I have only just a minute,
Only sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon me,
Can’t refuse it.
Didn’t seek it,
Didn’t choose it.
But it’s up to me to use it.
I must suffer if I lose it.
Give account if I abuse it.
Just a tiny little minute,
But eternity is in it.
Benjamin E. Mays
Can you see now? It helps to have intelligence in those minutes. Intelligence is a character trait—a seemingly innate easy-without-effort ability of finding the best possible response for this minute, when skillful action is required; intelligence is the ability to act skillfully and appropriately every such minute as and when they arise.
If it is so simple to define, why are there so much controversy around the concept of intelligence? Well this is why we are presenting this book on the quantum science of intelligence. We claim that human intelligence is much more cogent than the much-touted popular view of machine artificial intelligence. Why? Because of consciousness. Consciousness gives us the freedom to explore infinite potentialities, a freedom that is not available in any system of programed behavior. To boot, quantum physics has given us a science of consciousness. Now that we have a science of consciousness, and since intelligence is one of the important often used faculties of consciousness, we are able to clarify all the issues involved. And this precisely is what we demonstrate in our book.
To begin, let’s examine a few definitions from etymological dictionary:
The term “intelligence” derives from the Latin intelligencia, meaning “faculty of understanding” and consists of the prefix inter (“between”) and the radical legere (“to choose”, “to gather”) or ligare (“to bind”) which suggests the ability to link elements together, to make logical connections between different elements.
This definition of the concept is biased of course by the sociocultural confluence that put together the word. Notice it is talking about mental intelligence; in fact, you can even see a tendency to define the mentation involved as gathering bits of information together logically for your decision making.
Let’s look at how a dictionary defines it. Google.com calls up the following definition: Intelligence is the “ability to apply knowledge and skills.”
The good thing here is that both definitions agree that intelligence is an ability, a faculty. Whose faculty? The dictionary definition does not say. This is because today, much confusion is created by the claim that we are our brain and nothing but, that there is artificial intelligence—computer, mechanical intelligence—as or more powerful than human intelligence. One of the dictionary synonyms for intelligence is brain power. Go figure.
So, should the original etymological intent of including conscious understanding in the definition of intelligence stand or not? By the way, the etymological root of the word consciousness itself suggests that it is the vehicle to know with. In this way, some convergence of concepts emerges. Our consciousness is what we know with and intelligence is the faculty of using that knowledge for appropriate action as necessary.
The dictionary definition and our own intuition both uses skill as part of intelligence. You can have verbal skill, musical skill, athletic skill, emotional skill, transpersonal relationship skill, or even spiritual skill. Many researchers feel that current worldview proclivities emphasize verbal and conceptual/logical skills (measured by the IQ test) more than our other skills; hence they want those skills to be included in the branding of intelligence. In this way, we have a plethora of types of intelligence proposed by pundits: athletic intelligence, conceptual/verbal intelligence, street smart intelligence, musical intelligence, artistic intelligence; emotional intelligence, transpersonal intelligence, spiritual intelligence, intuitive intelligence, creative intelligence, and so forth.
How to classify them is a simple way? Some of them, conceptual/verbal, street mart, even athletic intelligence serve our “lower” survival needs, call them lower intelligence. The rest serve our higher needs such as love; call them higher intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence
Aside from materialism, another feature of rationalism is male dominance. Our brain is built in such way (via evolution) that males are better at rational processing, females pay more attention to emotions and relationships. In the rational era, even when religions dominated our worldview, men dominated women. Emotions were relegated to an inferior dimension of consciousness. When materialism was pronounced as scientific, rationalism got another boost. Emotions have little standing in materialist science: thinking is computable, emotions are not. In this way, Descartes said it well: I think, therefore, I am. No mention of emotions.
However, more recently in the 1990’s neuroscientists have recognized Descartes’ error and even figured out how the brain is wired for too much negativity—the negative emotional brain circuits in the midbrain operate independently of the neocortex. This discovery generated calls for emotional intelligence.
In India and Tibet, and later in China and Japan, feelings in the body have been recognized too as another source of emotions. In the Eastern view, emotion is feeling plus thought. There are centers of feeling along the spine called chakras. When mind gives meaning to these feelings, not only do we get negative emotions but also positive emotions.
In quantum science, we can explain the feeling centers along the spine using an idea of the biologist Rupert Sheldrake. In quantum science, feeling itself is seen as the experience of vital energy, vitality. Quantum science provides us with a viable way to emotional intelligence by combining the ideas of negative emotions and pleasure centers in the brain, the chakras in the body, and applying creativity not only to the movements of thought but also to movements of vital energy. The result is a more effective and usable scientific model for developing emotional intelligence.
The Role of the Brain
I have already mentioned several factors about the brain that affect our search for intelligence. They are:
- Brain produces memory of an event of quantum movement from potentiality to actuality. Reflection in the mirror of memory produces ego contraction of consciousness and forgetfulness of our quantum potentialities. And moreover, brain memory is reconstructive; using this we can create a self-image for ourselves that can be inauthentic. We can even create several such self-images or personalities to use in different situations.
- Say, you are with your parents, and you want to please them. So, you project your obedient child persona in dealing with them. But in the presence of your children, you will need to project the image of an indulgent father to please them; for your lover, you need to cultivate a romantic self, which can also be a self-image.
- In this way the brain not only creates memory and conditioning but also personality programs. All of these create limitations; they keep you away from the quantum self and higher intelligence.
- Evolutionarily, the brain comes with negative emotional brain circuits.
- Brain does have positive emotional circuits consisting of the pleasure circuits but they come with reward and addiction circuits. Too much pleasure lead to addiction lead to downright destruction of the brain.
There was a time when neuroscientists believed that the brain cannot change; it is what it is after the adult brain is achieved at something like the age of twenty-one. Recent work of neuroscientists has demonstrated neuroplasticity. The brain neurons can make new connections and go on creating new brain circuits; only that we have to be creative. In other words, creative intelligence has infinite scope. Both horizontally and vertically. Horizontally to venture into musical intelligence, artistic intelligence, scientific intelligence, sexual intelligence, etc. of outer-directed creativity. And vertically for the crucial production of new transformed leaders of moral authority who can walk their talk.
Evolutionarily, the brain is found to control the body centers of feeling. But again, once we can find our way to being brain’s boss, we can coordinate the brain and the body. This requires creativity in the vital arena, a creative quantum leap to better functioning of the chakras. All this is part of our book.
Why do we need Higher Intelligence today?
It is important that you make a special note of this: as we venture into higher intelligence, the sense of our self begins to change to become more and more inclusive. Initially, our intelligence is all self-oriented: what is the best response to this situation for me? But with expanded consciousness, we are open to consider the welfare of our community and society when making intelligent decisions.
Today, not only do we need intelligent decision for personal matters—how to deal with emotional stress, how to deal with CVD-19, how to deal with job security, and all that—but also intelligent decisions for how to deal with the grave social crisis that is responsible for the personal crisis; this is especially true for people in leadership position. The truce between science and religion in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth century has done good by our great social systems of capitalism, democracy and liberal education. But after the truce broke down in the second half of the twentieth century, increasingly these great civilized institutions are in crisis. The me-centered transactional response of our people and leaders is grossly inadequate to deal with the present moment. We need to engage in higher intelligence.
We have been somewhat aware of this; transpersonal psychology, and deep ecology movements are commendable attempt to inspire people to higher intelligence. But of course, the big question is, where is the leadership? Where is the moral authority for change? The lack of moral authority produces “pretend” philosophies like humanism (human is all we have and human beings must follow values to save civilization) and existentialism (existence precedes essence or moral values but so what? We need essence even though we have to pretend. Again, to save civilization). However, after fifty years of this moral confusion, people are tired of “political or social correctness.”
The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most important treatises of the Indian spiritual wisdom tradition. And there is a most important message in that book and we paraphrase: when righteousness is threatened, and it is threatened in every era of human development, when evil rises threatening to bring down civilization, in order to prevent the fall of civilization, people of higher intelligence (in India they are called avatara) appear to the rescue of the good and for the perish of the evil.
There are people who are ready, the fifteen percent we keep mentioning. There are aborning leaders who are ready to be avataras. All we need is transformational education and moral authority and that is being provided by the advance of quantum science, a genuine scientific model for human nature, behavior, and development.
This sums it up right now for us quantum aficionados as well why we need to understand higher intelligence and help people grow higher intelligence so that they come to the aid of our planet. The planet is in crisis, do not doubt it. Democracy is being challenged by would be dictators, capitalism is consumed by greed, higher education no longer works to lift people up from ignorance, global warming, separateness between people defying the call of Oneness and civilization, this is the crisis today.
The Bhagavad Gita also tells us this: yoga, integration, consists of skillful action, intelligent action. Yoga, integration is the way to higher intelligence. Two thousand year ago, Jesus formulated what constitutes the challenge of integration. Said he:
When you make the two one,
and when you make the inner as the outer
and the outer as the inner,
and the above as the below,
and when you make
the male and the female into a single one
so that the male will not be male
and the female not be female,
then shall you enter the Kingdom.
(Gospel according to Thomas)
Quantum science begins with integration of our best sources of wisdom: science and spirituality. Note that by science we do not mean science under a materialist dogma and by spirituality we do not mean religion which also is based on dogma. Quantum science also teaches the science and art of creative transformation that lead to higher intelligence; we call the process quantum yoga.
In Summary
So, rational or machine intelligence, to creative intelligence to emotional intelligence to archetypal or spiritual intelligence, that is the progression of intelligence looked upon with the quantum worldview with many different shades in between that we unfold in this book. Are you Interested?
I began with as poem, I end with another, this one by Rabindranath Tagore:
I have listened,
And I have looked with open eyes
I have poured my vitality on this earth
Seeking the unknown within the known.
And I sing out loud
In amazement.
The planet, our world, today is full of crisis, full of problems to solve, with people of only low intelligence to guide the situation and all may seem hopeless. But fear not, as you explore engaging all your vitality and discover higher intelligence, these same problems will no longer look unsolvable and you too will sing out with amazement.
Excerpts from – The awakening of intelligence
