Torrance Journal for Applied Creativity

Foundation of Psychology
The theories and scholarly work of psychologists Carl Jung (1969), Kazimierz
Dabrowski (1967), Carl Rogers (1980), and Abraham Maslow (1968) were
examined to build a foundation for the concept of spiritual intelligence. Several
concepts emerged from this examination that strengthened a concept of spiritual
intelligence. Dabrowski’s Level V of development in which individuals live a life in
service to humanity, according to the highest universal principle of love, compassion,
and worth of others, represents what Sisk and Torrance (2001) identified as
the core behaviors of spiritual intelligence. Dabrowski described individuals with
superstimulatability who manifest spiritual intelligence and demonstrate self-actualization
as described by Maslow (1968), and the qualities of the Person of Tomorrow
as described by Rogers (1980) in Table 1.
Table 1: Qualities of the Person of Tomorrow
QUALITIES OF THE PERSON OF TOMORROW
1. Openness (open to new experience and ways of seeing and being)
2. Desire for authenticity (value of open communication)
3. Skepticism regarding science and technology (distrust of science used to conquer nature
and people; sees science used to enhance self-awareness)
4. Desire for wholeness of life, body, mind, and spirit
5. Wish for intimacy, new forms of communication, and closeness
6. Process person (aware that life is change, welcomes risk-taking and the change process)
7. Caring (eager to help, nonjudgmental, caring)
8. Symbiotic attitude toward nature (ecologically minded, feels alliance with nature)
9. Anti-institutional (antipathy for highly structured, bureaucratic institutions)
10. Authority within (trusts own experiences and moral judgments)
11. Unimportance of material things (money and material status symbols are not the main
goal)
12. Yearning for the spiritual (wish to find meaning and purpose in life that is greater than
the individual)
(Rogers, 1980)
People who manifest spiritual intelligence are open to a multi-sensory way
of knowing in which the psychic and physical are no longer differentiated; and they
are able to use the core capacities of meditation, intention, and visualization, as
proposed by Carl Jung (1969).
Foundation of Science
A number of representative scientists were examined including, neuroscientist
Candace Pert (1997), geologist Greg Braden (1997), physicists Fritjof Capra
(1991) and Neils Bohr (1999), and brain researchers Rodolfo Llinás and Urs Ribary
(1993), Michael Persinger (1996), and Vilayanur Ramachandran and Blakeslee
(1998). All were engaged in asking the important questions of why nature is the
way it is, and where the cosmos comes from. Their work represents the classical role
of science (the search for truth in Biology, Geology, and Physics), and their research
helped to build a scientific foundation for spiritual intelligence.
Neuroscientist Candace Pert (1997) said intuition is part of the spiritual
realm and there is a higher intelligence that comes to us via our molecules, resulting
from participation in a system far greater than the world received from the five
senses. From an examination of scientists
in physics (Capra, 1991; Bohr,
1999), and in geology (Braden, 1997),
there emerged a concept of a conscious
universe in which we interact as a part
of a continuous, connected process of
unity. The brain research of Michael
Persinger (1996), Rodolfo Llinás and
Urs Ribary (1993), and Vilayanur Ramachandran
and Blakeslee (1998) also
suggested there may be an intrinsic area
of the brain, the temporal lobe, that can
be considered as a brain state of spiritual
intelligence.
Foundation of Ancient Wisdom and
Eastern Mysticism
Selected Ancient Wisdom and
Eastern Mysticism, and the Wisdom
and traditions of Native American and
indigenous people were examined, all
sharing a spiritual experience of reality.
There was a common thread of the importance
of change reflected in many of
the Eastern mystical traditions, including
the Hermetica, Buddhism, Hinduism,
Sufism, Taoism, Confucianism, and
the Kabbalah.
Native American people tapped
intuitive thought through visions, and
they emphasized that by using visioning,
one gains wisdom. They stressed
the intuitive way of knowing, and had a
preference for innermost thoughts over
learning through the senses. Ecological
awareness and preservation were promoted
by spending time in the solitude
of nature. Native Americans valued
living by example similar to traditions
in Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen, and
Confucianism, and making sure young
people see elders acting in the way of
Wakan-Tanka, the Universal Being.
The Ancient Wisdom and
Eastern Mystical traditions examined
had many differences in specific details,
but one important common strand
emerged for a concept of spiritual
intelligence: the concern for unity and
the interrelation or connectedness of all
things and events, with all things being
interdependent and inseparable from
the cosmic whole, the Creator, and the
Creative Force. These common elements
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