Image by Ribhav Agrawal
In This Article:
- What is the difference between spirituality and spiritual intelligence?
- How emotional and rational intelligence lead to spiritual intelligence
- Contemplative practices that enhance spiritual intelligence
- The transformative power of presence and alignment
- Practical steps to develop spiritual intelligence in daily life
Unlock Your True Potential with Spiritual Intelligence
by Monica Esgueva.
There appears to be a difference between spirituality and spiritual intelligence. Spirituality may be described as ultimate belonging or connection to the transcendental ground of being. Some define spirituality in terms of their relationship to God, fellow humans, or the earth. Others define it in terms of devotion and commitment to a particular faith or form of practice.
Spirituality can also be described as the knowledge of yourself as a spirit or soul and the understanding of your highest spiritual qualities and attributes: love, peace, and bliss. Spirituality refers to the search for the sacred, ultimate meaning, higher consciousness, and transcendence.
What is Spiritual Intelligence?
Spiritual intelligence involves applying and embodying spiritual values and virtues to enhance daily life, wellbeing, and contribution to society. That is the expression of these innate qualities through thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. Spiritual intelligence concerns the inner life of mind and spirit and its relationship to being and acting in the world.
Spiritual intelligence implies a capacity for a profound understanding of existential questions and insight into multiple levels of consciousness. It is also related to deep self-expression and striving to find meaning in life as one’s primary motivational forces. It also mobilizes the qualities and abilities of the soul through wisdom, compassion, integrity, joie de vivre, love, peace, harmony, equilibrium, and inner silence.
Spiritually intelligent individuals think and act with compassion and wisdom and can maintain inner peace and equanimity regardless of changing circumstances. Compassion is the most elevated stage of the development of emotional intelligence (heart), and wisdom is the most elevated stage of the intellect (head). The two wings are necessary to fly to the higher self or divinity.
Inner peace and equanimity help the person maintain a healthy detachment to outcomes, not being carried away distressed by the suffering and injustice so present in our world, while being able to act with conviction and determination. A person with high spiritual intelligence may appear angry with others but remains calm due to his peaceful mind.
Achieving Satisfaction
We can achieve satisfaction when we fully engage in the now and savor life. This is because existence is a moment in time, and we can fully experience each moment. One of the main parts of spiritual intelligence is the ability to treat everyday things, events, and relationships as if they were sacred. It is when we keep the awareness of the constant communion that essentially exists between the self and the world.
Viktor Frankl’s view of the human condition clarified the difference between biologically rooted drives that push us and spiritually rooted yearnings that pull us. When the will to meaning is frustrated, the person experiences some existential frustration. When that happens, the life energy is projected into a lower dimension, becoming a craving for power. Or even lower, to an extent where the main obsession is the craving for pleasure.
Without a sense of meaning beyond oneself, all these dimensions are experienced as neuroses and cause many of today’s problems. Pleasure cannot be an end in itself but is rather a by-product of having done something meaningful. Likewise, power should be a means to care for more and have a broader positive influence. Only by transcending the narrow limits of self-interest by accepting a spiritual perspective can we liberate ourselves from self-serving attachments and constricted identifications.
Ideally, spiritual intelligence would enable us to see things as they are, free from filters and unconscious distortions. In contrast to wishful thinking, attaching to dogmas, or grasping for certainty, exercising spiritual intelligence implies facing existential realities such as justice, suffering, altruism, and death and continuing the perennial search for meaning.
Spiritual intelligence skills depend upon a certain amount of empathy and emotional awareness. It also requires the growth of cognitive complexity (since it confronts mystery and paradox). But if we wish to reach the highest stages of development, we must realize that rational and emotional intelligence are necessary but insufficient.
The Most Profound Motivator
Most of us have learned to be motivated by external factors, while a few have discovered that the deepest motivators are intrinsic. We can use our thoughts and will to inspire us. Nevertheless, a clear sense of meaning and purpose is the most profound motivator for any human being. This can only arise when we investigate and discover who we really are and where we are going at the deepest level.
This is where emotional intelligence flows into spiritual intelligence. To understand the true meaning of events and perceive our purpose in this lifetime, we must first attain a state of self-awareness.
Here, contemplative practices such as meditation, yoga, prayer, or observation of the natural world are particularly relevant for polishing spiritual intelligence. This helps us tap into accurate insights and observe with mindfulness and awareness.
The State of Presence
Spiritual intelligence comes from intellectual and emotional intelligence in the state of presence. The essential nature of this presence is shifting from ego to spirit. The closer we transcend our ego and become one with ultimate reality, the more powerful our presence will be. We inhabit the body as a temporary physical vehicle when we do that. We emanate peace, live in inner stillness, and feel a flow of fulfillment regardless of external changing circumstances and the number of challenges we may face. And this is something others can also perceive.
Author and spiritual teacher Paul Brunton became aware of this when he visited the ashram of the great sage Ramana Maharishi in the 1930s. He wrote about his experiences when sitting close to him. How he was bathed in ineffable tranquility and bliss, radiation from this mysterious and imperturbable man who by all accounts was enlightened.
The filmmaker and spiritual teacher Arnaud Desjardins also discussed similar experiences of in-depth transformation with his guru, Swami Prajnanpad (a university professor who became a Hindu monk). When these individuals enter a room, they fill it up with their light and calm presence, even if they do not speak. Their energy, aura, and being benefit others in ways we cannot apprehend. Thus, others are touched by it. I have heard of many people who have also experienced this with the Dalai Lama.
Eminent psychologist Paul Ekman writes openly about his encounter with the Dalai Lama in his book Emotional Awareness and how intensely he was impacted by it, even if he had no previous reverence or expectations. I can confirm it myself. Time after time, I was moved, recharged, and inspired by the Dalai Lama’s presence, irrespective of the continent or the space where he was teaching.
The Highest Degree of Spiritual Intelligence
Therefore, to the highest degree, spiritual intelligence is not about soft and fluffy feelings. It is deep compassion manifested in wise action. It demonstrates a profound personal integrity that aligns purpose and values, intending to serve humanity, always focused on the best outcomes and the big picture, ready to encourage and inspire others, serene even when the tide gets rough, and not triggered by egoistic reactions or egocentric desires.
This is achievable immediately and will have a powerful, positive impact on humanity.
Copyright 2024. All Rights Reserved.
Adapted with permission.
Article Source:
BOOK: The 7 Levels of Wisdom
The 7 Levels of Wisdom: A Path to Fulfillment
by Monica Esgueva
In The 7 Levels of Wisdom, a path toward a more enlightened and fulfilling life is analyzed. Meant to expand both knowledge and awareness, this path offers the richness of Eastern philosophies tailored for the Western mind. The 7 Levels of Wisdom covers different related topics crucial for understanding and leading a personal transformation, with an aim to inspire people to reach the highest levels of human consciousness, the most important goal, and to see it as something they can do, regardless of their responsibilities or life conditions.
By assessing and describing the different stages of human consciousness, The 7 Levels of Wisdom will help its readers identify where they are on the progressive path toward enlightenment, as well as what lies ahead.
About the Author
Advocate for Inner Peace and Consciousness, Mónica Esgueva is a renowned self-development teacher and spiritual guide known for bridging the gap between Eastern and Western philosophies. With a profound understanding of the mind, human consciousness, and spirituality, she has been helping the transformation of individuals for more than sixteen years.
She is the author of 9 books, including the bestseller in Spain and Latin America, “Mindfulness,” and her latest book in English, “The 7 Levels of Wisdom.” She teaches workshops and guides meditation & transcendence retreats. She is the co-director and host of "Despierta" (Awaken), a documentary about the path to self-realization.
A former Economist, she later completed several studies and training in Coaching with NLP (with John Grinder, co-creator of Neuro-Linguistic Programming), leadership at INSEAD (France), Mindfulness at UCLA, psychology and neurosciences at MIT and King's College London, hypnosis at the NLP Center of New York, and more.
Visit the author's website at: MonicaEsgueva.com/
Article Recap:
This article explores the difference between spirituality and spiritual intelligence, emphasizing how the latter embodies wisdom, compassion, and inner peace in action. Spiritual intelligence requires transcending ego and aligning purpose with values, leading to profound fulfillment and a positive impact on humanity. By engaging in contemplative practices like meditation, mindfulness, and observation of the natural world, individuals can cultivate spiritual intelligence and navigate life’s challenges with equanimity, clarity, and meaning.
#SpiritualIntelligence #MindfulLiving #HigherSelf #EmotionalAwareness #CompassionInAction #SpiritualGrowth #WisdomAndPresence #InnerPeace #TranscendingEgo
