EXISTENTIAL INTELLIGENCE: Characteristics, examples and how to develop it

Existential intelligence is part of the multiple intelligences that the human being possesses. Despite not being included in the original conceptualization of the Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory, for contemporary authors constitutes one more intelligence in the group of intelligences that define the human being.

In the following Psychology-Online article, we will explain what is existential intelligenceWe will talk about multiple intelligences and we will expose the fundamental characteristics of this type of intelligence, giving examples and offering activities that favor its development.

Index

1. What is existential intelligence
2. Characteristics of existential intelligence
3. Examples of existential intelligence
4. Activities to develop existential intelligence
5. Intelligence types

Existential intelligence is also called spiritual or transcendental intelligence and refers to the facet of the human being that leads to

In essence, man has the desire to answer these questions at different times during the course of his life. However, over the last century, our societies have promoted values ​​that are totally opposed to the spirituality (consumerism, individualism, materialism, etc.), with existential intelligence being relegated to the I forget. This lack of spiritual values ​​is leading to great personal and social existential crises that highlight the urgent need to socially promote this type of intelligence to recover a much deeper look on the human being and on life.

The spiritual or existential intelligence is characterized by a high level of development of the rest of intelligences while he supposes the deep knowledge and the final transcendence of the skills involved in all of them. Some of its most outstanding features are:

• Interest in worldly issues: origin of life and meaning of death, purpose of our existence, etc.
• Disinterest in normalized social practices: leisure, consumption, etc.
• Transcendence of the physical and experience of union of all the elements of the universe as a whole.
• Capacity of self-observation and observation of the environment from a deep perspective.
• Defense of universal values: peace, love, wisdom, goodness, truth, harmony, brotherhood, etc.
• Action in accordance with these values ​​and away from the values ​​that imply the deterioration of the human condition (egotism, envy, usurpation, aggressiveness, etc.).
• Interest in spiritual knowledge and practices.
• Permanent curiosity and constant need to grow existentially.
• Longing for serve and help others, transcending egocentricity.
• Need for personal care (food, physical exercise, healthy habits, etc.) when considering the body as a receptacle for the soul.

As examples of manifestations of existential intelligence we could speak of the following:

• In the face of an attack on personal integrity, respond soberly, stopping the aggression firmly and clearly but without violence.
• Faced with a conflict, encourage the people involved to investigate what happened, its causes and possible solutions from a constructive perspective.
• Attraction for spiritual readings and practices.
• When making decisions, the need to act in council with the rest of the people involved.
• Solidarity, respectful, careful, peaceful actions, etc.

Existential intelligence is present in each and every person. As with the rest of intelligences, there are certain genetic and environmental predispositions that favor the greater development of some intelligences over others. However, each and every one of them can be stimulated using those activities that promote the specific development of the different intelligences.

In the specific case of existential intelligence, among the activities that would favor its development would be:

• The contemplation or meditation to access deep knowledge of things.
• Body care, through healthy eating and exercise, considering it a temporary receptacle of the human soul.
• Socratic dialogue, to inquire about established issues, accessing new possibilities and truths
• Spiritual practices.
• Promotion of solidarity and fraternal action, favoring the bonds of union that exist between all human beings
• The admiration, practice and cultivation of art as a means of accessing other realities and truths, etc.

The promotion of existential intelligence is currently essential as a means to combat the lack of values that prevails in our society and that has resulted in global spiritual poverty, the cause of most of the ills of our world.

For many decades, the concept of intelligence was associated only at the end of intelligence quotient (IQ), so that it was understood that the IQ measure established the level of intelligence of a person. Recently, different authors began to draw attention to the fact that the intelligence of being human included many more aspects than those included in the IC and they began to develop theories at the same time. respect.

Among the best known is Howard Gadner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, according to which human intelligence manifests itself in eight different ways:

1. Linguistics: ability to master language that includes speaking, listening, reading and writing.
2. Musical: ability to perform and create music through singing, playing instruments, creating melodies, etc.
3. Mathematical logician: ability to use the scientific method to formulate problems and verify hypotheses through inductive and deductive analytical treatment of data.
4. Space: ability to create mental images from sensory stimuli.
5. Corporal-kinesthetic: ability to use the body to communicate with the environment and learn from it through strength, speed, balance and flexibility.
6. Naturalist-pictorial: ability to apply the scientific method to the study and observation of nature.
7. Interpersonal: ability to interpret and apply the intrinsic norms that regulate social interactions.
8. Intrapersonal: capacity of self-observation directed to the understanding of oneself and its relation with its surroundings.

Recently, there are several authors who consider this theory incomplete as it does not contain existential intelligence or spiritual as a type of intelligence more within this classification that presents, like the rest, biological bases that the sustain. In reality, spiritual intelligence would be at the highest level insofar as its practice involves transcend the rest of intelligences, placing us in a much deeper knowledge of being, life and the universe.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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• Ollé Borgue, A.M. (2010). Spiritual Intelligence. Global Magazine nº 36. Recovered from: http://revista.global/inteligencia-espiritual/