Spiritual intelligence: Developing higher consciousness. (Book Reviews).

Sisk, D.A., & Torrance, E.P. (2001). Spiritual intelligence: Developing higher consciousness. Buffalo, NY: Creative Education Foundation Press (196 pp., $36.00 pb, ISBN 0-930222-11-3).

Two pioneers in creativity -- Dorothy Sisk and E. Paul Torrance -- have lately charted out the landscape of an even more elusive and complex terrain: spiritual intelligence. In undertaking this project, their aim was to use a variety of fields and sources to map out a "mosaic of spiritual intelligence." In a number of ways, the book is a novel and stimulating foray into a relatively unexplored area of knowledge, particularly as it relates to education.

Any discussion of spirituality is bound to raise concerns among some educators, yet Sisk and Torrance focus their investigation on a much broader range of behavior, activity, and phenomena than that defined by religion. The book raises a central question: In what fields of knowledge can clues to the nature of spiritual intelligence be found? Certainly a humane sensibility--compassion, empathy, and an ethic of caring for all living beings--exemplifies a spiritual intelligence. But what about other characteristics and modes of thought such as those used by physicists, who are searching for clues to the relationship between mind and material phenomena? Creative reasoning, a capacity to think and explore "outside the box," and an ability to see connections between seemingly disparate phenomena also belong, in this study, to the world of spiritual intelligence.

The authors begin with an overall review of general concepts of intelligence that have some bearing on spirituality--from Charles Spearman and Karl Pearson to Howard Gardner and spiritual thinkers such as Deepak Chopra, Gary Zukav, and Willis Harman. They examine the field of psychology, particularly the work of Carl Jung, Kazimierz Dabrowski, Abraham Maslow, and Carl Rogers. This area yields many insights about what might be termed a "spiritual" sensibility. Concepts such as Jung's Synchronicity (correlations between events in dreams and interpretations from ancient Eastern mysticism), Dabrowski's Overexcitabilities (heightened ability to respond to specific stimuli-psychomotor, sensual, imaginational, intellectual, and emotional), Rogers' interest in the "actualizing" tendency of human beings, and Maslow's ideas about "self-actualization," "peak experiences," and spiritual behaviors (e.g., wholeness, justice, truth), all depict a spiritual realm of human consciousness and activity.

In the field of science, Sisk and Torrance look at recent findings in physics, where many longstanding assumptions have become less certain. Particularly significant for the authors (and for educators) are a set of assumptions that tend to marginalize all study or research on the spiritual, aesthetic, or intuitive experiences of mankind. Examples of these principles would include the ideas that: all qualitative properties can be reduced to quantitative ones; the objective world is separate from the subjective one; and the evolution of man and the universe has come only from physical causes.

In disputing these assumptions, the book turns to neuroscientist Candace Pert's findings about the body and mind as part of a linked system. It also examines the findings of pioneer brain researchers such as Rodolfo Llinas, Michael Persinger, V.S. Ramachandran, Elaine de Beauport, and Ned Herrmann, and physicists like the quantum pioneer Niels Bohr, the Nobel Prize winner Murray Gell-Mann. In different ways, the authors argue, these scientists have transformed the paradigm within which we view physical reality and are extending science to dimensions almost mystical. As pioneers in science integrate the role of the "observer" into our understanding of the world around us, they raise serious questions about how "objective" science really is.

From the realm of the sciences, Sisk and Torrance next turn to the various ancient wisdom and eastern traditions of mysticism and find vast bodies of knowledge on spiritual experience. In different ways, they all testify to the idea of the interrelation of all things and events, where a creating Source or cosmic whole permeates all life and action. Hindus term this reality Brahman, Buddhists, Dharmakaya, Taoists, Tao, and the Sioux call it Wakan-Tanka or the Universal Being. The authors find fundamental features of these traditions that correlate with an evolving view of physics as a conscious universe. To further illustrate these correlations, Sisk and Torrance examine the lives of those who have distinguished themselves as "Spiritual Pathfinders." Examples include such figures as Ghandi, Roosevelt, Dickinson, Einstein, Mother Teresa, Nikola Tesla, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King.

The book's strength lies in the variety and range of sources used to create this "mosaic." It demonstrates the complexity and elusiveness of an "intelligence" that intersects with psychology, science, religion, and mysticism. The authors suggest a need to question a major paradigm of western civilization that casts material science and spiritual experience as binary opposites. What if the dualistic view of the universe hides a deeper and more unified whole that cannot be easily seen by the senses? The very sources used also enable researchers to investigate this phenomenon without stepping into the realm of religion or dogma. This second point is vital, given the religious diversity of our people and the separation of church and state.

Clearly, Sisk and Torrance have offered persuasive evidence of a spiritual intelligence. Weaving together research from disparate fields (e.g., Goleman's work on emotional intelligence and physics, and that of spiritual thinkers) they have carved out a vast and varied terrain for future research. The book deserves notice not only because of its relation to education, but to giftedness. An area of giftedness often avoided by scholars and educators is the spiritual dimension. Gifted children often struggle with philosophical questions as well as concerns about environmental problems, war. and human rights More than most students, they are the ones who think "outside the box," who find patterns that elude other people, who experiment with ideas in novel ways, and who demonstrate as much interest in metaphysics as physics.

In the last three chapters, the authors describe a range of methods to nurture spiritual intelligence. Some of these include the use of sociodrama and role-playing (as formulated by Alex Osborn and Sidney Parnes) to explore creative solutions to problems. They also explore theatrical techniques that facilitate higher states of consciousness such as heightened awareness, rapture, reverie, meditation, or expanded awareness. Intuition, a sense of wonderment, paradoxes, dreams, and questioning techniques are all examples of processes and behaviors that enhance spiritual growth.

The last chapter approaches the subject of spiritual study in the schools. Without espousing any particular religion or attempting to proselytize, it is possible to explore large questions of the meaning and purpose of life, and the importance of such values as compassion, honesty, fairness, responsibility, and respect. Daniel Goleman's research on emotional intelligence borders on spiritual intelligence, especially when he writes about the "language of the heart" and relates his findings to the values espoused by most of the world's religions. Programs such as Rachael Kessler's Passages Program respond to the legitimate needs students have for a sense of purpose, a connectedness with the rest of the world, transcendence, joy, and creative expression.

The book is not a comprehensive study of spiritual intelligence, nor of all the issues involved in nurturing this intelligence at home or in the classroom. The authors make no claim to be comprehensive in all areas of this vast and uncharted region. What they do offer is an invigorating preliminary leap into a subject that many educators have avoided as either too controversial or too elusive to explore. As a source of information and ideas on spiritual intelligence, the book will offer parents and teachers a wide range of options and suggestions for application and research. Undoubtedly, it will serve the field of gifted education for many years to come.

Reviewed by Joan Franklin Smutny, Director of the Center for Gifted at National-Louis University in Evanston, Illinois. She has written two books and co-authored six volumes on gifted education, and was the 1996 recipient of NAGC's Distinguished Service Award.