Sometimes the concept you're questioning makes more sense to ask just the second one and not the first one.
As far as intellect, what else is there? Without intellect, no story and no world.
Put your stressful thoughts on paper, question them, and have a great life.
Until we question our stressful thoughts, we remain victims of the images in our head.
My experience is the opposite.
And as long as we believe what we believe - until that is questioned - there's no progress as a human race. Again, we still have war. So, effective rehabilitation is to question what we believe. When that happens, everyone gets out of prison.