An intellectual is not necessarily someone who has a degree. Nor possessed of what is commonly referred to as book learning. An intellectual is one who uses his intellect, his mind.

On the other hand, the mere fact that one is conscious, has a mind, and is in control of it in some manner, does not necessarily imply that he is an intellectual. For he must use it for more than reading the obituaries, watching sitcoms and fabricated dramas, mindlessly surfing, texting, and gossiping.

These things have a place in our society. So be it. But the intellectual has more developed interests and goals, often even a purpose in and for his life. Again, regardless of the quantity of is learning. There are children of only a few years old that are intellectuals. There are full grown middle aged adults who are not.

So age is not the issue. It is not what you have or how long you have had it, but rather, what you are doing, and intend to do, with whatever knowledge and abilities you do have.

A mechanic who strives to understand the inner workings of his trade, more than just go to work everyday and get the job done, is an intellectual.

A cook, a gardener. Virtually every activity, profession, trade, hobby or chore can be approached from an intellectual perspective, by the intellectual.

If you have read the AEDOK mission statements and Open Invitation to the World you are aware that we are building a community. We are not the first to do such a thing and do not presume to make such a boast. In fact, the Internet itself was conceived, built, and constructed by an independent intellectual community. Indeed, it is an ongoing project.

But, the AEDOK Suitetm of Websites & Domains is unique and what we are building is unique. It is unique primarily (again) because of perspective. We do not prejudge your abilities.

There is a place for judgment and sometimes even prejudgment. But prejudgment is generally based upon arrogance and the consequences are costly. Why do we say arrogance? Because the pre judger presumes to know that which he does not and cannot know.

There is a haughtiness of spirit as he "weeds out" the inadequate, the inferior, those second place to the cream of the crop.

A truly repulsive perspective when you sit down and look at it.

From a practical point of view, prejudgment is of course a type of filter. It is an attempt to filter out the best. Or if you look at it the other way, filter out the not the best. But due to the flaws in the underlying presumptions, what is filtered out is variety, diversity, a form of intellectual texture.

Just think, there are over six billion human beings on this planet, even as we speak. And though there are countless similarities, each person is a unique individual with a unique past a unique present and a unique future.

We would like to add your uniqueness to our own.

Next is the Member Levels Detail, a detailed discussion of

We invite you to participate and become a member of the AEDOK.org Organization by logging in at:

login.aedok.org

If you have already logged in at least once, then you are already a member of our growing organization. But, in that case, you will need a second email address to become a Level 4 Active Member (until we implement our upgrade option).