This blog- in French and in English, is about spiritual intelligence. What does it mean?
We have multiple forms of intelligence.
Personally, I think that we have four intelligences. As we have four elements: bodily, emotional, cognitive and spiritual, I consider that we have four types of intelligence.
Somatic intelligence was forgotten and is regaining some interest nowadays. It considers that bodily ailments translate into psychological difficulties and that we should listen to our bodies. It is based on the principle that body and mind are intertwined and that we cannot heal one aspect without considering the other.
The cognitive and emotional aspects have been extensively studied. I will not come back to the hegemony of cognitive intelligence since Descartes’ famous sentence: I think, so I am. This predominance reached its peak in the eighteenth century,” the century of enlightenment”. Emotional intelligence became popular with Goleman ‘s Works in the 90s.
The Emergence of the Theories on Spiritual Intelligence
Ten years later, Danah Zohar published a seminal book on spiritual intelligence but while the developments on emotional intelligence were widespread in the public arena, the research on spiritual intelligence remained confined to the academic world.
Several reasons mainly explain this reluctance such as the confusion between religions and spirituality, and the fact that beliefs are considered to be part of the personal sphere. Nevertheless, this newsletter intends to spread the research on spiritual intelligence and hopefully open discussion on this concept.
Researchers in psychology disagree on a common definition of spiritual intelligence. They define it through some of its components such as interconnection, going beyond oneself, and connection with something greater than oneself. Perhaps because it is a new field of research. Personally, I define it as the ability to connect with one’s inner wisdom and reach a higher level of consciousness.
What an ambitious program, would you say?!
Yes, but I consider that life is a journey and you may choose what path you want to take and what you are looking for. Spiritual intelligence is the path to knowledge and peace. It requires qualities such as deep listening the others and intuition, patience, and detachment.
And I invite you on this path.
But before, a few words on my history. After studying politics and economics, I worked as a CPA and auditor; around my 40s, I sold my companies and I started to work for the untied Nations and the European Commission all around the world as a financial expert. I was fascinated by cultures, diversity and discovering the world. Confronted with corruption cases but also driven by a passion for what is hidden, I studied topics such as kabbalah, astrology, symbols but also transpersonal psychology and hypnotherapy. My intention is to share and discuss with you my knowledge and what I understood.
My intention is to post an article every week. I will talk about different topics relevant to spiritual intelligence and transpersonal psychology such as:
- How to improve self-knowledge,
- How to listen more deeply,
- Why you should trust your intuitions and how to do,
- How kabbalah or astrology may be integrated into psychology,
- What is hypnosis and how it can help
And much more.
