixed set of fundamentals define our very being and serve as an exemplar for generations to follow. Our brain resonates with the universe and the analogy extends to the workings of the latter. The universe is every expanding but just as incalculable and perplexing. There is a similar sense of enigma associated with the human brain with a set of veiled abilities hidden within the depths of this chamber. Is “intelligence” an entity that can be evaluated?

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There exists a rigid system of evaluation for every quality unique in its essence. People are expected to behave in a certain manner and fulfill a set criteria to be acknowledged as “ideal” by the society. There is a general undertone of hypocrisy governing the roots of these principles. We do not execute as we preach. We constantly spread the dire need for love, care, acceptance and respect amongst ourselves but deviate severely from these principles. The only time we are distinctive and our individual self is defined is during childhood. The society is far more accepting of the peculiar nature of cognitive skills at a younger age in the name of them being fatuous actions. When the brain indicates subtle signs of intellectual expansion, it is caged within the fabricated walls of idealism. This process of degradation of brainpower creeps into the lives of people early on in the form of the education system. The cognitive abilities of the students are confined to the standards laid out by the individual grades. A creative streak that explores beyond the confines of this system is not valuable in the eyes of judgement. Being skilled in an art that is riddled with a sense of ignorance and lacks the approval of the “system” is ruthlessly regarded as fruitless. The individual is automatically classified as dull for not satisfying the proposed scale. Non accepting nature of this sort leads to the potential burial of visionaries of the unexplored field. This extends to the end of our days in lurking forms coexisting in professional workspace and personal relationships. An exponential ability is thus diluted and assessed by mere alphabets. What is our standard definition of a person being skilled? People are widely appreciated if they are well versed in the field of Science, Mathematics, languages or even selective arts. Largely, our skill sets have been reduced to elements that support us from a monetary standpoint. Others are merely dismissed as fruitless hobbies. Also, we do not cross the boundaries of our perfectly functioning brains to consider the bizarre cognitive abilities of people diagnosed with physical or neurological abnormalities. They do not quite coincide with our abilities but are remarkable nevertheless. It is observed that people diagnosed with autism prove to be severely competitive players of chess. The cogs of their brain work more efficiently in testing scenarios than the average “normal” human being. Max Park is an American Rubik’s cube speedsolver who held the world record average of five 3x3x3 solves at 6.39 seconds in 2017. Diagnosed with Autism, he was advised critical supervision for the rest of his life due to varying cognitive responses. However, he mastered the complex art of speedsolving a Rubik’s cube which is a baffling puzzle to the average person.

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The resonant tunes composed by Beethoven strike a euphoric chord in the hearts of many. However, people are largely unaware that the music virtuoso orchestrated most of his commendable works while suffering from partial deafness which eventually deteriorated to a complete loss of hearing. This serves as an exemplar in demonstrating the ability to establish an art which blooms from oblivion, defying irony in the process. It is a staggering ability that is challenging to reproduce. It broadens the spectrum on cognitive ability and encourages us to think about the actual reach of the oracular chamber in our heads.

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The perception of cognitive ability is quite subjective. Fundamentally, the crux of the issue boils down to the tendency of humans wanting establish supremacy among themselves leading to a struggle for apparent power. As children, we are rarely taught to question the asymmetry of life. We grow up blind while placing faith in principles devised by others thereby shutting the entry into the realm of creativity. We are made to approach originality with fear while ironically expecting people to embrace it. In a meticulously constructed world, the validation of an idea or a proposal to think beyond our limits is dependent on the its average acceptance. The birth of a visionary is rare because the others are hiding behind the gates of idealism. Their cognitive abilities fear being termed as eccentric. Human beings have aspirations which remain entombed and we impose our expectations on the forthcoming generations to fill our void created by the rejection of ingenuity. Unfortunately, aspirations change and the the rhythm transcends down the line. The true nature of cognition can only be evident in the accurate sense when we are allowed to swim along the wavelengths of our own mind. Cognitive ability has an a scale defined by the original self and is unique to the individual. The epitome of this ability is only allowed to flourish with encouragement irrespective of its irregularities and by discarding relativity. The only factor that needs to be monitored is the magnitude of genuine effort put in by the individual in demonstrating the expansion of the human psyche. Do we require a flawlessly rhythmic society churning out people of a standard ability or do we attain the true essence of intellect by letting our cognitive pursuits reach its naturalistic limits?

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