Introduction to Spiritual Intelligence Workshop

Similar to our rational intelligence (intellect) and our emotional intelligence, we can develop our spiritual intelligence. Reliable and valid scientific research from the past decades provides practical methods so that we can deepen and enrich the meaning and purpose of our life; to feel connected to something larger than ourselves, to contribute, and to become more in touch with our True Self. The spiritual intelligence workshop is available in a 2 hour introductory presentation, a 4 hour workshop, or a comprehensive 8 hour workshop where you explore several exercises to improve your Spiritual Intelligence. The workshop can be conducted at your location with 8 to 30 participants. Please email admin@ContemplativeInterbeing.org for more information. Below is a brief preview of some of the workshop content.

Spiritual Intelligence Defined:

1. the intelligence with which we:

  • address and solve problems of meaning and value;
  • place our actions and our lives in a wider, richer, meaning-giving context;
  • assess that one course of action or one life-path is more meaningful than another.

2. a set of mental processes used to encounter, discover, create, and synthesize meaning, purpose, values, and motives in our life.

“The very process of human growth in my soul and it’s overflow into the good of your life becomes the purpose of my life.” Joan Chittister 

Spiritual Defined:

  • Yearning/Desire to find meaning and purpose in life
  • To be part of something larger/greater than the individual
  • Understand the depth of our own being (self)

Religion Defined:

  • Set of ritual, beliefs, doctrine, and scripture subscribed to by a individual or group (spirituality and religion are two different psychological concepts; SQ does not include religion)

Intelligence Defined:

  • mental process (not behaviors) that occur within the brain, increase over the life span, facilitate adaption to life situations, enable abstract reasoning, and help solve problems in a particular context.

Intelligence Model:

  • IQ – EQ -SQ
  • Our rational intelligence, emotional intelligence, and spiritual intelligence provide distinct mental abilities to help us adapt to life and life circumstances (contexts)
  • SQ is responsible for the unifying and transcendent function
  • Neither reason nor emotions can appeal to anything beyond themselves. They have no further common source through which they can be integrated and transformed. Example: Jillian Jensen

“To move into the world of meaning, you might say of something, ‘Now let’s see the pattern here. What is this particular event in my life trying to show me?'”
— Jacqueline Small in Embodying Spirit

“Authentic human interactions become impossible when you lose yourself in a role.”
Eckhart Tolle

Spiritual Intelligence Abilities

  • unify data/information
  • see life’s big picture
  • perceive a wider point of view
  • reconfigure boundaries
  • perceive beyond boundaries
  • examine mental framework
  • search for wholeness
  • integrate
  • identify patterns/connections
  • recontextualize
  • identify context
  • reframe context
  • conceptualize holism
  • transform
  • adopt new paradigms
  • answer WHY questions

“Each of us makes the epoch in which we live.” Carl Jung

 

 

 

 

Exercise: Values Dialogue

Who: You and two other people

Procedure:

  1. Review the list and add any values that the group feels is missing from the list.
  2. Create three columns on a piece of paper labeled Personal, Interpersonal, and Transpersonal.
  3. Write each one of the values under one of the column headings.
  4. If there are different opinions in the group. Listen to each persons explanation. Don’t try to come to a consensus. The purpose of the exercise is to dialogue about differences and recognize agreement.
  5. 20 minutes maximum

Definitions:

  • Personal values (relating to my own life—my friends, my family, my interests)
  • Interpersonal values (things that define my group and the relations between members of that group—like loyalty and trust)
  • Transpersonal values (values that transcend my own person and group; values I consider to be universal values like sanctity of life, protecting the world for future generations, or justice.

Altruism
Austerity
Awareness
Balance
Beauty
Commitment
Compassion
Education
Equality
Excellence
Faith
Fidelity
Forgiveness
Friendship
Gratitude
Happiness
Harmony
Health
Honesty
Humility
Integrity
Justice
Liberty
Life
Love
Loyalty
Maintenance of family
Mercy
Modesty
Obedience
Order
Politeness
Privacy
Protection of children
Public good
Regard for future generations
Respect
Respect for ancestors
Respect for elders
Respect for property
Saving face
Service
Stewardship
Tolerance
Truth
Wisdom