Spiritual Intelligence

Brian Draper

Description

According to the philosopher Danah Zohar (who coined the idea of spiritual intelligence), we live in a 'spiritually dumb' culture, alienated from each other, too busy to take time to reflect, and trying desperately to juggle the myriad pulls and pushes of life without cracking up. How can we find meaning from meaninglessness, hope from despair, reconciliation from alienation and wholeness from fragmentation? In this book, Brian Draper asks how ordinary people, whether religious or not, can nudge themselves (or be gently nudged) to live on a daily basis with increasing integrity, wholeness and well-being - to become more spiritually intelligent. The book is split into 4 main sections: 'awakening', 'seeing your world afresh', 'living the change' and 'passing it on'. The narrative style is contemplative, reflective and engaging.

Sujets

• Body
• Christianity
• Mind
• Employabilité, métiers et formations

Informations

• Publié par: Lion Hudson
• Date de parution: 21 novembre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780745959177
• Langue: English

Extrait

Copyright 2009 Brian Draper This edition copyright 2009 Lion Hudson
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A Lion Book an imprint of Lion Hudson plc Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road, Oxford OX2 8DR, England www.lionhudson.com ISBN 978 0 7459 5321 2 (UK) ISBN 978 0 8254 7874 1 (US) ISBN 978 0 7459 5917 7 (epub) ISBN 978 0 7459 5916 0 (Kindle) ISBN 978 0 7459 5930 6 (pdf)
Distributed by: UK: Marston Book Services, PO Box 269, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4YN USA: Trafalgar Square Publishing, 814 N. Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60610 USA: Christian Market: Kregel Publications, PO Box 2607, Grand Rapids, MI 49501
First edition 2009 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 First electronic edition 2011
All rights reserved
Acknowledgments Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge copyright holders of all the quotations included. We apologize for any errors or omissions that may remain, and would ask those concerned to contact the publishers, who will ensure that full acknowledgment is made in the future. Scripture quotations are from: pp. 29 , 37 , 47 , 50 , 64 , 114 , 119 , 152 , 153 New Revised Standard Version published by HarperCollins Publishers, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and are used by permission. All rights reserved; pp. 54 , 124 , 187 The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group; pp. 58 , 156 , 157 , 176 , 184 : The New King James Version copyright 1982, 1979 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.; p. 60 Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved; pp. 105 , 107 , 168 ; The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, published by HarperCollins Publishers, copyright 2001 Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved; p. 159 NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE , Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. p. 30 : Leisure by William Henry Davies. Used with permission of K. P. Griffin, Trustee of Mrs H. M. Davies Will Trust; p. 33 : Extract from The Dhammapada : The Sayings of the Buddha , by Thomas Byrom, translation copyright 1976 by Thomas Byrom. Used by permission of Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc.; p. 66 : lyrics taken from From Auschwitz to Ipswich by Jarvis Cocker, released by Rough Trade Records. Used with permission of Warner/Chappell Music Ltd.
Cover image: Lion Hudson
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Spiritual Intelligence
A new way of being
Brian Draper
For Mercy, my daughter and friend
Contents

Cover

Copyright

Title Page

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Level 1 : We are where we are

Chapter 1: Awakening

Chapter 2: Seeing afresh

Chapter 3: Living the change

Chapter 4: Passing it on

Level 2 : The false self

Chapter 5: Awakening

Chapter 6: Seeing afresh

Chapter 7: Living the change

Chapter 8: Passing it on

Level 3 : The true self

Chapter 9: Awakening

Chapter 10: Seeing afresh

Chapter 11: Living the change

Chapter 12: Passing it on

Level 4 : Living in flow

Chapter 13: Awakening

Chapter 14: Seeing afresh

Chapter 15: Living the change

Chapter 16: Passing it on

Notes
Acknowledgments

For the last couple of years, I have worked inter-dependently with MCA, a business consultancy in Winchester which is seeking to model a new way of being to the private and public sectors.
Some of the ideas in this book have arisen through the conversations, the moments of clarity, the meetings and workshops, the failures and successes and epiphanies we ve shared - as we have sought to help ordinary people unleash their extraordinary potential through spiritual intelligence.
Thanks to Alison for your energy and encouragement, to Nick for your assuring presence, to Sarah for your revolutionary heart and your enduring kindness, to Andrew for profound times of creative breakthrough and spiritual companionship, to Ellen for helping me laugh at myself, and to Michael, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendour.
The idea for the icons arose first when I worked at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, and I am grateful to Mark Greene for letting me explore these further on my own, and for the continued friendship, support and encouragement of all the staff there.
Thank you to James Evans for your soulful support; for your courage and inspiration in seeking to restore the young people you serve so passionately, and for giving them hope. You are writing a far more eloquent story of spiritual intelligence through your life s work, than I am with this book.
Finally, I remain indebted to Kats, Eden and Mercy for giving me the head space and heart space without which a writer cannot write, a thinker cannot think, and a human cannot be.
Introduction

In our quick-fix consumer culture, we ve grown used to getting what we want, when we want it (even if we can t afford it).
You can even buy a fake university degree from the Internet if you really want the prestige of hanging a phoney certificate on your wall. Most of us don t go that far, of course! But for many people, to one degree or another, it s all about appearances; how you get there in life matters less than looking like you ve arrived.
Ironically, this attitude can take us quite a long way. We begin to excel as we hone and nurture our life skills and try to stand out from the crowd, as if we d been born into one great competition. We tell ourselves that this is really the way to go. The trouble is, we end up becoming experts in the art of illusion, not the art of life - we give others the illusion that we re winning, that we re really going places, and we begin to live under that illusion (or delusion) ourselves.
How big is your house? How fast is your car? Which school do your children go to? Wow, you re really quite someone ! I need to work harder to keep up with you
Our hearts swell with pride when we see others glancing in admiration as we overtake them on the road of life - and we begin to believe the hype . We tell ourselves that we really must be someone (even if we don t truly believe it deep down), because everyone else thinks so too and so we set ourselves off on a journey that demands that we live up to that billing - to be the person others think we are. For the rest of our days, we have to hold on for dear life, in case we are found out.
The trouble is, we can travel so far on this journey, but ultimately we get to a point where we can go no further. We reach a dead end, without ever realizing our true potential - our infinite potential. Even the CEOs of the most successful businesses probably sense, in their hearts, that they can only get so far by playing a role, acting the big cheese, putting on a mask and driving themselves and their workers so hard that they forget who they were in the first place.
We end up wearing multiple masks as we struggle to be liked, loved and respected, and not found out and so we build up layers like limescale on a kettle, until we forget who we were ever created to be in the first place.
Which reminds me: who were we created to be in the first place?

Stop to think
Remember the carefree days when you were so young that you had achieved nothing in life, except for playing around and building tree houses and collecting worms and completing jigsaw puzzles ? Who were you then?
Stop to think for a moment. Listen to that child s voice speaking to you. What did it sound like? What was it saying?
When did you begin to accumulate the layers in your life? When you began to pass or fail exams? When you were accepted or rejected for job interviews? How did those experiences shape you? Can you remember when you were asked out or rejected by your first love? How did that leave you feeling?
In what ways did you either learn to defend your sense of self, or to attack others in order to grow that sense of self?
What was the essence of you, before you learned how to make others happy, or to defend yourself in the playground? What was the essence of you, before you found a talent that would impress other people?

We relentlessly compare ourselves with each other, only to find ourselves wanting - wanting more and more. You might want your neighbour s husband or wife, or their lifestyle, or their luck in life But why? What is it that we really want, if we are truly honest? That is the most important thing we can begin to awaken to.
Do we want to be successful? Do we wish to be someone? Of course we do. And that is only natural. But it s the way we channel these impulses that will ultimately help to determine who we really are.
Your heart is reaching out for more because it knows, deep down, that there is so much more to who you really are, and to what you can do with your life. Your heart is aching both to realize and recall who you really are. It yearns to reconnect with the reason you were created in the first place. It longs to find the someone you really are: the unique you, with a unique fingerprint and a unique way of touching the world and leaving your mark upon it; the priceless one-in-six-billion you, with a unique iris, and a unique way of seeing the world and acting upon what you see.
Our story has far more potential than we realize. It s about so much more than the stuff we accumulate, the numbers of zeros on our salary, and all of the usual things we put our security in. You cannot buy yourself a good story, nor embellish it with false trappings; hold your story up to the light of life and it will not be about the external things we are so often seduced by.
So what kind of story will people tell at your funeral? What kind of story will those who have worked with you, li