Humans have intelligence and most people know about IQ or Intelligence Quotient and EQ or Emotional Quotient. IQ is the result score in measuring human intelligence as the main value in rational thinking. Meanwhile, EQ is the ability of an individual to be aware of the emotions in themselves and people around them and use emotions in thinking and acting. One of the examples of EQ is to sympathize towards other people when they are having problems. You may also know both of the terms or at least have heard about them. However, have you heard about Spiritual Intelligence?
WHO or World Health Organization considers that humans as individuals have a definition as social, psychological, and spiritual beings. It requires the fulfilment of every aspect and these three aspects have requirements to fulfill the nature of the human itself.
Let’s say that as a human, you want to fulfill the social aspect. If so, you need to open up to other people. And if you want to fulfill the psychological aspect, it means that you need to pay attention to your mental health. In human’s life, there are problems and sometimes we cannot solve them by ourselves, which means that we need help from other people to solve the problems. If the two aspects have been fulfilled, there will be another aspect which is fulfilled as well, namely the inner aspect. According to experts, spirituality has a responsibility to fulfill the inner aspect (Sohrabi, 2007).
Sohrabi (2007) states that there is an effect of mental health when it is associated with spiritual intelligence. Emmons (2000a) states that the form of spiritual intelligence (SI) is related to the capacities and abilities that can make people solve everyday problems and try to achieve certain goals on a daily basis. There are references which prove that there is a relationship between spiritual intelligence and reduced problems in the surrounding environment, especially the work environment. It means that spiritual intelligence improves the quality of life of the person. Spirituality that is within us can be used as the main source as a technique to overcome crisis and trauma.
The spiritual intelligence that exists within us is considered as our way of processing personal experimentation and the addition of new insights (Emmons, 2000a). So, we can conclude that by the existence of spiritual intelligence, it can affect our mindset when we plan or see certain patterns of events.
What Is The Relationship Between Spiritual Intelligence and Other Intelligences?
Zohar (2017) states that spiritual intelligence is more fundamental than other intelligences. It will force us to change our way of thinking, which has a mindset that one thing is formed only through certain intelligences such as IQ and EQ. With spiritual intelligence, we will have different thinking mechanisms so that we are able to see the meaning or value of a problem with a calm head. So, we will be able to be wiser in dealing with problems and not easily give up when we are going through difficulties.
Rational thinking or IQ and emotional thinking or EQ will be optimized by spiritual intelligence. It is because spiritual intelligence has higher access in terms of meaning, value, goals, and unconscious aspects in ourselves which are always tied to meaning, value, and goals in life which give various perspectives.
Is Spiritual Intelligence Based on Principles?
Humans have the ability to use various intelligences and also principles on the intelligences. In this case, you are able to apply 12 principles of spiritual intelligence according to Zohar as the main principles as you are able to read below.
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- Self-Awareness
To increase spiritual intelligence, self-awareness is an important thing. It becomes the main value for motivation. - Spontaneity
Spontaneity here means to live responsively to the moment you are currently running where you become aware of what actions that you choose. - Being Vision and Value-led
It means that you have a vision as a self-capacity in motivating yourself and looking for values that exist in your life. By doing it, you will be more constructive in your perspective of life. - Holism
It means that you realize that every part of you is part of a larger system which means that you have a role or connection in every event and are always connected with various events. - Compassion
Because of a deep sense of empathy, then the affection arises in us and it causes us to be people who not only understand the feeling but also feel the feeling. - Celebration of Diversity
We learn to accept the differences in life. Humans have unique thinking so that sometimes there is a thinking which is not always in line with us. If we respect and try to understand the other person’s point of view, it can increase our self-awareness and empathy. - Field Independence
Be brave to be a person who can go against the grain and be independent. You will not always be in line with the environment or people around you. Sometimes, you have to step independently and you can rely on yourself. - Humility
It is the opposite of Field Independence. Humility is realizing that you are an actor in a big drama. You are forced to ask yourself, such as “Is what you are doing right?”. You have deep questions about what you will do to face a consequence of the things that you do. It sounds like overthinking, but it can help enough so that you are not hung up on your perspective all the time. - Tendency to Ask “Why?” Questions
It means that we need to always have a question in our mind. If our mind is full of questions, it will make us curious and then we will look for the answers from the questions. - Ability to Reframe
It is the ability to see things through a different lens. It is important for us to step back or pause for a while, and then start thinking through the bigger view. - Positive Use of Adversity
It is important for us to be positive about our difficulties. We need to admit our mistakes or problems and realize that there will always be problems, but we need to see the positive side of it. - Sense of Vocation
It is a sense of being called upon to an obligation. It means that we as part of the community contribute to society because society has contributed to us.
- Self-Awareness
Conclusions of This Writing
In our life, spiritual intelligence is important because with spiritual intelligence, there is a thinking concept that is not only on one side but also looks for the meaning and value of a problem. So, the problem that we face is considered as a stepping stone to be a better version of ourselves. If spiritual intelligence increases, it can affect the quality of life for the better. We can also say that spiritual intelligence is a balance between our rational thinking and our emotional thinking so that it forms a new experience within us to reach new meanings and values.
That’s all the explanation about spiritual intelligence and for your information, the source of this writing is Kampus Psikologi site in an article which is written by Adrian Suwondo.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
