Torrance Journal for Applied Creativity

Spiritual Intelligence:
Developing Higher Consciousness
by Dorothy Sisk
When E. Paul Torrance and I began discussing the possibility of exploring the
concept of spiritual intelligence and writing a book on developing higher consciousness,
we received a myriad of responses, mostly negative. However, one colleague,
Abraham Tannenbaum from Teachers College at Columbia University sent an email
saying, "I wanted to write such a book," and later, from the podium of the Texas
Association for the Gifted and Talented, he zealously shared that same sentiment to
over 5,000 participants. However, one of the more negative statements concerning the
existence of spiritual intelligence came from Howard Gardner in Intelligence Reframed:
Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century (1999) in which he said, “Any discussion of
the spirit--whether cast as spiritual life, spiritual capacity, spiritual feeling, or a gift
for religion, mysticism or the transcended--is controversial within the sciences, if
not throughout the academic world." He further stated, "Regrettably the scholars in
the cognitive and biological sciences turn away from questions of a spiritual nature,
consigning this realm to the true believers and quacks” (p.53). Later, when our book
Spiritual Intelligence: Developing Higher Consciousness was published in 2001, another
colleague, Linda Silverman, Director of the Gifted Development Center in Denver
brought toy ducks to a National Association for Gifted Children session, and their
"quacking" preceded our workshop on Spiritual Intelligence. Since that time, Howard
Gardner has considered moral intelligence and existential intelligence as an extension
of the original Multiple Intelligences.
Paul and I were convinced that a foundation for spiritual intelligence needed
to be established, and that this could be accomplished by exploring Psychology, the
Sciences (notably Biology, Physics, and brain research), and Ancient Wisdom and
Eastern Mysticism, including the Wisdom of Native American and indigenous people.
We began our search for the core capacities, values, and experiences for what could be
conceptualized as spiritual intelligence. We searched for the key virtues, the symbolic
system, and the brain states which were the areas Howard Gardner used to identify
and establish his original multiple intelligences. An amazing journey of exploration
evolved from our decision to seek a strong foundation for the concept of a spiritual
intelligence. When academics in numerous fields learned of our quest, they generously
offered articles and books, including an entire set of the Upanishads; the Center for
Brain Research in San Diego opened their lab and shared their latest research data on
investigations of the temporal lobes as a possible site for spiritual experiences.
This article will explore a foundation in Psychology, including Carl Rogers'
(1980) characteristics of the Person of Tomorrow in which he listed a yearning for the
spiritual; a foundation in Science with Candace Pert's (1997) concept of the bodymind
and the conscious universe introduced by Braden (1997); and a foundation in Ancient
Wisdom, Eastern Mysticism, and Native American and Indigenous cultures that
emphasized using visions to gain wisdom. From this exploration, a definition of spiritual
intelligence emerged. This article will discuss the importance of developing and
nurturing spiritual intelligence in the classroom with a focus on service learning, and
will include several examples of students in their quest to serve others. It will conclude
with a section on ways to develop or raise spiritual intelligence which can be applied to
children, youth, and adults. The first exploration was in Psychology.
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