The Power of Spiritual Intelligence: 10 ways to tap into your spiritual genius
Tony Buzan
10 ways to tap into your spiritual geniusOver three billion people – half the world’s population – are actively pursuing Spiritual Intelligence and Knowledge. Spiritual intelligence is concerned with being part of the bigger scheme of things. It involves seeing the "Big picture". With Tony Buzan’s Spiritual Intelligence, you can:Learn to truly know yourself and those around you• Develop a compassionate, rather than an aggressive attitude• Relate more deeply to the world around you, and acquire a global vision.• Discover ways to refresh your soul daily,• and how humour can help you be more spiritual!With its powerful series of Brain Workouts, mind-maps and exercises, Spiritually Intelligence enables you to learn from some of the spiritual giants of the age, from Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela to the Dalai Llama. If you Mind Mapyour vision, you really can be your best self.
The Power of Spiritual Intelligence
Tony Buzan
Dedication
The Power of Spiritual Intelligence is fondly and warmly dedicated to Lesley and Teri Bias; my Mum, Jean Buzan; Lorraine Gill, Vanda North, Nicky and Strilli Oppenheimer, Dr Petite Rao, Caroline Shott and Carole Tonkinson for their spiritual help in my personal life and for their dedication and hard work in making both this little book and giant dream come true.
Title Page
Dedication
Introduction: Journey to Paradise
Chapter 1: Getting the ‘Big Picture’
Chapter 2: Exploring Your Values
Chapter 3: Your Life Vision and Purpose
Chapter 4: Compassion – Understanding Yourself and Others
Chapter 5: Give and Receive! Charity and Gratitude
Chapter 6: The Power of Laughter
Chapter 7: Onward to the Child’s Playground
Chapter 8: The Power of Ritual
Chapter 9: Peace
Chapter 10: All You Need is Love!
Mind-Maps®
Acknowledgements
Other books by Tony Buzan
Copyright
About the Publisher
We are not human beings
having a spiritual experience;
we are spiritual beings
having a human experience.
(Teilhard de Chardin)
Are you a spiritual person? Many people confuse being spiritual with being religious, but they are very different things. When you are Spiritually Intelligent you become more aware of the ‘big picture’ – for yourself and the universe, and your place and purpose in it.
Spiritual Intelligence is considered by many to be the most important of our many intelligences, and has the power to transform your life, civilization, the planet and the course of history. In The Power of Spiritual Intelligence I will explore the nature of spirituality, and show you how you can develop this wonderful intelligence. You will be able to develop your personal values – concepts like truth and honesty – and become involved first in understanding and knowing more of yourself, and then reaching out to participate in and help the community at large.
Happily, developing your Spiritual Intelligence will allow you to see the lighter and more humorous side of things, and to regain those qualities such as enthusiasm, cheerfulness, energy and persistence that characterize children. Not only that – I will show you how you can increase your inner peace and strength, and so become better able to control and reduce the stresses that often blight our modern, busy lives.
First, I would like to tell you about my own spiritual career, and how I came to realize that there was such a thing as Spiritual Intelligence.
Two stories tell the tale:
Story 1:
Chocolate Bars, Purity of Soul and Bribery!
When I was a young teenager, I began to ask ‘the big questions’ such as what is the meaning of life? Why is there so much suffering in the world? Do animals have emotions? Why do we die? What’s the point of being honest or good? Are there other planets with life on them? How big is the universe and where does it end? And so on. My friends and I thought we might get some answers by going to the church Sunday School, so this we dutifully did.
Our Sunday School teacher was a bullying, arrogant man, with a domineering and authoritarian style. One Sunday he said to us that if we brought in new recruits to the Sunday School the following week, he would give us a chocolate bar for every new person brought in.
My hand immediately shot up! I pointed out to the teacher that he had, in a previous lesson, talked about purity of soul and the evils of bribery. Should we not, if we were truly spiritual, bring people to the Sunday School because we wanted to help them on their paths? Should we not, therefore, do it purely for the love of the other person? Should we not do it with pleasure, enthusiasm and generosity, expecting no reward whatsoever? By offering us all chocolate bars, was he not, in fact, bribing us?!
I was told never to ask such questions again, and to leave the class for rudeness and insubordination!
I never returned, and decided from that point on that anything to do with spirituality was either a con, irrelevant or wimpish, and that logic and argument were a far more ‘true path’.
Story 2:
Logic versus Spirituality
By the time I was 20 and at university, I had hardened my views on the supremacy of logic and the weakness of spirituality and emotion, while becoming a confirmed atheist. I had honed my verbal and logical reasoning skills and relished a good intellectual argument! Imagine my delight when my doorbell rang one day, and a frail, middle-aged lady announced that she had come to try to save my soul!
Like a spider preparing to ensnare a fly, I invited her in to let her explain her views on the need for me to be more spiritually aware. By this time I had become well-versed in the history of philosophy and the great debates on morality, God, and the meaning of life. In less than 15 minutes I had this gentle lady floundering but, to my surprise, still upbeat and unbowed.
She explained that helping other people was a relatively new direction in her life, a life which had known a lot of pain and suffering, and which was now much more beautiful and calm. She cheerfully asked if she could come back next week with someone more experienced in the field, and I agreed, anticipating another logic battle, with a more ‘worthy’ opponent.
A week later she duly returned, proudly introducing me to a young man who had just graduated from university and who was extremely knowledgeable in the field. We immediately locked horns, and a great intellectual tussle took place. Finally, after an hour, he made one fatal logical mistake, and I pounced. The victory was mine!
Still unbowed, the lady asked if she could return the following week with one of the most senior members of her organization. Once again I said yes.
On the day of the next meeting, a snowstorm had blown up, and it was bitterly cold. Nevertheless, my Angel of Mercy was there. She introduced me, with pride and respect, to her companion: a middle-aged man who looked like a character out of a cheap gangster movie, who was a very senior person in her organization. He appeared to be the opposite of everything that spirituality stood for, knew little about ethical or moral arguments, and seemed intent only on raising money from me and parading his status. I accused him of ignorance, greed and dishonesty and had him red-faced and speechless within five minutes.
Another great victory!
This, however, was soon to turn to dust. When the pair left, the lady looked up at me with a fractured face, her expression one of failure, disillusionment, loss, pleading and an almost unbearable pain. As I closed the door on her forever, those same feelings surged through me.
What had I done?
This gentle lady had spent several weeks of her life preparing for and meeting me, with the sole purpose of helping to save my soul. And what had I done to express my thanks and gratitude for this totally unselfish gesture on my behalf? Beaten her with the truncheons of logic and words; humiliated and demeaned those she loved and respected in front of her; attempted to destroy the foundations of a newly structured, innocent and loving life; and after gloating at my ‘triumphs’, had turned her out into the snow. I sat down, stunned at the horror of what I had just done. Logic and words suddenly seemed irrelevant, and my whole being was overwhelmed with sorrow and remorse.
Without knowing it, my Angel of Mercy had more than accomplished her task and, in the final analysis, had won her argument hands down and spirit up! Wherever you are, dear lady, I eternally thank you for your wonderful and successful rescue mission!
In one flash of heart-rending realization, my life had been changed. I came to see that there was more to intelligence than simply words, numbers and logic. (In fact, I was soon to discover that there were multiple intelligences – Creative, Personal, Social, Sensual, Physical, Sexual, Spatial and Spiritual, as well as Verbal and Numerical, which I explore in my book Head First.)
Spiritual Intelligence – A Definition
We often hear of:
‘the spirit of the age’
‘full of spirits’
people in ‘poor’ or ‘high spirits’
‘troubled spirits’
‘the nation’s spirit’
‘my spiritual father’
‘she was a leading spirit …’
‘my spiritual home’
but just what are ‘spirit’ and ‘spiritual’?
The whole concept of spirit comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning breath. The modern term refers to your life energy and to the ‘non-physical’ part of you, including your emotions and character. It includes your vital qualities of energy, enthusiasm, courage and determination. (It is interesting to note that spirit also means a form of purified alcohol. Note that the emphasis is on purified!)
Your Spiritual Intelligence is concerned with how you grow and develop these qualities. It is also concerned with the protection and development of your soul, which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as your ‘moral and emotional identity’ and the intensity of its ‘emotional and intellectual energy’.
Spiritual Intelligence progresses naturally from your Personal Intelligence (knowledge, appreciation and understanding of yourself), through Social Intelligence (knowledge, appreciation and understanding of other people), to the appreciation and understanding of all other life forms and the Universe itself. In fact, contact with, understanding, and an appreciation of nature is a major aspect in the development of your Spiritual Intelligence.
Self-actualization
Self-actualization is the ultimate state of achievement described by the respected American psychologist Abraham Maslow, in what he described as his Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow discovered that, regardless of what tribe or place on the planet they were from, all human beings went through ascending stages of survival and spiritual development. These included:
the need for food
the need for shelter
the need for physical health
the need for family
the need for education
the need for social integration
the need for intellectual, social and material accomplishment.
It is only when all these are met that people reached their ultimate stage of human development: Self-actualization.
Maslow defined self-actualization as a spiritual state, in which the individual poured out creativity, was playful, joyful, tolerant, with a sense of purpose and a mission to help others to achieve this state of wisdom and bliss. All of these are to be accomplished in an environment of growing compassion and love.
Maslow was describing what we now call Spiritual Intelligence!
The Global Hunger for Spiritual Intelligence
The new global emphasis on developing the power of Spiritual Intelligence has come at just the right time for a world that is often described as spiritually sick.
‘What is the world coming to?’ we ask, when words like ‘divine’ are downgraded to describe, breathlessly, new furniture or clothes; when people describe themselves as ‘transported’ when their suburban gardens are given makeovers by TV experts; and when ‘ecstasy’ is used to describe not a state of transcendence, but a cheap and brain-damaging drug?
However, all is not as bad as it seems – the very fact that people are looking for ‘that buzz’ confirms that the spirit is still alive! It is simply looking for guidance to find the right path, and has momentarily lost its way among the mundane and commonplace.
Even the incessant stream of bad news which daily pours out of our radios, our TVs and the papers contains some silver linings. Natural disasters like earthquakes, avalanches and floods cause undeniably awful pain and suffering; but similarly they can result in extraordinary displays of compassion and community of spirit. Such events often help jolt us out of the semi-robotic way in which we allow our lives to run, and into a new awareness that is out of the ordinary. This is an awareness and insight that can be brought about also by birth and death, loss of loved ones, a sunrise, a painting, and all those things that have inspired the greatest art, poetry and music throughout the centuries.
There is more good news!
More and more people in affluent societies are growing tired of the shallowness of their materialistic lives, and are searching for a new set of values by which to live; values which emphasize a new sense of collective belonging to and responsibility for a world that is in an increasingly fragile state.
A recent survey conducted by John Naisbitt, the author of Megatrends 2000, showed that for the first time in history more people were moving from the big cities to the suburbs; from the suburbs to the exurbs; and from the exurbs back to the countryside than were moving into the cities.
Why? Because, people reported, they felt that in some way they were ‘losing their souls’ and that they needed to get back in touch with themselves, with Nature, and with the sense of human community for which they longed. They wanted more Quality of Life; a life that fed, rather than depleted their spirits.
At the same time, the world is experiencing a new Renaissance. In country after country, more art galleries, concert halls and museums are being built. And in many countries more people than ever before are studying (professionally and for personal enjoyment) music, drawing, painting, creative writing, theatre and dance.
You are living, at the beginning of this 21
Century of the Brain and the Millennium of the Mind, in a world that is transforming itself from a relatively ‘dark night of the soul’ to an age of Spiritual awareness, development and enlightenment. You are part of that process.
‘Great men are they who see that the spiritual is stronger than any material force.’
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Case History – Valentina Tereshkova
Many leading individuals are publicly calling for greater attention to be paid to Spiritual Intelligence and a more caring and nurturing approach toward the children of the future and the planet. One particularly notable example is Dr Valentina Tereshkova. On 16 June 1963, a powerful rocket boosted the space capsule ‘Vostok 6’ into outer space and Valentina piloted it 48 orbits around the earth. Three days later she landed her space capsule safely, and became and remains the only woman in the world to accomplish solo flight into space. She received many awards and decorations, and has devoted an increasing part of her time to speaking at international peace conferences. She was recently nominated for the Women of the Year award of ‘The Woman of the 20
Century’, and in her acceptance speech she stressed the responsibility we all have for the future of human civilization:
‘We all have to understand and in full measure accept our responsibility for the future of human civilisation in all areas of activity – in the economy, in science and culture and art … I believe we all know which dangers we have in mind. The pollution of the environment due to the retroactivity of men, the pollution of outer space, and the problem of the sensible use of the scientific and technological achievements [for] the benefit and not the detriment of humanity.
‘Another problem is to protect the spiritual health of our children, to provide them with a moral compass to choose the right road in the limitless cyber space. Can we solve all these problems? Yes we can, thanks to responsibility and solidarity.’
The recent Olympics 2000 in Sydney, Australia give a vivid illustration of the benefits and effects of people using their Spiritual Intelligence. For two weeks 17 million people overcame the most horrendous logistical problems, put aside personal considerations in order to care for others, handled all kinds of stress, and in four million individual cases, volunteered their time, money and energy to celebrate human achievement. Commentators from around the world were ‘gob smacked’ at the sight and sound of people forming spontaneous choirs on trains, boats and airplanes; of everyone helping everyone else; and of the continuous, almost hypnotic spirit of cheerfulness and playfulness that pervaded the entire country.
This was an example of an entire country, itself composed of many races, religions and creeds, hosting those from the entire planet and succeeding, miraculously, in creating a momentary paradise-on-earth.
Case History – Diana, Princess of Wales
The shared outpouring of public grief at the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 was seen by some as a worrying manifestation of the power of celebrity and how the emptiness of some people’s lives led them to attach themselves to popular icons, living their lives vicariously through them. While that is one way of looking at it, there is a more Spiritually Intelligent view of the events – that people overcame their differences to share their grief for a woman who had done so much to help others through her charity work that she had become a symbol of hope and compassion.
Diana will be remembered by millions the world over for her high-profile stand on the use of land mines, and her compassion for AIDS patients. Although she suffered personal problems, she reached out to others in greater need and, by her example, she inspired others to do likewise.
Far from ‘going to hell in a hand-basket’, the world in which you live is undergoing a wonderful period of spiritual growth. This spiritual power that you, your family, friends and all of us have, is infinite. This book is designed to help you tap into that power, and to use it for your own and others’ good.
‘We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves.’
(Galileo Galilei)
The Power of Spiritual Intelligence – An Overview
The ten chapters of The Power of Spiritual Intelligence deal with the ‘Ten Graces’ that combine to form Spiritual Intelligence.
Chapter 1 – Getting the ‘Big Picture’
In this chapter I will demonstrate to you that you are a miracle, and you will learn some incredible facts about you and your relationship with the universe. Each one of us has a tangible effect and impact on history, and you will read the thoughts of some of the world’s greatest thinkers about yourself, about your amazing capacities, and about your power.
Chapter 2 – Exploring Your Values
Your values and principles determine your behaviour, and have a massive effect on the probability of your success in life. By applying the lessons you will learn, you will, literally, improve your own and your friends’ chances of survival! In this chapter I shall explore the establishment and development of these principles, and will introduce you to thoughts of Buddha, Muhammad and others on this subject.
Chapter 3 – Your Life Vision and Purpose
In Chapter 3 you will be introduced to the power of your vision and your ability to plan. By applying this power you will be able to transform your life for the better. For this purpose I will provide you with a special technique that I have used to help Olympic athletes, business people, and tens of thousands of others world-wide who were seeking to increase their probability of success.
With a clear and defined purpose, your life will gain meaning and direction, and you will become healthier, stronger and more confident.
Chapter 4 – Compassion: Understanding Yourself and Others
Chapter 4 will explore further the ‘Amazing You’. I will show you games and exercises that will demonstrate to you how creative and unique you are. These same exercises will reveal to you all the spiritual qualities you share in common with the rest of humanity.
You will also be introduced to the thoughts of great spiritual leaders on compassion and understanding such as Gandhi, and the reflections of John Donne, Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Each of these will help you develop your own Compassion and Understanding.
Chapter 5 – Give and Receive! Charity and Gratitude
When you learn the twin graces of Charity and Gratitude, you multiply your Spiritual Intelligence several-fold. Your soul learns to breathe in (gratitude) and to breathe out (charity). One of the richest men of the 19th century, Andrew Carnegie, is a wonderful example of these qualities.
By applying the lessons of this chapter, you will become spiritually stronger and healthier, while at the same time becoming more nurturing, gentle and kind.
Chapter 6 – The Power of Laughter
Laughter is a vital quality of Spiritual Intelligence, and benefits you in many ways, including reducing stress levels and generally leading to a more cheerful and happier life. Research also demonstrates that laughter can help you live a longer and healthier life. You should end this chapter one ‘happy bunny’!
Chapter 7 – Onward to the Child’s Playground
How can it be beneficial to become like a child again? You will find out in this chapter! Investigations have shown that the more Spiritually Intelligent you become, the more the childlike qualities of innocence, cheerfulness, joyfulness, spontaneity, enthusiasm and adventure increase in your life.
Chapter 8 – The Power of Ritual
How do you improve your spiritual and emotional stability, reduce your stress, become more persistent and determined and, as a result, stronger and more confident?
Is there a magic formula? Yes! It’s called ritual, and in this chapter you will learn some important lessons from Indian Yogis. You will finish the chapter knowing how to create your own rituals, and appreciating the incredible effect they have on your brain, body and spirit.
Chapter 9 – Peace
The modern world can provide a lot of ‘negative vibes’ – accumulated stress, jangled nerves and mental clutter. For your survival, both spiritual and otherwise, it is essential to learn techniques to reduce and to eliminate stress, and to cultivate an internal environment that is calm, tranquil and serene. In this chapter I will guide you, with the help of the Maharishi and Confucius, among others, toward that state in which you will be free from mental disturbance, anxiety and distress.
Chapter 10 – All You Need Is Love!
In this the final chapter you will be introduced to the ultimate power – the Power of Love. You will read stories of adventure, trial and tribulation, death and hope, and will be given techniques and approaches to ease suffering, pain and despair.
The Power of Spiritual Intelligence is designed to be stimulating, informative, practical and fun. Each chapter comprises: a definition of each ‘Grace’ or quality being described, and how it will benefit you in your day-to-day life; stories to inspire and guide you in developing your Spiritual Intelligence; and words of wisdom to give you good food for your spiritual thought. There are also Spiritual Workouts in each chapter, with practical games and advice to help you strengthen the particular aspect of Spiritual Intelligence being discussed.
An additional feature is Spiritual Intelligence ‘Spirit Boosters’, to increase the power of the workouts, which take the form of ‘Intentions’ and ‘Affirmations’ that you can repeat to yourself on a regular basis. They will help you refine and strengthen your purpose in life, and by repetition, will reinforce these synaptic connections in your brain, thus increasing your mental and spiritual power.
The Spirit Boosters have been carefully worded to protect you from the many pitfalls that ‘false positive thinking’ can get you into. Their purpose is to keep:
your body grounded
your mind clear
your soul rooted
your energy flowing
your Spiritual Intelligence and your life continuously enhanced.
The Power of Spiritual Intelligence also includes Mind-Maps
– colourful, graphic learning tools that I have spent my life developing. They are brilliant route-maps for the memory, allowing you to organize facts and thoughts in such a way that the brain’s natural way of working is engaged right from the start. Within the chapters there will be examples of and reference to Mind-Maps
, as well as exercises in which Mind-Maps
will be used to enhance and develop your Spiritual Intelligence.
By following the ideas contained in this book, you will be able to enhance and develop your Spiritual Intelligence. To give you some idea of your progress along your spiritual path, try answering the following questions; and then come back to them when you have finished the book!
1 Do you feel ‘at one’ with nature? YES/NO
2 Are you playful? YES/NO
3 Do people consider you childlike (not childish)? YES/NO
4 Do you like children? Do they respond truly to you? YES/NO
5 Are you known to be sympathetic to the problems of others? YES/NO
6 Do people come to you for help with personal, ethical or spiritual problems? YES/NO
7 Do you enjoy all kinds of weather? YES/NO
8 Do you dislike many kinds of weather (cold, heat, rain)? YES/NO
9 Do you like animals? Do they respond truly to you? YES/NO
10 Do you go out of your way to kill flies, bugs and ‘creepie crawlies’? YES/NO
11 Do you believe honesty is the best policy? YES/NO
12 Do you believe the human race has a true purpose? YES/NO
13 Do you believe charity and charitable work is only for ‘do-gooders’? YES/NO
14 Do you often experience feelings of awe and wonder? YES/NO
15 Do you have moments of great joy? YES/NO
16 Do you have feelings of oneness with all round you? YES/NO
17 Do you regularly pray or meditate? YES/NO
18 Do questions about the purpose of life, the nature of good and evil, and the relationship of humans to the universe intrigue or excite you? YES/NO
19 Do you like the ‘sound of silence’? YES/NO
20 Do you care for our planet? YES/NO
21 Do you love yourself? YES/NO
22 Do you pick up your rubbish? YES/NO
23 Do you feel there is an individual or some power/energy greater than you? YES/NO
24 Are you hopeful? YES/NO
25 Are you enthusiastic? YES/NO
26 Are you compassionate? YES/NO
27 Are you grateful for your life? YES/NO
28 Are you respectful and considerate of others? YES/NO
29 Are you creative? YES/NO
‘Men go abroad to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the oceans, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.’
(St. Augustine)
The first principle of Spiritual Intelligence is the realization that you are a miracle and are wonderful! There is no doubt about it, and you should hold yourself, and others, in awe. Each one of us is more precious, valuable, rare, beautiful and priceless than the most precious and rare ruby or diamond.
A miracle is defined as any ‘amazing or wonderful’ thing or event, or ‘a person or thing that is a marvellous example of something’ – as in ‘a miracle of design’. The word ‘miracle’ derives from the Latin miraculum, a wonder, or wonderful thing. You cannot argue – all the evidence supports the fact that you are amazing. Consider the miracle of your own engineering:
your body is made up of 200 intricately sculptured and mechanically perfect bones; 500 muscles with billions of muscle fibres, and seven miles-worth of nerve fibres to keep it all co-ordinated
your eyes, ears, nose, skin and mouth are each so sensitive and complex that scientists are at a loss to explain how they all work, let alone replicate their functions adequately
your heart is the most amazing mechanical pump yet devised, beating an average of 36 million times every single year of your life
your brain contains a million, million brain cells – equivalent to 167 times the population of the planet – each single one of which is more powerful than the standard personal computers we are relying on more and more!
We also know that you are more unique and more different from each other person on earth than any snowflake is from its fellows.
Moreover, we know that the atoms of which you are made come from the stars. You are, in the very real sense of the word, a Starchild!
Each one of us is capable of the most amazing feats of courage, endurance, heroism and sacrifice, as well, unfortunately, as the worst excesses of greed, selfishness, depravity and cruelty – this is the miracle of being human.
‘Be humble for you are made of earth.
Be noble for you are made of stars.’
(Serbian Proverb)
The Bigger Picture
A common activity for young children all over the planet, who are just beginning to explore the wider dimensions of their world, is to send a letter to a friend or pen pal, addressing it as follows:
My friend Jane Fitzgerald,
16 Paradise Street,
London,
England,
Europe,
The World,
The Milky Way,
The Universe.
These children are beginning to sense, as the Spiritually Intelligent do, that the universe is their home, and that they live in a series of bigger and bigger neighbourhoods.
It is the universe’s vastness that creates a sense of excitement, wonder and awe, and which raises all kinds of spiritual questions about the meaning of our existence, and our individual place and significance in that universe.
‘Every now and then,
Take a good look at something
Not made with hands;
A mountain, a star,
The curve of a stream.
There will come to you
Wisdom and patience,
And above all, the assurance
That you are not alone in the world.’
(Sidney Lovett)
And this universe is vast:
our Earth is just one of the nine planets in our solar system that circles our sun
our sun is tens of thousands times bigger than our Earth, and yet is only a small example of the ten thousand million suns that make up our local galaxy, on the edge of which we spin
our galaxy is one of a million million galaxies, each one millions of light years across, and each one separated on average by a distance so great that if you travelled at the speed of light for 100 years you would still not bridge the gap!
Imagine how many atoms (the building blocks of all matter) there must be in the Universe, when just one grain of sand from many of the hundreds of thousands of beaches on our small planet contains millions of atoms.
Spiritually Intelligent people actively cultivate an awareness of the magnificence of every living thing and the vast and gigantic beauty of the universe. This awareness has been furthered dramatically by the invention of telescopes and space probes and, of course, manned space flights. Thanks to these instruments, exquisitely beautiful pictures of planets, stars, galaxies and inter-galactic clouds where stars are born, trillions of miles above us, have been beamed directly into our televisions and living rooms. This dawning Spiritual awareness is beautifully encapsulated in the story of astronaut Edgar Mitchell.
I met Edgar Mitchell in 1973, a couple of years after he had flown to and around the moon on the Apollo 14 mission. His experiences had radically changed his life, and he had established an institute for the study of humanity and the environment. He told the following story:
The Astronaut’s Story
The training at NASA for the flight to and around the moon was very, very, thorough. The astronauts had simulated every stage of the flight in terms of duration and daily activities – they had literally ‘gone to the moon and back’ while on Earth!
Indeed the training had been so thorough that Mitchell reported virtually no emotions of fear or exaltation when they took off, because it felt so familiar and ‘normal’.
This familiarity continued all the way to the moon, everything running smoothly, on schedule and, as far as the crew were concerned, almost robot-like. They arrived and began to prepare for their journey to the ‘dark side of the moon’.
This, like everything else, had been rehearsed. The trip was to take only an hour or so. The significant thing about being on the dark side of the moon was that for the first time on the journey, the sight of the earth would be totally blocked from view, and no radio or television waves could either penetrate or go round the moon. The astronauts would be totally excommunicated from Earth!
Mitchell said that the first five minutes on the dark side were fine, but after that the simulation training began to peel away, and concern, a touch of fear, and his imagination began to kick in. He began to think more and more about Earth – about his wife and children, his home, his neighbourhood, his friends and the places they met, and the changing colours of the seasons.
As his imagination expanded, time began to stretch, as it does when you are waiting for someone you love who is late. But this was not just one person Mitchell was waiting for. This was everyone and every thing that he loved. He began to wonder whether there were some strange time-warp effects on the dark side of the moon, and whether he and the others were trapped in an eternal night. Mitchell reported that the minutes began to feel like days; the time behind the moon was becoming eternity.
After what seemed like aeons, they came out the other side.
And there, at last, was the Earth!
But the Earth was not as Mitchell had imagined. In his mind it had been the giant planet on which the universe of his home and family existed. What he saw now was a tiny blue planet floating in the vast inky blackness of space. Surrounding it was a fragile, wafer-thin covering of white – our entire atmosphere. Mitchell felt that he could literally reach out with his hand and flick the Earth, like a tiny pearl, into oblivion.
That moment, and that sudden realization of the fragility of our local home in the vastness of our big home, caused a paradigm shift in Edgar Mitchell. When he returned to Earth he felt far more compassion and concern for his fellow living beings, and decided to devote the rest of his life to helping protect this delicate, unique and beautiful planet.
A love of and respect for Nature is very characteristic of the Spiritually Intelligent. The tribal peoples we so often admire for their Spiritual Intelligence, such as the Native Americans and the Aborigines of Australia, are renowned for their deep concern for the conservation of the environment, for their respect and love for animals and other living things, and for their reverence for and awe of the Universe. This springs from an affiliation to and with the earth, and a feeling of responsibility to act as its guardians.
Nurture Yourself in Nature
Spiritual inspirations often make themselves known through music and poetry, and musicians and poets often see nature as their muse.
Byron, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage wrote:
‘There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore.
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar …’
Similarly the visionary poet, artist and mystic William Blake wrote:
‘When thou seeest an eagle, thou seeest a portion of Genius. Lift up thy head!’
And when writing of an ideal approach toward the Universe, Blake penned the immortal lines:
‘To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.’
Beethoven, Mozart and many other great musicians used Nature as their inspiration, incorporating into their music the songs of birds, the sounds of wind and water, the calls of animals and the sounds created by peasants and farmers going about their business. The entire four movements of Beethoven’s Symphony no. 6 (Pastorale) were based on a walk in the countryside!
Nature has a way of rewarding those who investigate her, by enhancing their insights into all things, and thus raising their Spiritual Intelligence. One such example of someone who has been increasingly awed by the beauty and complexity of Nature is the British broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, whose prize-winning series on animals, plants and the natural world have amazed and inspired millions of viewers across the planet. Perhaps none have been more captivated by the wonders of nature than Sir David himself.
If you think about the following, you will understand why he and others, such as Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey in their work with endangered apes and gorillas, have become so fascinated by the natural world.
How did a plant learn to mimic the shape, colourings and scent of a female wasp in order to attract the male to mate with ‘her’ and thus pollinate the flowers?
How did a giant seed evolve that requires a forest fire once every 50 years to burn off its casing and allow it to reproduce?
How does the Monarch Butterfly know the way from Europe to its precise nesting ground in Mexico?
How does the salmon, after years swimming the oceans, know exactly where its original spawning ground is?
This reverence for life and living things is an important part of Spiritual Intelligence; if you habitually swat flies, bugs and spiders, go to the bottom of the class!
Brought to Life by Near-Death Experiences!
Many Spiritually Intelligent people report that it was often a near-death trauma that ‘woke them up’ from their spiritual sleep. One such experience certainly had me appreciating life more after it than before!
Teri and his Second Life
A good friend of mine, Teri, was a very fit and athletic man, a cyclist, rock-climber and caver. The end of his ‘first life’ came when climbing down the sheer face of a smuggler’s cave. He grabbed a small outcrop of rock and it came away in his hand. His last conscious moments were spent realizing that he was falling backwards 180 feet, cracking his head on a rocky jut on the way down, and ending up in a bloody heap at the bottom with a smashed knee, broken leg, foot, arm, ribs, a punctured lung and a cracked skull.
Teri’s ‘second life’ began in hospital when he regained consciousness and realized that he had been ‘born again’. Everything appeared to him much brighter, more memorable and meaningful. Thirty years on Teri still reports that being given a ‘second life’ comprehensively changed his attitude to every day in that new life. Each day is a gift, and he spends each day enjoying every moment of it. He is known as a wonderfully caring and compassionate man, with a gift for putting others at ease with his generosity and humour.
As he so succinctly puts it: ‘Well, when you get a second chance at life, it does make you see things differently and appreciate what you’ve got a lot more, doesn’t it?’
Tony and the ‘Floating Balloon’
On holiday in the Caribbean, I was taking an early-morning swim in an exquisitely beautiful bay with crystal-clear blue water, mirror flat from the calm of the night before. Not particularly paying attention to where I was going, I ended up doing a long and leisurely series of back-strokes. When I stopped to turn around, I saw what looked like a blown-up balloon on the surface of the water, and without thinking (always dangerous!) I swam towards it. I noticed that the colour of the water underneath it appeared to be not so much blue as a beautiful lavender. Suddenly my brain recognized the danger signs, and screamed at me:
‘Portuguese Man-of-War!’
Terrified, I swung about in the water – too late. The beautiful purple tendrils wrapped themselves around my waist and legs and sent me rocketing out of the water in pain. It felt as if I had been wrapped in barbed wire through which giant electric shocks were being pulsed.
I suddenly remembered (and understood!) the many reports I’d heard of people who had died of such an experience. For the next 10 or 15 minutes I was like some Walt Disney cartoon character with my legs thrashing like an outboard motor in the effort to get back to shore! With every stroke I wondered whether the poison was going to kill me rapidly, or lock all my muscles into an immovable rigidity that would lead me to drown.
The fact that you are reading this book means that you know I made it! I spent a little time in hospital, and came out still shocked, having been taught a number of lessons by Mother Nature – among them that I need to be more observant and more alert to danger.
Most importantly, however, I had learnt, while facing the prospect of having no days left, to pay much more attention to appreciating and enjoying the ‘gift’ of every day that I had and would be given.
Do You Make a Difference?
‘God sleeps in the rock,
dreams in the plant,
stirs in the animal,
and awakens in mankind.’
(Sufi teaching)
Believing that they can make a difference is another hallmark of the Spiritually Intelligent.
Do you make a difference?
Of course you do! Everything you say, do or create affects the environment and the people around you, and it and they affect others, and so on for infinity and eternity. This cause and effect can be confirmed by Chaos Theory – according to which a butterfly beating its wings in the Amazon rainforest can cause sufficient air turbulence to eventually cause a typhoon in Java.
You and your soul are ‘immortal’ whether you wish them to be or not! The real choice you have is whether that ‘immortality’ affects the human race and the planet in a positive way; whether you wish to leave it to chance; or whether you wish to work to its disadvantage. The Spiritually Intelligent person obviously chooses the first of these options!
Now that you are aware of your own magnificence, the vastness and the beauty of the universe in which you live, of the wonderful nature of Nature, and the fact that your spirit is immortal, you are ready for a good Spiritual Workout.
Spiritual Workout
1 Remind Yourself How Miraculous You Are
Remind yourself just what a magical work of design you really are. Make it a point to track down more information about the extraordinary capabilities of your human body and brain. Go to your local library or bookstore and dig out some of the popular science books around at the moment – on everything from brains to genes! Alternatively, watch some of the popular science programmes on TV. Constantly apply this knowledge to your own self-awareness and to the development of your self-confidence.
2 Remember that Everyone is Miraculous
Apply your new-found knowledge of your own magnificence to everyone around you – your friends, family, children, colleagues, people you meet on the street, and yes (this is a book on Spiritual Intelligence!), even your enemies. Once you begin to realize that everyone is as unique a person as you are, you will find yourself looking at people in a new light: each one with the spark of divinity in them. Decide what you can do to appreciate, help and learn from them more.
3 Learn from Your Life’s Events
Look back over your life and its major events, traumas, pains and failures. Realize that every one of these is something that is strengthening your Spirit. Do everything you can to help that experience accelerate your growing strength – seek out the positive aspects, the silver linings, and all the possible lessons you can learn.
4 Learn to Appreciate the Natural World
Spend some time appreciating the multi-sensory beauty that surrounds you. Go for walks in the countryside as often as you can, or in parkland or some beautiful botanical garden (if you are lucky enough to live near one). Drink in the fresh air, the different scents and sounds, and the peace. Try doing this alone, as well as with your family or friends.
5 Play the ‘Uniqueness Game’
Consider how many thoughts you have had in your life so far. Now think how many other people could have thought exactly the same thought, at exactly the same time, in exactly the same place?
You are unique amongst all the human beings who have ever lived, who do live and who will ever live. You are alone in this vast universe. But by being alone, you become like the six billion other human beings on the planet who are also alone. You are together in being alone! Think about it, and marvel at your simultaneous individuality and community.
6 Star Gaze!
Look up at the stars at night and try and get to know the different constellations – better still, invest in a basic telescope and really begin to explore the heavens. It is an amazing fact, but the entire universe you are seeing, you are recreating in your head! Just think – the tiny, microcosmic you can take in, hold and recreate the universe!
7 Ask Yourself Questions
Asking yourself questions such as:
Does the universe end? If so, how and where? And if not, how not?
Could our entire universe be simply an atom in a much bigger universe?
Is there a unifying force that makes all this work? And if so, what is it?
Let your imagination roam – better still, ask your friends and colleagues too, and see what sort of creative, imaginative answers you can come up with. Read books by cosmologists and scientists who are exploring the frontiers of knowledge about the universe and its inhabitants.
8 The Weather
Whenever you are encouraged by the media, friends or your own personal thoughts to moan about the weather, think of the other options!
Mercury: 1000 degrees centigrade on its sunny side, airless, more radiated than a microwave, and near absolute zero centigrade on its dark side!
Venus: 450 degrees centigrade average temperature, battered by over 400-mile-an-hour sulphuric acid winds, with never any sight of the night-time sky.
Mars: often minus 100 degrees centigrade. Hardly any atmosphere and no oxygen. Sun just visible as a big star. Inhospitable to life.
Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune: all giant planets with gravity so strong you would be crushed the minute you set foot on them, which you couldn’t do anyway, as their surfaces are liquid gasses. Average winds of 1000 miles per hour that never cease. No oxygen.
Pluto: a tiny, airless planet less than the size of our moon with no sunlight, no atmosphere and a temperature near absolute zero.
In contrast, Planet Earth: Paradise! So delicately balanced to guarantee your survival that changes of less than 1 per cent in the ‘formula’ that created it would have made it inhospitable to life and therefore to you.
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