'Spiritual intelligence is a term used to discern a suite or set of propensities comprising: perceptions, intuitions, cognitions, etc., related to spirituality and/or religiosity. It has been discredited by its detractors as pseudoscientific^[1] due to its employment in popular psychology and New Age discourse. As the term and phenomenon of spirituality and the anthropological and sociological dimension of this human endeavour is challenging to define - indeed, a persistent incorrigible intangible - it poses a significant challenge for scientific methodology and analyses which for veracity, necessitates categorical criteria to model, chart and compare. In spite of both its popular currency and its protracted retraction, spiritual intelligence as an emergent, viable construct within psychology, bolstered particularly by Transpersonal Psychology, is receiving considerable scholarship. Howard Gardner, the originator of the theory of multiple intelligences, chose not to include spiritual intelligence amongst his "intelligences" due to the challenge of codifying quantifiable scientific criteria. Instead, Gardner suggested an "existential intelligence" as viable. Gardner's peers have responded with research that charts existential thinking as fundamental to spirituality. Notwithstanding, Gardner established the scientific foundation within the discipline of education theory and its interdisciplinarity, that has yielded the emergence of spiritual intelligence discourse.

Modelling Spiritual Intelligence

Many models and definitions have been proposed by researchers, theorists, and spiritual advocates. The models and definitions of spiritual intelligence identify specific propensities, qualities and capacities of human perceptions, intuitions and cognitions.

Robert Emmons (2000)

Robert Emmons (2000) defines spiritual intelligence as "the adaptive use of spiritual information to facilitate everyday problem solving and goal attainment." He originally proposed 5 components of spiritual intelligence:

1. The capacity to transcend the physical and material.

2. The ability to experience heightened states of consciousness.

3. The ability to sanctify everyday experience.

4. The ability to utilize spiritual resources to solve problems.

5. The capacity to be virtuous. (LATER REMOVED)

The fifth capacity was later removed due to its focus on human behaviour rather than ability, thereby not meeting previously established scientific criteria for intelligence.

Singh G. (2008)defined spiritual intelligence as " an innate ability of thinking and understanding of spiritual phenomenon and to guide the everyday behaviour by spiritual ideology"

Tony Buzan (2001)

It is described in Tony Buzan's (2001) book The Power of Spiritual intelligence as 'Awareness of the world and your place in it'. Spiritual intelligence is supposed to be one of the 7 intelligences described by Tony Buzan. Robert Emmons (2000) defines spiritual intelligence as "the adaptive use of spiritual information to facilitate everyday problem solving and goal attainment." Kathleen Noble (2000/2001) agrees with Emmons' (2000) definition and adds that spiritual intelligence is an inherent ability. Zohar & Marshall (2003) define spiritual intelligence as "the intelligence with which we can place our actions and our lives in a wider, richer, meaning-giving context; the intelligence with which we can assess that one course of action or one life-path is more meaningful than another." David B King (2007) has more recently defined spiritual intelligence as:

"...a set of adaptive mental capacities which are based on nonmaterial and transcendent aspects of reality, specifically those which are related to the nature of one?s existence, personal meaning, transcendence, and heightened states of consciousness. When applied, these processes are adaptive in their ability to facilitate unique means of problem-solving, abstract-reasoning, and coping."

Kathleen Noble (2000/2001)

Kathleen Noble (2000/2001) identifies spiritual intelligence as an innate human potential. She agrees with Emmons' (2000) core abilities and adds two others:

1. The conscious recognition that physical reality is embedded within a larger, multidimensional reality with which we interact, consciously and unconsciously, on a moment to moment basis.

2. The conscious pursuit of psychological health, not only for ourselves but also for the sake of the global community.

Frances Vaughan (2002)

Frances Vaughan (2002) offers the following description:

"Spiritual intelligence is concerned with the inner life of mind and spirit and its relationship to being in the world. Spiritual intelligence implies a capacity for a deep understanding of existential questions and insight into multiple levels of consciousness. Spiritual intelligence also implies awareness of spirit as the ground of being or as the creative life force of evolution. If the evolution of life from stardust to mineral, vegetable, animal, and human existence implies some form of intelligence rather than being a purely random process, it might be called spiritual. Spiritual intelligence emerges as consciousness evolves into an ever-deepening awareness of matter, life, body, mind, soul, and spirit.

Spiritual intelligence, then, is more than individual mental ability. It appears to connect the personal to the transpersonal and the self to spirit. Spiritual intelligence goes beyond conventional psychological development. In addition to self-awareness, it implies awareness of our relationship to the transcendent, to each other, to the earth and all beings. Working as a psychotherapist, my impression is that spiritual intelligence opens the heart, illuminates the mind, and inspires the soul, connecting the individual human psyche to the underlying ground of being. Spiritual intelligence can be developed with practice and can help a person distinguish reality from illusion. It may be expressed in and culture as love, wisdom, and service."

Zohar and Marshall (2000)

D. Zohar and I. Marshall (2000) define spiritual intelligence (which they abbreviate as SQ) as "the intelligence with which we address and solve problems of meaning and value; the intelligence with which we can place our actions and our lives in a wider, richer, meaning-giving context; the intelligence with which we can assess that one course of action or one life-path is more meaningful than another. SQ is the necessary foundation for the effective functioning of both IQ and EQ. It is our ultimate intelligence." They further propose that "SQ allows human beings to be creative, to change the rules and to alter situations. It allows us to play with the boundaries; it gives us our moral sense; it allows us to wrestle with questions of good and evil and to envision unrealized possibilities."

Although Zohar & Marshall (2000) do not propose a core ability set, they do suggest the following indications of highly developed spiritual intelligence:

• the capacity to be flexible (actively & spontaneously adaptive);
• a high degree of self-awareness;
• a capacity to face and use suffering;
• a capacity to face and transcend pain;
• the quality of being inspired by vision and values;
• a reluctance to cause unnecessary harm;
• a tendency to see the connections between diverse things (being ?holistic?);
• a marked tendency to ask ?Why?? or ?What if?? questions and to seek ?fundamental? answers; and
• being what psychologists call ?field-independent? ? possessing a facility for working against convention.

David B King (2007)

David B King (2007) has undertaken research on spiritual intelligence at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. King defines spiritual intelligence as:

"...a set of adaptive mental capacities which are based on nonmaterial and transcendent aspects of reality, specifically those which are related to the nature of one?s existence, personal meaning, transcendence, and heightened states of consciousness. When applied, these processes are adaptive in their ability to facilitate unique means of problem-solving, abstract-reasoning, and coping."

King further proposes 4 core abilities or capacities of spiritual intelligence:

1. Critical Existential Thinking:
The capacity to critically contemplate the nature of existence, reality, the universe, space, time, and other existential/metaphysical issues; also the capacity to contemplate non-existential issues in relation to one?s existence (i.e., from an existential perspective).

2. Personal Meaning Production:
The ability to derive personal meaning and purpose from all physical & mental experiences, including the capacity to create and master a life purpose.

3. Transcendental Awareness:
The capacity to identify transcendent dimensions/patterns of the self (i.e., a transpersonal or transcendent self), of others, and of the physical world (e.g., nonmaterialism) during normal states of consciousness, accompanied by the capacity to identify their relationship to one?s self and to the physical.

4. Conscious State Expansion:
The ability to enter and exit higher states of consciousness (e.g. pure consciousness, cosmic consciousness, unity, oneness) and other states of trance at one?s own discretion (as in deep contemplation, meditation, prayer, etc.).

For more information, visit: http://www.dbking.net/spiritualintelligence/

Measuring Spiritual Intelligence

There is a great deal of disagreement over the measurement of spiritual intelligence. Many suggest that this ability set cannot be measured by traditional means, while others maintain that, like most psychological constructs, some degree of measurement is possible. David B King of Trent University is currently developing a self-report measure of spiritual intelligence, called the Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Invenstory (SISRI). (see http://www.dbking.net/spiritualintelligence/)

Due to its varying definitions and models, a number of different indicators and measures of spiritual intelligence have been proposed. Many authors use the term spiritual quotient, following a trend that started with the intelligence quotient or IQ and later emotional intelligence or EQ. While some measures may be founded in science, others are geared more towards popular use by the public.

William Frank Diedrich offers the following definition and measurement of spiritual intelligence:

• Spiritual Quotient (SQ)

Most recently, it has been defined as "choosing between the ego and Spirit (Higher Self)" . This definition is based upon the root words: spiritus, meaning breath. Spirit is the breath of life. Intelligentia, meaning "to choose between". There are three major aspects of spiritual intelligence. They are:

1. Identifying with one's Higher Self or Spirit rather than with the ego. That is, you are not your body, your problems, your past, your finances, your job, your gender, or your ethnicity. These are each roles you play. You are a spiritual being having a human experience.

2. Understanding Universal Law--Cause and Effect. Spiritual Intelligence means that you take 100 % responsibility for your life, your situation, and for yourself. You recognize that you are the creator of your life and that your thinking, your beliefs, and your assumptions create your world. This means no blaming!

3. Non-attachment. As a spiritual being you are unattached to outcomes, forms, or experiences. Your well-being comes from within you, by way of your spiritual identity.

Spiritual Intelligence is developed by practicing these three aspects. The tools of Spiritual Intelligence include prayer, meditation, contemplation, conscious awareness of one's tendencies toward fear or anger, shifting one's emotional state away from fear, and the ongoing daily practice of staying conscious of one's thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. This definition is based on the writings of William Frank Diedrich. For further reading see http://www.noblaming.com/spiritintel.htm

Some practical applications of Spiritual Intelligence

1. Acceptance of adversity rather than raging against it. Not resorting to blame, guilt, rationalising, anger, despair, denial and other typical defense mechanisms.
2. Using materials preciously and avoiding waste. Recycling, reusing things wherever possible, reducing waste and repairing things instead of replacing them.
3. Being grateful for everything including adversity.
4. Having the capacity to see one's ego (Witness Consciousness) and choose whether to go with the ego's habitual tendency or do something different.
5. Apologising for one's mistakes and making amends wherever possible.
6. Seeing the inherent beauty of everything and everyone.
7. Having a positive attitude.
8. Treating everyone and everything with compassion and gratitude including tools and machines.
9. Leaving every place you go better than you found it.
10. Respect for the environment and bio-diversity as having inherent as well as practical value

See also

• Intelligence
• Intelligence quotient
• IQ
• Emotional Intelligence
• EQ
• Multiple Intelligences
• Spirituality
• Trance

Notes

1. ↑ Providing citations and notes throughout this article would be greatly appreciated!

References

• Zohar, Danah SQ: Connecting with Our Spiritual Intelligence London: Bloomsbury (paperback 2000) ISBN 1-58234-044-7
• Buzan, Tony The Power of Spiritual IntelligenceHarperCollins (paperback 2001) ISBN 0-7225-4047-7
• King, David B. The Spiritual Intelligence Project: Extracting Cognitive Ability from the Psychospiritual Realm. http://www.dbking.net/spiritualintelligence/
• McMullen, B. Spiritual intelligence in BMJ Career Focus 2003, 326:S51, accessed at http://careerfocus.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/326/7385/S51 July 27, 2006
• Rossiter, Altazar DEVELOPING SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE - The Power Of You O-Books (paperback 2006) ISBN-10: 1905047649, ISBN-13: 978-1905047642 more information refer http://www.altazarrossiter.com/6.html
• Articles and free SQ Assessment by William Frank Diedrich located at http://www.noblaming.com/spiritintel.htm
• Down, Lee Spirited Intelligent Emotions One Man Can (speech, print, and internet article) accessed at http://onemancan.ca/home/spiritual_emotional_intelligence/ August 22, 2005

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