There is a legend that during the Buddha’s lifetime one of his cousins tried to kill him. The Buddha referred to this cousin as one of his most important teachers in his development of compassion and patience.  Buddhism teaches that when we walk the spiritual path, our responsibility is to comprehend that all life is precious and all sentient beings suffer, and so we should act in ways that compassionately embrace and serve to end all suffering. 

I learned something of this when I worked professionally as a transdisciplinary assessment specialist with a young man who was abandoned by his parents as a child after he was diagnosed as deaf and mentally retarded. At some point his house had burned down, possibly by his own hand.

As he grew tall and strong, Davey was “warehoused” in ever more restrictive institutional settings where the caretakers viewed him as a feral and unapproachable tiger of a boy.  He was described to me as having little intelligence (only dangerous and destructive instincts), no communication, and no feelings for other people.

Within the context of Davey’s existence, the questions of spiritual connectedness and how he might experience a state of grace seemed utterly irrelevant, but those questions were precisely what intrigued me the most  What I knew I wanted to do was to simply sit quietly in Davey’s physical presence.  Somehow sitting with a deaf young man, wanting nothing and doing nothing, we both seemed to be shifting.  What part of my intelligence knew that, during this time, Davey would be my spiritual master?   

Later I found a relevant teaching: Thogme Zangpo, a 13^th-14^th century Tibetan Buddhist, who taught numerous Bodhicitta practices, including something along these lines, said that if a person is disrespectful or contemptuous, even if he is not your intellectual or spiritual equal, treat that person with honor as you would an admired teacher.

When I met Davey I felt he was surrounded by people who were fearful, angry and resentful, always focused on their own self-protection and their own suffering.  As I began to spend time with Davey I noticed some things. There was not a molecule in me that wanted to seduce his friendliness, teach him anything, test him for any skills, count his behavioral outbursts or give him psychotherapy.  I also realized that trying to suggest any alternative behavior among his staff would be unproductive.

Have not each of us encountered people who live with conditions negatively affecting their “intelligence”?  Either impersonally in books or video, or more intimately as family members, friends, teachers, physicians, or paid companions, we might reflect upon the true nature of those people apparently born “not whole”.

As we shift our values and behavior to appreciate, preserve and enrich the multivariate ecologies that consciousness can embrace, as we stop “throwing away” our trash so we can feel like good green warriors, let us remember to deeply consider the marginalization and suffering of our “throw-away people”. 

Most would agree that what makes human life so precious and unique is an attribute described as intelligence. How has intelligence theory evolved, and what does it mean when someone is born with “low” or non-measurable intelligence?  Does it mean they have low or non-measurable value?

In 1905 Binet and Simon created the first IQ test in France to calculate “mental age” to screen children for normal brain function so that “abnormal” children could be separated and not behaviorally disrupt or otherwise adversely affect the development and scholastic achievements of normal children.  Binet measured intelligence quotient by calculating the ratio of mental age to chronological age, with 100 being the normative score.  Most people today are familiar with IQ tests that provide Full Scale, Verbal, Performance and other subtest scores. 

While there were and are many competing theories of intelligence, Howard Gardner dramatically challenged the dominance of mathematical theoreticians with his 1983 publication of Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Gardner is a Harvard Professor of Cognition and Education who also holds faculty posts in Psychology and Neurology. As Gardner worked with stroke patients who had aphasia and also studied cognitive development and educational implications in children, he apparently intuitively understood that intelligence is a dynamic, complex interplay of relatively distinct faculties affected significantly by content, culture and context.

Gardner’s rigorous study of multiple (seven) intelligences has been systematic and  multidisciplinary. It involves inclusion of the fields of psychology, neurology, biology, sociology, anthropology, the arts and the humanities.  Always under criticism that his scientific “proofs” of the theory are not empirically sustainable, Gardner does not venture into morality, emotion or spirituality. He clearly constrains his work to address the cognitive and intellectual aspects of the human mind, but given my work with people who had intellectual disabilities, I was especially interested in other types of intelligence.

About this time (in the mid ‘90’s) a new theory of intelligence emerged.  Daniel Goleman wrote Emotional Intelligence.  Integrating the neurophysiology of emotion into the evolving concept of intelligence emphasizes the benefit of achieving resonance in what I understand to be “whole person” awareness, responsiveness, social collaboration and presence.  

While I understood little of Davey’s occasional attempts to sign to me and he continued to show no interest in conventional institutional activities, there began to be a perceptible resonance in our energies. It felt good. It felt peaceful. It felt as though we were agreeing to trust and between us violence and frustration had no place. One random day Davey took my hand and indicated he wanted to go outdoors. Together. We had entered into a state of grace. Being together outdoors in that context was a deep spiritual experience. 

Davey was not conventionally smart.  He was brain-damaged, socially wounded and communication-impaired.  When he chose and how he chose to connect with me at a more than primal level, I appreciated his great “non-rational” intelligence.  I understood this not analytically, but as if the information had entered me through my belly, rising into my heart. Gut feeling intelligence?  The more I worked with Davey and many others like him, the more I was certain that there is little correlation between intellectual intelligence as measured by an IQ test and non-rational intelligence. Therefore, IQ is a poor indicator of non-rational knowledge, the capacity to grow and emotional maturity.

Goleman continues to investigate and promote the necessity of awareness, empathy, teamwork, self-discipline, resonance and the many essential functions of emotion in intelligent functioning.  His current work features theories of social intelligence, ecological intelligence and the application of emotional intelligence to developing exceptional corporate leadership skills.

Through the grace of global East-West exchange, sharing and unification at many levels we are participating in the emergence of spiritual intelligence.  In the prolific writings of contemporary quantum physicist Danah Zohar, the purposefulness and crowning comprehension of what I’ve discussed comes together in intelligence that I experience more as “innerstanding” than “understanding”. With spiritual intelligence everyone is honored, engaged and included as having value to self and to all. 

For example, my loquacious and sometimes frankly psychotic friend, Katie, has social behavior difficulties and a developmental disability related to Williams Syndrome. When we visit, however, her gigantic smile freezes my brain and melts my heart.  A master’s tap on my slumping shoulder at the zendo has the same effect.

I will share one last story about Davey.  As he softened from within, his staff transformed.  After a couple of years they had become his fiercest advocates.  When Davey was finally provided with his very own small home and familiar and competent companion-caregivers (no more caretakers), he found a pile of wood scraps in the back yard and silently, carefully started to piece together a small and intricate structure in his “leave me alone, please room”.  One of his companions brought him glue, a hammer and some nails.  Weeks later Davey had found his creative talent in the world.  He was a master doll-house builder.  He had also apparently found spiritual healing after years of suffering from whatever happened when his house burned down.

Every single individual grows and grows stronger when rooted in fertile ground and nurtured.  Every individual is a whole person.  Every individual communicates, no matter how deformed or ill the body is, and no matter how incomprehensible the behavior may be.  Each person contributes to the community. Every being is a spiritual being. 

If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place. 

                                                        --Margaret Mead

Barbara Ludwig is the program developer at Life College by CHAS, a growing branch of Community Homes and Services Inc. in Novato, California.  Barbara consults and presents in the USA and Canada.  She is a lead developer of the transdisciplinary assessment and treatment model as applied to individuals with developmental/intellectual disabilities, mental health needs and substance use disorders.  A student of eclectic spiritual teachings, Barbara’s spiritual master is ShantiMayi, see: www.shantimayi.com.  Barbara can be reached at: barbara.dd-mh-sa.source@hotmail.com.