Social media is awash with information on intelligence: Rational intelligence (IQ)—what I think; Emotional intelligence (EQ)—what I feel; and Spiritual intelligence (SQ)—what I am. Spiritual intelligence relates to having the human capacity to ponder and ask questions about the ultimate meaning of life and the integrated relationship between us and the world in which we live. It may result in an increase in the psychological well-being of individuals, as well as having goals in their lives. Spiritual intelligence includes an ability to think beyond one’s immediate circle, having humility and access to energies that come from something beyond the ego, beyond one’s self and our day-to-day concerns.
At a period when we are experiencing an onslaught of emotional and psychological wellbeing issues, there’s a substantial and growing demand for health services, counselling, and therapy, to respond to these emerging needs. It seems as though we’re living in a time when many, many people no longer feel grounded and are looking for a deeper purpose in living out their lives.
It’s common for many individuals wrestling with their spirituality to not have had a faith based living experience. One is mindful of the diminishment, and in many instances the outright loss, of religious practices. And that, mostly, younger generations no longer attend church worship of any kind. And even fewer ponder at all “What the Almighty can do!” Hence a fallout of the very foundation on which the promises of God, the benefits of hopes and prayers, and the psychological comforts and security that many folks of yesteryear accepted and took for granted as serious props in their lives. One has to assume that, for many, the absence of faith based living has its consequences, and can leave one feeling rudderless and adrift.
Much of the current day lament that manifests itself in emotional upheaval and a lack of psychological wellbeing is grounded in individuals experiencing a sense of loss, and being faced with feelings of having no purpose in life. Life’s changing times, with all its new challenges, is an ongoing realty. We are required to adjust and get on with the business of living. Of course, most of us do just that. However, the current predominance of despair, and sense of unease that’s continuing to increase, particularly amongst our younger generations, is a cause of concern. Our collective challenge is to build up—to build up others, to build up ourselves, and to build up the communities in which we live.
To separate spiritual intelligence from the Holy Spirit, we go to the Apostle Paul who writes in 1 Corinthians, 2: 11-12, “For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.”
And then in 2: 14-15, “Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them …Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.”
