Spiritual Intelligence

Intelligence – The capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding. Aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings. The capacity to acquire and apply knowledge toward a goal.

Spiritual Intelligence – To utilize our reasoning, our knowledge, AND our innate wisdom and intuitive connection beyond personal gain, which permits and promotes a far reaching insight, a sense of trust and worthiness within ourselves, that supports the well-being of all people and our world, and brings peace, not suffering.

Through meditative practices, awareness can be trained and focused on the contents of the mind to observe ongoing experience. Intelligent awareness permits the cultivation of self-control. It
allows people to break the negative emotional chain reaction and head off the hopelessness and despair it leads to. Intelligence without self-awareness is only facts, not life.

Another word for Spiritual Intelligence is Presence or Life. This is not our neurotic, separate sense of self in which there is a resistance to evolving and having a connection beyond our base instinct for survival and self gratification.

In my relationships, the way I behave reflects my commitment to experiencing the deepest level of compassion, communication and honesty possible with everyone. I am proactively facing everything in my life — health, addictions, finances, happiness, relationships, work/life balance, career — and doing everything within my power to bring health and balance to them. I take total responsibility for the way I am and what I do moment by moment.

These changes can be difficult to embody in our lives. We need to take one small step at a time into our spiritual awareness, and feel the healthy changes that occur that will support us in furthering our resolve to continue to open up.                                           

Wisdom is independent of amassing information. Knowledge is transformed into wisdom by means of intelligent compassion. We use our spiritual intelligence to touch into our knowledge and our innate wisdom, in order to act in concert with our knowledge and our wisdom. Some may have a vast amount of knowledge and logic, but be void of any spiritual or compassionate qualities of insight, which will guide right action.

Without intelligence and skillful means, compassion can degenerate into a bungling sort of charity, or a co-dependence.Without intelligence and wisdom, the actions that seem right for ME, come from a lack of compassion and awareness of my interconnections, and only do harm. We can have both knowledge and wisdom, when we join the two using our spiritual intelligence. 

In my addiction, I used a lot of brain power to figure out how to get, engage in and hide my addiction. I manipulated people and circumstances for my benefit, always focused on my needs. I was very cunning (or so I thought),  at continuing an addiction that had no spiritual or humane basis and harmed everyone. I worked really hard at this, and thought that when I had all my daffy ducks in a row, I would then be happy. Never worked out that way.

After my main addiction has been addressed, I may still rely on my brain power to force my way through life, wondering why I am still unhappy. I am not using the discipline that brings joy. I am always about to start, on a regular basis, sometime soon, engaging in practices that I intuitively know bring a greater sense of peace and understanding into my life. Not knowingwhat it is like to relax that sore aching need in my heart, I am unwilling to enter into the unknown arena of living from a deeper intuitive spiritual place. I have a hard time not engaging 
in all the drama I am so used to.

I see and hear from others who are on various levels of letting go of the juicy ‘poor me,’ or prideful me. I see the benefits of what comes when they do. I see that it is possible for me also.

Sometimes in a recovery meeting or in a place where spiritual practices are taught and engagedin, I feel the spiritual intelligence I naturally have, cut right through my fears and doubts. I become inspired and surprisingly peaceful. But in a short time I begin reverting to my old ways of self interest which brings doubt and tension. You have to trust your intuition. You have to want, and make the effort to let go of using only your factual brain and emotional reservoir,and join those with a deeper practice that is not limited by your thoughts and feelings, but
includes and goes beyond them.

Commit wholeheartedly to compassionate Truth, and taking the action that reflects truth.

Is your commitment reflected in your everyday actions? Do you take small liberties with the truth because it seems easier, or works to your advantage? That is like taking small doses of poison that doesn’t kill but does keep you feeling sick. We need to have an awareness of where our mind is going, and use our training to bring it back to now, and our spiritual connection.

Imagine a camera crew following you 24/7 recording every action and behavior and then beaming this into the homes of millions of children worldwide who are watching you because youhave been chosen to demonstrate how to live an authentic life. Live as though the future depends on you. It does.

Pay attention. Know when you are being lazy and indulgent. Feel from your heart what is right, and then be brave enough to act. The more we use our spiritual intelligence as a factor in how we think and act, the more natural it becomes to live  directly from our hearts. The more natural it becomes to accept more peace in our lives, and promote health and healing.

How do you fill your bucket? One drop at a time.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

“The great arises out of small things that are honored and cared for.”

Heart Of Recovery web site  —  fcheartofrecovery.com