DEFINITION OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

1998).   

AlsEmotional Intelligence which is divided into intra personal and interpersonal competencies, emphasises the importance of perceiving, understanding and expressing our emotions in a manner that facilitates understanding of both ourselves or another person.  Hence, in order for effective communication  with others to take place, Goleman highlights the importance of self awareness in fostering understanding of our emotions.  Consequently, we become more conscious of our thought patterns and behaviour, thus, facilitating effective communication.  Through gaining insight into our own emotions we also become more aware of the emotions of others (Goleman, o central to Emotional Intelligence is motivation, empathy, self regulation and socials skills. Motivation is the ability to use emotions to facilitate the attainment of goals.  Holding a vision that has meaning and value we are able to draw upon our emotions to spur us on to meet our ultimate goal (Weisinger, 1998).  Empathy is being aware and respecting others’ needs, feelings and motivations and encompassing these within a collective goal resulting in group synergy.  Self regulation is the ability to monitor and call forth our emotions in an intelligent way, in other words controlling our emotions rather than our emotions controlling us.  Lastly, being adept at social skills is being able to communicate in a way that builds confidence, avoids conflict, initiates change and nurtures co-operation within groups (Weisinger, 1998). Thus, Goleman brings to the corporate world what counsellors, psychotherapists and psychoanalysts  have long recognised, that  gaining insight and understanding into our ‘psychic structure’, frees us from destructive thought patterns and behaviour.  Therefore, understanding our interactions with others on an intrapersonal and interpersonal level could be viewed as a form of meditation through relationship.  

On the other hand, Zohar & Marshall (2000) argue that both IQ and EQ, although important, are not sufficient to explain the development of the full human potential.  Zohar & Marhsall suggest we have yet a third  or 'ultimate' intelligence they refer to as ‘Spiritual Intelligence’ or SQ.  Zohar & Marshall base their arguments on scientific research drawn from  physics and the neurosciences  which points to a third location in the right hemisphere of the brain referred to as the ‘God Spot’, an innate potential which until recently has been ignored. The function of SQ, according to Zohar & Marshall is as a ‘unifying process’ one which provides meaning and context for all our other intelligences’. They state  “SQ is the necessary foundation for the effective functioning of both IQ and EQ.  It is our ultimate intelligence” (Zohar & Marshall, 2000, P.4)  Spiritual Intelligence refers to our capacity to solve problems associated with ‘meaning’ and ‘value’, the big questions which provide a deeper, richer, context within which we live our life, and makes our everyday actions worthwhile.  They state  “We have a longing for something towards which we can aspire, for something that takes us beyond ourselves and the present moment, for something that gives us and our actions a sense of worth” (Zohar & Marshall, 2000, P.4).  Through applying SQ we challenge the ‘status quo’, asking the fundamental ‘why’ questions, and resolving problems in a more creative fashion.  Transformation, is the cornerstone of Spiritual Intelligence, the ability to rise above or beyond boundaries, to think what has not been thought before.   This is one of the major differences between EQ and SQ, EQ tends to work within boundaries, making the best of a situation. Whereas, using SQ,  you challenge and change the situation, therefore rising beyond boundaries.  Thus, due to the  competitive, ever changing corporate environment where innovation is one of the keys to success, Spiritual Intelligence, according to Zohar & Marshall is a valuable human potential to develop.  

DEFINITION OF SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE

Spiritual Intelligence  both encompasses and builds upon the Emotional Intelligence competencies, with additional emphasis on self awareness.  Self awareness from a Spiritual Intelligence perspective is more holistic. Vaughan, in characterising authentic spirituality, states “Mature awareness of reality, temporal and eternal, finite and infinite, includes an awareness of body, mind, psyche, soul and spirit” (Vaughan, 1991, P.117).  Other central features of Spiritual Intelligence are Intuition, Compassion,  and Creativity.    Intuition refers to the ability to follow one’s own inner direction, led by one’s own vision or beliefs and to both demonstrate this in a consistent manner through thought, words and action, put in a simple manner ‘walking the talk’ (Zohar & Marshall, 2000).  Due to the world being in a constant flux of change organisations need leaders and managers who are able to hold their visions whilst struggling with ‘chaos’ and 'uncertainty'.  Compassion associated with love, freely extends beyond self to others, without expecting any return.  The compassionate person is able to both value their self and others, thus, compassion is also an important asset in corporations.  In order to build trusting and mutually beneficial working relationships, employees own beliefs and values should be taken into consideration, and this should extend beyond one’s own immediate corporation to a more global scale (Zohar, 1997).  Lastly, Creativity is viewed as the ability ‘to think outside the box’, to provide fresh insights to old problems, to see what everyone else sees but in a different way.  Zohar states “Most transformation programs satisfy themselves with shifting the same old furniture about in the same old room.  Some seek to throw some of the furniture away.. But real transformation requires that we redesign the room itself.  Perhaps even blow up the old room.  It requires that we change the thinking behind our thinking - literally, that we can learn to rewire our corporate brains” (Zohar D, 1997, p.1).

Like Goleman, Zohar & Marshall argue that IQ, EQ and SQ don’t necessarily correlate, they can in their own right function separately and at different levels.  According to Zohar & Marshall, some individuals can develop SQ without having reached a high level of IQ or EQ, which in turn can enhance their emotional development (Zohar & Marshall, 2000).  Maslow,  who also agreed with this view point,  believed that powerful spiritual experiences had the ability to extinguish certain ‘neurotic symptoms' completely (Maslow, 1959).  Fontana, also states “If the testimony of the great mystics and teachers in the various traditions is to be believed, they appear to be telling us that any form of spiritual experience has in fact the potential to overarch all other forms of development......” (Fontana D, 2001, P.29).  However, Wilber, adamantly argues that spiritual development is sequential, and follows a series of stages, which cannot be skipped.  Hence, in Wilber’s view the individual must have completed both healthy emotional and cognitive development  before what he would call ‘authentic’ spiritual development can emerge (Wilber, 2000).  Washburn although taking a different stance on how spiritual development emerges, also emphasises the importance of healthy emotional development before being able to fully develop spiritual potentials (Washburn, 1995).  

Currently, there is little research in the area of Spiritual Intelligence.  However, Orr (2001), based on years of ministerial experience, argues that Emotional Intelligence is essential to developing Spirituality.  Orr, suggests that ‘church’s spiritual formation strategies’ are seriously lacking in both promoting and providing a framework to develop Emotional Intelligence. Noble (2000) used a narrative history approach to research the effect of spiritual experiences on the psychological development of nine participants.  Results indicated that spiritual experiences had affected individual’s ability to; 1) understand and cope better with adversity, (2) reduce self destructive thought and behaviour, (3) be guided by their own ‘inner resources’, (4) increase empathy and compassion toward self and others, and (5) a more enthusiastic and committed approach to life (Noble 2000).  However, what Goleman(1998) and Zohar & Marshall (2000) make clear is that both Emotional and Spiritual Intelligence are  important, and invaluable potentials to develop  for both personal happiness, and professional success.

Hence, the two major theories of psychological and spiritual development in the field of transpersonal theory are  Wilber’s Structural -Hierarchical Paradigm and Washburn’s Dynamic-Dialectical Theory, which contrast sharply in explaining how development progresses.  Both agree however, that before spiritual development can take place one must have  healthy ego development.  In Wilber’s view it is essentially a structured linear process of development where any disruption to emotional development is viewed as an exception to the rule.  Although Wilber does recognise a ‘regression in the service of ego’ is needed if distorted, or shadow aspects of the personality have been repressed.  Whereas, Washburn advocates a return or spiral to the repressed ‘non-egoic’ pole, to reclaim both repressed emotional and spiritual elements. Washburn views repression as a necessary prerequisite to egoic development.  Therefore, when talking in terms of acquiring  Emotional and Spiritual Competencies, to enhance both our personal life and improve our performance in the corporate world, sharing allegiance with one or another of these theories would determine how we would acquire this development.  Furthermore, both theories seem to postulate that in general, spiritual development seems to occur around mid-life, when the individual is faced with a sense of  ‘meaningless’ or emptiness.  That is once an individual has attained a certain degree of professional success, marriage and children, they may begin to question their own existence.  Characteristic of this period  are feelings of ‘inauthenticity’, when the individual starts to sense that what was previously viewed as an autonomous self is actually a ‘false pose’ (Washburn, 1995).  From a Transpersonal perspective this signifies the beginning of spiritual development, when the individual experiences alienation, the ego withdraws from outside influences and turns inwards (Daniels, unpublished).

Therefore, this is a crucial aspect when advocating the learning of spiritual development programmes in corporations.  For how do you tell a 30 year old executive, I’m sorry come back when you are 40 or hit  an ‘existential crisis’?  Thus, the present study, using a phenomenlogical mode of enquiry, hopes to shed some light on these and other issues surrounding the development of Emotional and Spiritual Intelligence. Namely, to explore; (1) meanings and experiences of emotional and spiritual intelligence; (2) to identify what initiates an individual's interest in developing these areas; and, (3) to ascertain the life impact and effect on personal relationships by applying emotional and spiritual intelligence.    

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