The case for integrated intelligence

Marcus T. Anthony (PhD). that See someone waswww.mindfutures.com I mild panic came over me, thinking going to kill themselves., I or got email mindfutures@yahoo.com out of bed and began pacing the room. Who could it be? There was only one person I could think of. One of my sisters had aFutures: mental breakdown, her behaviour This article was published in suffered World The Journaland of General Evolution (no was becoming increasingly bizarre. It had to be her. I began to think of what I could do to date as yet). stop her. At that time my sister and I were both staying briefly at my mothers place, so there was obviously something I could do. thisout, article I develop was a case for a wrong theory ofsister intelligence incorporating As it In turned my interpretation hopelessly (my is still alive today). transpersonal dimensions, namely integrated intelligence. Some recent At about 9.00 a.m. there was a knock on the front door. I went to the door, and opened it. expanded of Standing intelligence move into concepts like creativity, wisdom, A feeling of dread theories filled me. at the bottom of the doorstep were two ashen- and emotional Yet they remain embedded within mainstream faced policemen inintelligence. full uniform. They duly informed my mother and I that my intelligence younger theory and its reductionist and materialist presuppositions. While brother Jerome was dead. He had hung himself from a tree in bush land less than a various theorists in consciousness theory have developed transpersonal models kilometer from my mother s house, in the early hours of the morning during awhich fierce are beginning to be discussed in some mainstream circles, mainstream storm. intelligence theory is yet to address the broader implications of this. Recent It has been in countless experiences like that have been have the created basis a for my changes the global economy and the this needs of populations development of integrated intelligence. and To be sure, most were not nearly need of forthe an theory expanded theory of intelligence, more intuitive thinking. as traumatic or life-changing, but many have been even more definitive in their validity of information or implications. I have also met various other individuals who embody integrated intelligence, and who have influenced my understanding of this it seems to have been the vastprofoundly expansion of a basic processing capacity for innate human I believe integrated intelligence is a veridical human operating use byintelligence. external organizational regulations that appears to define the role of the system. brain So why do we find it absent from mainstream intelligence theory? Before in human intelligence (Richardson 2000: 178). addressing this issue, I shall define integrated intelligence and outline some key components of it in more detail. We're talking about a large fraction of the public that believes in subjects that scientists believe are out of the question. Defining integrated intelligence Costas Efthimiou, professor at the University of Central Florida (Borenstein 2006) I define integrated intelligence as: The deliberate and conscious employment of the extended mind, such that an One morning almost years ago I awoke at about and there was a song individual mightten function successfully within a7.00a.m., given environment. playing in my head. I dare say the vast majority of people would simply have ignored In turn the extended mind is defined as: not. After several years of having examined the such a minor irritation. However I did finer tunings of of my own mind, I had come to realise that songs do not just randomly The state personal consciousness whereby individual awareness is infused appear in mya mind. I had been told several years before by an Aboriginal shaman with transpersonal awareness that transcends the confines of the individual woman mind to listen the songs head, organs. because I was being told things via the andto the limits ofin themy sensory songs. At that time I quite literally laughed at her. Nonetheless, I overcame my own I have long takenenough the term the extended mind fromand Sheldrake (2003) sees it in scepticism to begin to take note of songs song lyrics thatwho suddenly similar fashion. Yet I the termwriting integrated intelligence is my own. came into my head. began them down. What began as (1) a kind of quaint hobby later became a rather more involved activity. Soon, I was being woken in core the middle of Any legitimate theory of intelligence should ideally make explicit the operations the by song lyrics being drummed into my skull, sometimes so loudly discussion that I would andnight end states of that intelligence (Gardner 1993). In their absence, rational jump out of bed to turn off becomes the CD player, only to find it was turned off. Several of practical applications impracticable, as that does empirical testing. The times core I was serenaded by beautiful angelic voices in languages that I had never heard, via operations of integrated intelligence as I have developed them are integrated songs that I had never heard of, much less understood. perception, evaluation/choice, location, diagnosis, foresight and creativity and innovation. end states are I wisdom and personal and social transformation. So when I The awoke that morning was particularly alarmed to note that the song that Tables 1 and 2 (below) list these, and provide applications, evidence and exemplars. (2) was playing in my head was the theme from the TV series M.A.S.H. Table 1: The core operations of integrated intelligence Suicide is painless, it brings on many changes Exemplars Other Evidence Cognitive Potential Applications Anecdotal process And I can take or leave it if I please (Suicide, 1970).

1 2

Integrated Perception

Integrated perception of the underlying order & meaning of systems, & intelligence within those systems - including cosmos. Enhancing spiritual worldview; meaning, & sense of relationship with nature & cosmos.

Buckes (quoted in Tart 1993) immediate perception that Cosmos is not dead matter but a living Presence.

Mystical & spiritual traditions. Nonordinary states of consciousness (Grof 2006; Sheldrake et al. 2001). Wilbers (2001) empirical mysticism. Remote viewing, including scientific remote viewing (Braud 2003, Radin 2006, Sheldrake 2003). No known empirical studies. The links between wisdom and mysticism (Grof 2006).

Location

Determining location of important objects (Targ & Katra 1999: 139-141). Also location of information & data for research; finding relevant people & places. Diagnosis of medical & mechanical problems; safety, health & environmental hazards; & sources of human error (Targ & Katra 1999: 141). Spiritual & psychological introspection. Evaluating design & construction alternatives, investment choices, research strategies, & technology alternatives. (Targ & Katra 1999: 139) Evaluation of life, career, & relationship choices. Foresight of natural disasters, political conditions, technological developments, wear conditions, & investment opportunities (Targ & Katra 1999: 142). Determine consequences of choices. The individual draws upon transpersonal modes of consciousness to facilitate increased inspiration & creativity in work, business, research, competition or leisure

Researcher Michael Talbot employs deeper & more intuitive abilities in locating research data (Talbot 1992: 137). Also, a psychic identifying a murderer (CNN 2005). Accounts of intuition, dreams & spiritual guidance to facilitate diagnosis of problems. Hawkins 2002 intuitively diagnosed patients illnesses. Individuals who employ intuition & spiritual guidance to make choices. (e.g. Bach 1986 see foresight, below; Yoganandas 1979 immediate recognising his master at first meeting). Bach (1986). Using an introspective visionary technique he sees the disastrous consequences of leaving his partner & adjusts his choice accordingly.

Diagnosis

Evaluation/ choice

Card guessing experiments from parapsychology, e.g., the Rhine ESP experiments (Radin 2003: 83-89).

Foresight

Scientific experiments into presentiment (Radin 2006: 161180).

Creativity & Innovation

Chemist August Kekule was seized with the notion of molecular nature of benzene ring in dream (Kafatos & Kafatou 1991:166); Otto Loews understanding transmission of neuronal impulses, while asleep (Broomfield 1997: 80).

Indigenous and mystical conceptions of creativity (Broomfield 1997; Lawlor 1991).

Table 2: The end-states of integrated intelligence

Cognitive process Wisdom Potential Applications Anecdotal Exemplars Other Evidence Having intuited underlying causes, meaning & functions of various life processes, the individual is able to make intelligent choices which enhance happiness, well-being & spiritual development of self & collective. Optimal human & Cosmic evolution; may include aspects of all core operations, with purpose of evaluation of personal goals & choices within a greater planetary & cosmic dynamic. Potential for increased hope & meaning. The life of Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi. Gandhi combined an austere, mundane existence with political & intellectual acumen, & combined se with spiritual tools, insight & wisdom to forge a powerful & effective life. Buckes cosmic consciousness (Tart 1993); Hawkins (2002) experience of being protected by a bright, warming light while stuck in a snow storm; transformative power of near death experiences (Grof 2006); synchronicity (Jung 1973). The links between spirituality, spiritual guidance & wisdom from anecdotes & tradition (Broomfield 1997; Lawlor 1991).

Personal & Social Transformation

Field consciousness studies (Radin 2006).

The evidence for each of these core operations and end states comes from parapsychology, mystical and spiritual traditions and personal anecdotes within the literature - as the mid and right-hand columns of both tables indicate. Is it really intelligence? Can such an ability as integrated intelligence be legitimately termed an intelligence at all? I believe it can and should be. Intelligence is notoriously difficult to define. Sternbergs (2003) theory of successful intelligence is essentially based around the idea that intelligence is as intelligence does. In this sense, the successful completion of any given task is a function of intelligence. Therefore if the extended mind is employed in the successful completion of a goal or task; it is intelligence in action. The definitions and attributes of intelligence tend to reflect the methods used to measure it. For example, the inventor of individual intelligence tests, Alfred Binet, developed tests to measure intelligence according to what he perceived it to be reasoning, imagination, insight, judgment and adaptability (Reber & Reber 2001: 361). The employment of factor analysis within the concept of a general intelligence likewise tends to elicit a self-reinforcing definition of intelligence. This is because statistical analysis focuses upon the readily quantifiable. One cannot quantify that which cannot be measured, or is very difficult to measure. Of importance here is that integrated intelligence is closely related to psi phenomena, which are notoriously elusive Kennedy (2003). Yet the issue is not simply one of measurement, because with mainstream

intelligence theory paradigmatic blinkers tend to remain firmly in place (as will be outlined in the next section). The essential point is that almost any definition of intelligence will reflect the predicates of the social and cultural environment in which the definer lives and thinks (Gardner et al. 1996). Notably, the Western episteme in the wake of the Enlightenment has valorised critical rationality, has constructed education and schools accordingly, and has developed intelligence tests to determine who will be successful within that environment (Gardner et al. 1996). The exclusion of integrated intelligence from mainstream theory To appreciate the exclusion of mystical/spiritual concepts and theories from contemporary mind science, one has to look beyond the debate regarding physical evidence. Indeed the question of the transpersonal potentials of mind is almost always absent literally out of the question. Yet despite there being enough evidence to at least allow a healthy debate to begin (as Tables 1 & 2 indicate, above), questions which might address the concept of integrated intelligence are almost never posited. The reason can be clarified via Figure 1 below, which situates intelligence theory within a civilisational, paradigmatic and cultural perspective. In Figure 1, each level is defined and mediated by the level below it. It depicts discourses on intelligence and mind moving through layers, and being ultimately determined by the lowest level of the system: the pervading level of consciousness vision logic (Wilber 2000). This implicitly valorises transpersonal theory and the Eastern episteme, and mirrors the arguments of the transpersonalists, such as Bradley (2004), Gebser (1985), Grof (2000), Hawkins (2002), Walsh (1990), Walsh and Vaughan (1993), and Wilber (2000c), who find that rationality is but one developmental stage in the greater evolution of humanity towards transrational awareness. (3) There are two overriding paradigms displayed in Figure 1. At the fourth level there is the neo-Darwinian paradigm (Loye 2004). This paradigm is part of a greater paradigmthe mechanistic paradigm. There are issues for the greater acceptance of integrated intelligence at all levels of this schemata. At the consciousness level, what Wilber (2000) has called vision logic is broadly compatible with critical rationality, while integrated intelligence is more compatible with the cognitive processes associated with transrational levels of consciousness. In terms of the mechanistic paradigm, there are various tenets of that paradigm which render it incompatible with integrated intelligence. These include materialism, the rejection of psi and spiritual phenomena and experience, the denial of the affective, the subject/object split, temporal linearity, patriarchal predilections, and ego-centred control. In regard to ways of knowing, verbal/linguistic and mathematical/logical ways of knowing dominate modern science, academia and education (Gardner 1993). These tend to exclude the affective, mystical and sometimes ineffable ways of knowing involved with integrated intelligence.