"There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence"

John Calvin’s statement draws attention to a subtle but profound obstacle in the spiritual life: the temptation to place ultimate trust in our own intellect. Human intelligence is one of our greatest gifts, enabling reason, discovery, and understanding. However, when individuals become overly confident in their mental abilities, they may unwittingly create a barrier between themselves and the experiences or insights that transcend rational thought. Calvin points to the danger of pride: that moment when a person’s self-assurance in logic, analysis, or knowledge becomes so great that it crowds out humility and receptivity.

Such confidence can lead to a diminished openness to wisdom that does not conform to one’s preconceived ideas, limiting the capacity to listen, to learn, or to be changed. Spiritual truth, according to Calvin, often arrives not as the product of purely human reasoning but as a gift, a revelation or movement from the Spirit that calls for trust and surrender as much as intellectual scrutiny. When individuals elevate their own cognitive resources above all else, the “screen” of pride, self-reliance, or even skepticism grows thicker, making it more difficult to perceive or respond to what lies beyond reason.

This warning does not denigrate the importance of intelligence itself. Rather, it cautions against the arrogance that sometimes accompanies intellectual achievement. Openness to the Spirit requires an attitude of humility, recognizing that the deepest truths or the most transformative encounters might come when one admits the limits of human understanding. Spiritual growth, for Calvin, is nurtured in that posture of wonder, vulnerability, and readiness to receive. Excessive trust in one’s intellectual capacity blinds one to possibilities, narrows vision, and, ironically, results in a kind of spiritual ignorance, because it blocks encounters that could otherwise lead to greater wisdom. By acknowledging this danger, the text advocates for balancing thought with humility and intellectual pursuit with openness to the transcendent.