Without knowing it, my Angel of Mercy had more than accomplished her task and, in the final analysis, had won her argument hands down and spirit up! Wherever you are, dear lady, I eternally thank you for your wonderful and successful rescue mission!
In one flash of heart-rending realization, my life had been changed. I came to see that there was more to intelligence than simply words, numbers and logic. (In fact, I was soon to discover that there were multiple intelligences – Creative, Personal, Social, Sensual, Physical, Sexual, Spatial and Spiritual, as well as Verbal and Numerical, which I explore in my book Head First.)
Spiritual Intelligence – A Definition
We often hear of:
but just what are ‘spirit’ and ‘spiritual’?
The whole concept of spirit comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning breath. The modern term refers to your life energy and to the ‘non-physical’ part of you, including your emotions and character. It includes your vital qualities of energy, enthusiasm, courage and determination. (It is interesting to note that spirit also means a form of purified alcohol. Note that the emphasis is on purified!)
Your Spiritual Intelligence is concerned with how you grow and develop these qualities. It is also concerned with the protection and development of your soul, which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as your ‘moral and emotional identity’ and the intensity of its ‘emotional and intellectual energy’.
Spiritual Intelligence progresses naturally from your Personal Intelligence (knowledge, appreciation and understanding of yourself), through Social Intelligence (knowledge, appreciation and understanding of other people), to the appreciation and understanding of all other life forms and the Universe itself. In fact, contact with, understanding, and an appreciation of nature is a major aspect in the development of your Spiritual Intelligence.
Self-actualization
Self-actualization is the ultimate state of achievement described by the respected American psychologist Abraham Maslow, in what he described as his Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow discovered that, regardless of what tribe or place on the planet they were from, all human beings went through ascending stages of survival and spiritual development. These included:
It is only when all these are met that people reached their ultimate stage of human development: Self-actualization.
Maslow defined self-actualization as a spiritual state, in which the individual poured out creativity, was playful, joyful, tolerant, with a sense of purpose and a mission to help others to achieve this state of wisdom and bliss. All of these are to be accomplished in an environment of growing compassion and love.
Maslow was describing what we now call Spiritual Intelligence!
The Global Hunger for Spiritual Intelligence
The new global emphasis on developing the power of Spiritual Intelligence has come at just the right time for a world that is often described as spiritually sick.
‘What is the world coming to?’ we ask, when words like ‘divine’ are downgraded to describe, breathlessly, new furniture or clothes; when people describe themselves as ‘transported’ when their suburban gardens are given makeovers by TV experts; and when ‘ecstasy’ is used to describe not a state of transcendence, but a cheap and brain-damaging drug?
However, all is not as bad as it seems – the very fact that people are looking for ‘that buzz’ confirms that the spirit is still alive! It is simply looking for guidance to find the right path, and has momentarily lost its way among the mundane and commonplace.
Even the incessant stream of bad news which daily pours out of our radios, our TVs and the papers contains some silver linings. Natural disasters like earthquakes, avalanches and floods cause undeniably awful pain and suffering; but similarly they can result in extraordinary displays of compassion and community of spirit. Such events often help jolt us out of the semi-robotic way in which we allow our lives to run, and into a new awareness that is out of the ordinary. This is an awareness and insight that can be brought about also by birth and death, loss of loved ones, a sunrise, a painting, and all those things that have inspired the greatest art, poetry and music throughout the centuries.
There is more good news!
More and more people in affluent societies are growing tired of the shallowness of their materialistic lives, and are searching for a new set of values by which to live; values which emphasize a new sense of collective belonging to and responsibility for a world that is in an increasingly fragile state.
A recent survey conducted by John Naisbitt, the author of Megatrends 2000, showed that for the first time in history more people were moving from the big cities to the suburbs; from the suburbs to the exurbs; and from the exurbs back to the countryside than were moving into the cities.
Why? Because, people reported, they felt that in some way they were ‘losing their souls’ and that they needed to get back in touch with themselves, with Nature, and with the sense of human community for which they longed. They wanted more Quality of Life; a life that fed, rather than depleted their spirits.
At the same time, the world is experiencing a new Renaissance. In country after country, more art galleries, concert halls and museums are being built. And in many countries more people than ever before are studying (professionally and for personal enjoyment) music, drawing, painting, creative writing, theatre and dance.
You are living, at the beginning of