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| ~ ∞ ~ On Intelligence 1/6 - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~ |
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Now that we have established a base of understanding about the main themes of the book, we are ready to delve into a more complex topic, that of Intelligence. This is a wonderful way to conclude this introductory section as it crystallizes some of the more important themes which are woven through previous chapters.
This part of the Prologue can be considered as a continuation of the chapter titled About Writing Style – its purpose is to delve deeper into the process known as Holofractographic Intelligent Emergence – an intelligent process which is based on both holographic and fractal principles.
Essentially, this chapter was written to open up a discussion on the topic of Life’s Intelligence. As such, here, in this chapter, we are not so much concerned about the form of intelligence we typically see in humans. Instead, what we are most interested in is Intelligence – emphasis on the capital letter, or more aptly, Living Intelligence within Life itself.
On that note, if we did want to talk about intelligence with regard to human beings, we would be talking about Spiritual Intelligence, or Existential Intelligence – and in a way, we will; you see, it is an essential prerequisite to possess this kind of intelligence to be able to even talk about it, let alone talk about Living Intelligence within Life itself, you see? So, what is this kind of intelligence, exactly?
In short, Existential Intelligence can be seen as the ability to be sensitive to, or have the capacity for, conceptualizing or tackling deeper or larger questions about human existence – the proclivity to pose and ponder questions about life, death, and ultimate realities. On a deeper level, Existential Intelligence includes the capacity to transcend the physical and material aspects of life, and hence the ability to experience heightened states of consciousness, by which the ability of utilizing spiritual resources to solve problems comes to fruition.
As regards to Spiritual Intelligence, it demonstrates not only Unconditional Love (Agape – Universal Love, Loving-Kindness and Compassion) as its ethical value and guiding principle, but also Self-Awareness that is key to many essential aspects of this type of intelligence, such as mindfulness, humility, holism, compassion, and the capacity to be virtuous. It is worth noting that spiritual experiences are but precursors to something deeper.
You see, in order for spiritual experiences to evolve into Spiritual Intelligence, an individual must seek to understand the meaning of those experiences and integrate them mindfully into the totality of one’s life. Intelligence is critical to this process because the experiences can have profound effect not only intellectually and psychologically, but also biologically and interpersonally.
Furthermore, individuals seeking to develop Spiritual Intelligence need to learn to tolerate uncertainty and paradox, recognize and acknowledge that all religions, wisdom traditions, and spiritual experiences contribute important and unique insights into the larger phenomena of consciousness and the collective reality that we experience through our individuated consciousness.
Against this backdrop, we can see that there is an intimate connection between said “Existential Intelligence” and Living Intelligence within Life itself. If one truly experiences this kind of intelligence, whilst directly experiencing it, they would arrive at the conclusion that there is hardly any distinction between the two.
What there is, though, is the difficulty in conveying the essence of it. You see, even the very terms “existential” or “spiritual” with regard to Living Intelligence doesn’t lend themselves to a precise meaning since it’s nature is such that it can only be experienced directly.
And so you see, by naming something, we separate it from totality, and the more are the number of the words, the more is the fragmentation. The very second you assign meaning to it, give it a name, or definition of any kind – locks it in time, and in so doing, externalizes it by breaking it down to something tangible and intelligible, which in turn causes it to lose its essence, which makes it rather challenging to talk about it.
Hence, the term “existential” in this context reflects the conscious recognition and acknowledgement of such deeper underlying Intelligence; likewise, the term “spiritual” reflects the nature of this Intelligence. Unfortunately, there are no other suitable words in our vocabulary that could intelligibly describe such Intelligence, so we need to settle for these two terms.
This is also the reason why we use “Living Intelligence” in this book to give it a more accurate expression. As such, it is worth pointing out that the discussion about Life’s Intelligence will continue in some shape or form throughout the entirety of the book. In the next section titled INFINITE, we will once again return to this topic, especially in the chapter Infinite Living System (The Miracle of Life).
This brings us inexorably to the conclusion that even though the discussion is distributed throughout the other sections, it will not lessen or diminish the difficulty in conveying the essence of Life’s Intelligence or its many ways of communicating with itself and its many emanations.
As such, this part of the Prologue may be one of the most challenging to write, not only because it involves explaining the process that is highly subjective and not fully understood by conventional scientific methods and thinking, but also because the general population is largely unaware of the concepts discussed in this book. Hence, it poses a huge challenge in conveying the best possible explanation – one that is both understandable and easily approachable, yet precise and comprehensive enough to cover the essentials.
Having said that, it should be mentioned that this chapter contains some not so well-known terms that are covered in greater detail later in this book – therefore, we should start with a nutshell version and then expand upon it. Even though some of the terms are briefly explained in the footnotes throughout the book, glossary at the back of the book may be immensely helpful.
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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~
Get the Book: Awaken the Living Awareness Within – Discover the Keys to Happiness, Inner Peace & Harmony
~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~
Get the Book: Awaken the Living Awareness Within – Discover the Keys to Happiness, Inner Peace & Harmony
[ Click » here « to read the next part: On Intelligence 2/6 – Prologue: Part XII ]
Extra Material: Video: You're It - Alan Watts. Video description: "An inspiring and profound speech from the late Alan Watts. Speech extract from 'Zen Bones and Tales' by Alan Watts"
