SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE IS DISCERNMENT

We have heard of the different “intelligences” or “quotients” which people can possess, the most popular of which are mental intelligence (IQ), emotional-social intelligence (EQ), and physical intelligence (PQ). Perhaps we have also heard of another one, spiritual intelligence (SQ) , which the late leadership author Stephen Covey calls the “central and most fundamental of all the intelligences because it becomes the source of guidance of the others.” This is such a big statement coming from a thinker and expert who devoted his life to helping people achieve personal, interpersonal, and organizational excellence and effectiveness.

By spiritual intelligence, we may mean the capacity to feel and understand the spiritual in things, in people, in the world. But what is to be “spiritual”? Or what ispirituals “spirituality”? This is another big word, and some people may not be comfortable talking about it. Or many do not use the word, but in many ways, they mean or manifest it in certain dispositions and practices, such as the following:

• Seeing depth, wonder and meaning in events, in people, in things
• Connecting to a bigger whole or larger scheme of things
• Relating with a higher source of power, strength, wisdom, truth, goodness
• Being able to transcend or go beyond the realities of one’s existence.

St. Ignatius of Loyola may have something to say about spiritual intelligence. His life journey was a fervent search for the spiritual, which is how to give greater glory to God. In the process he learned how to track and follow God, how to sift through interior movements of the spirits, how to keep God and remain with God throughout his life. Through the Spiritual ExercisesIgnatius teaches us that to make a decision with God and for God is what discernment is all about. Furthermore, he teaches us the following points for discernment:

• Our purpose in life is to love, praise, and serve God; and that our vocation as Christians is to know, love, and follow Jesus more intimately;
• That we can strive to purify our intentions and motivations according to this purpose through a process of self-transcendence and transformation;
• That we can challenge ourselves to love more, be more, and do more – the magis – in the spirit of generosity;
• That in whatever choice we make in the spirit of discernment, we can be assured of God’s constant love, grace and accompaniment, and thus we need not be afraid.

Thus, for Ignatius, to be spiritually intelligent is to be discerning (and vice-versa). He says more about discernment when he writes about the imperative to know one’s self, one’s God, and one’s context more deeply. This is where complexity comes in. This will be the topic of Ignatian Discernment 102.

Karel S. San Juan, SJ was the former Executive Director of Emmaus Center for Psycho-Spiritual Formation.

This article was first published in “Formation in a Complex World” (Vol. 3. No. 1, July-Oct. 2012). Formation in a Complex Word was a series of brief articles featuring various perspectives on formation and psycho-spiritual integration by Emmaus Center.