The weekly column
Article 57, April 2001
DEVELOPING SQ (SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE) THROUGH ELT
By Michael Berman
Editor's note: This article was the basis of Michael Berman's presentation at the Brighton IATEFL conference today, 20. April 2001. We thank Michael for allowing us to reproduce his article here.
According to Danah Zohar, author of "Spiritual Intelligence The Ultimate Intelligence" published by Bloomsbury, SQ (Spiritual Intelligence) is what we use to develop our longing and capacity for meaning, vision and value. It facilitates a dialogue between reason and emotion, between mind and body. SQ allows us to integrate the intrapersonal and the interpersonal, to transcend the gap between self and other.
There is believed to be a built-in spiritual centre located among neural connections in the temporal lobes of the brain. On scans taken with positron emission topography these neural areas light up whenever research subjects are exposed to discussion of spiritual or religious topics. Neurobiologists have now dubbed the area of the temporal lobes concerned with religious or spiritual experience the ‘God spot’ or the ‘God module’.
The brain’s unitive experience emanates from synchronous 40 Hz neural oscillations that travel across the whole brain. According to Zohar, the 40 Hz oscillations are the neural basis of SQ, a third intelligence that places our actions and experience in a larger context of meaning and value, thus rendering them more effective. Everything possesses a degree of proto-consciousness but only certain special structures, like brains, have what is needed to generate full-blown consciousness. In this case, we conscious human beings have our roots at the origin of the universe itself. Our spiritual intelligence grounds us in the wider cosmos, and life has purpose and meaning within the larger context of cosmic evolutionary processes.
The indications of a highly developed SQ include:
- the capacity to be flexible
- a high degree of self- awareness
- a capacity to face and use suffering
- a capacity to face and transcend pain
- the quality of being inspired by vision and values
- a reluctance to cause unnecessary harm
- a tendency to see the connections between diverse things
- a marked tendency to ask ‘Why?’ or ‘What if?’ questions and to seek ‘fundamental’ answers
- being ‘field-independent’ – possessing a facility for working against convention
Peggy Ann Wright at Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has studied a link between heightened temporal lobe activity and shamanistic experiences. These are soul journeys to distant realms of experience in order to communicate with spirits of the living and the dead, and to bring back healing advice. Wright’s work has also shown that rhythmic drumming of the sort used in a vast range of spiritual rituals excites the temporal lobes and associated areas of the limbic system.
Guided visualisation can also be used to excite the temporal lobes and the process can be used in the classroom. In a similar way, every time you introduce a tale starting ‘once upon a time’, you are inviting your audience to transcend their linear concepts of time and space and so enter a light state of trance. Consequently, both guided imagery and story telling can be used in class to facilitate the development of SQ.
The material that follows can form the basis of a lesson that makes use of both story telling and visualisation and is designed to develop SQ. It deals with the subject of equality:
Some people are so full of self-importance that they set themselves above the rest of us and we are equally to blame because we are prepared to bow down to them and to worship them as if they were Gods. That’s what this American Indian tale is all about. The American Indians believe humour is sacred and it is through the use of humour as a teaching tool that this story gets its message across:
THE DOGS HOLD AN ELECTION
Once a long time ago, the dogs were trying to elect a president. So one of them got up in the big dog convention and said: "I nominate the bulldog for president. He's strong. He can fight."
"But he can't run," said another dog. "What good is a fighter who can't run? He won't catch anybody."
Then another dog got up and said: "I nominate the greyhound, because he can definitely run."
But the other dogs objected: "He can run all right but he can't fight. When he catches up with somebody, what happens then? He gets beaten up, that's what! So all he's good for is running away."
Then an ugly little mongrel jumped up and said: "I nominate that dog for president who smells good underneath his tail."
And immediately an equally ugly mongrel jumped up and yelled: "I second the motion." At once all the dogs started sniffing underneath each other's tails. A big chorus went up:
"Phew, he doesn't smell good under his tail."
"No, neither does this one."
"He's certainly no presidential prospect!"
"No, he's no good, either."
"This one certainly isn't the people's choice."
"Wow, this isn't my candidate!"
When you go out for a walk, just watch the dogs. They're still sniffing underneath each other's tails. They're still looking for a good leader, and they still haven't found him.
Notes for teachers
Pre-Listening: Some people say that all politicians are the same and it doesn't matter very much who you vote for because nothing ever changes. Here's an American Indian story which suggests an alternative way of choosing a suitable candidate! While you're listening, find the answers to these questions:
Why was the bulldog an unsuitable candidate?
Why was the greyhound an unsuitable candidate?
What kind of dog suggested a solution to the problem?
What was the solution and what do you think of it?
KING ARTHUR & THE ORDER OF THE ROUND TABLE
The companions admitted to this high order were bound by oath to assist each other at the hazard of their own lives, to attempt singly the most perilous adventures, to lead, when necessary, a life of monastic solitude, to fly to arms at the first summons, and never to retire from battle till they had defeated the enemy, unless night intervened and separated the combatants. What is reputed to be the top of the original table can now be seen in Winchester Cathedral.
TAKING YOUR RIGHTFUL PLACE AT THE ROUND TABLE
SCRIPT FOR THE GUIDE: (To be read in a gentle trance-inducing voice.) Make yourself comfortable and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths to help you relax. Breathe in the light and breathe out all your tightness. Feel the tension disappear stage by stage from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. Let your surroundings fade away as you gradually sink backwards through time and actuality and pass through the gateway of reality into the dreamtime. (When the participants are fully relaxed, begin the next stage.)
Sometimes, like all of us, you probably consider yourself unworthy and can’t resist the temptation to compare yourself to others. And perhaps, like me, you went to a school where everyone was given a class position at the end of term and you always came near the bottom. Not to worry because help is close at hand, probably closer than you realize.
You enter the doorway of what appears to be a Cathedral. Your name is being called and you hear a fanfare of trumpets. As if in a dream, you are lead down the central aisle. Smell the incense being burned and listen to the singing of the choir. Each of the stained glass windows in the walls depicts a scene from history – pictures of all the great artists, writers, composers, scientists, politicians, inventors and discoverers. Take a minute of clock time, equal to all the time you need, to study the pictures ….
At the far end you see an enormous round table. All the seats are taken except for one. You look around at the faces and see all the people you’ve ever admired seated in a circle. Who should be sitting in the empty chair? Perhaps the teacher who used to read out the list of class positions at the end of each term, or the pupil who was always captain of the school team and who never picked you. Wait a minute. The people at the table seem to be pointing in your direction. You look behind you to see who might be there. After all, it can’t possibly be you. You’re not worthy to be anything more than just an observer. But when you turn around, there’s nobody there. You look back at the Round Table, and this time the people there are even calling you by your name. Yes. There’s no doubt about it. The final place has been reserved for you. You sit down and join the circle, too stunned to say anything.
You’re probably wondering what you are doing here. We all do on our first occasion. You see, we were just like you once, no different. All of us, like you, doubted our worthiness but hid it from the rest of the world. As a result, they thought we knew everything and bowed down to us as if were Gods. Take a minute of clock time, equal to all the time you need, to ask yourself why the table is round, then the veil that’s obscuring the truth will be lifted and everything will become clear to you …..
We hope that by now you have found the answer. The truth is that all of us are equal, which is why nobody sits at the head. We all have different strengths and weaknesses and we are all unique. Nobody is better or worse, just different. But all of us share one thing in common. Like you we are part of the Great Mystery, the Oneness that gave birth to us. The time has come for you to claim your rightful place too, the place that is your birthright. So take a minute of clock time, equal to all the time you need, to reconnect with that force …..
If ever you should be plagued by self-doubts again, remember this scene. If ever you should feel isolated, then return to this Table. This chair is always yours. Now link hands with everyone present, to complete the circuit between us and to let the current flow. Take a minute of clock time, equal to all the time you need, to appreciate this special moment …..
Now the time has come to return, back to the everyday world waiting for you on the other side. But you return with the recognition of your true worth and this will be with you forever. Never again will you have any cause to doubt your value. So retrace your steps now, back down the aisle, back past the stained glass windows, back, back, through time and actuality, back through the gateway between the two worlds, and back to the place you started from.
Take a deep breath, release it, open your eyes and stretch your arms and legs. Stamp your feet on the ground to make sure you’re really back. Welcome home! Take a few minutes in silence to take some notes on the experiences you had on your journeys, which you can then share with the rest of the group/ make a note of in your dream journal.
Notes for teachers
You can start with a brainstorming session to find out how much the learners already know about King Arthur and The Round Table before going into the visualisation. The students can then get together in small groups to talk about the experiences they had on their journeys.
PARTS OF THE BODY
Listen to the story, then decide what the moral is. And if you don't like the suggestions, find a moral of your own!
- You can't live without food and water.
- People need people.
- Strikes serve no useful purpose.
- When people work together, disagreements are inevitable.
- The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
One day all the Limbs of the Body, the Arms and Legs, got together and complained to the Stomach: "We're sick and tired of doing all the work while you just eat everything we collect without paying for it and we've decided to go on strike." So the Feet refused to walk, the Hands stopped holding things, the Eyes avoided seeing, the Ears became deaf, the Nose stopped smelling and the Tongue refused to taste.
The Stomach was most upset because he couldn't get food from anywhere and didn't know what to do. Sometimes the best thing in such situations is to do nothing and that's exactly what the Stomach did. He just lay down patiently and waited.
He didn't have to wait very long because the Arms and the Legs quickly lost all their strength. The Hands began to shake and the Feet began to tremble. The Eyes began to cry, the Ears started to ring like bells, the Nose began to run and the Tongue was as dry as a bone.
When the Stomach saw they had suffered enough, he began to speak: "Now you can see how foolish you've been. I digested the food you gave me to produce the energy you need to function."
When the Limbs heard these words, they felt very ashamed of their actions. "You're right. We've been very stupid. We need you as much as you need us and we'll never make the mistake of complaining again. We promise. You can be sure we've learnt our lesson!"
Notes for teachers
As a lead-in to the story, you could start with an alphabet game. The aim is for each student to repeat the previous student's list and add a body part of their own, starting with the next letter of the alphabet!
I've got an arm.
I've got an arm and a bottom.
I've got an arm, a bottom and a chest.
I've got an arm, a bottom, a chest and some digits etc.
Possible answers: eyes/feet/gall bladder/hair or hips/index finger/jaw/knees/legs/mouth/nose/organs of speech/pores or a palate/quiff or a quirk/ribs or retinas/shoulders or shins/toes or thighs/unmentionable parts/varicose veins/wrist or a waist/x-ray vision/zap or a zit
As a post-listening activity, invite the students to work in small groups to produce dialogues between different parts of the body, which they can present to the rest of the class. It should be apparent which parts of the body are speaking without having to mention them by name. The rest of the class can be asked to work out who's speaking to who while listening to the presentations as a means of holding their attention.
The following is a contemporary tale but the theme remains the same:
IN THE GREENHOUSE
Gilbert Greensleeves was very proud of his tomato collection and his succulent, perfectly formed specimens regularly won him prizes in horticultural competitions all over the land. He tended his plants as if they were his babies and, in a way, they were as Gilbert and his wife had never been blessed with any children of their own. So he was most upset when he woke up one fine summer morning to find a terrible commotion going on in the greenhouse.
He rushed outside, still in his pyjamas, to see what the problem was and he found all the tomatoes having a heated argument. In fact, the dispute had got so out of hand that the tomatoes were almost coming to blows. He tried to calm them all down and to make them see sense but without success and was at a total loss as to what to do.
Fortunately, he knew a bit about relaxation techniques, which he’d learnt to help him cope with his pre-competition nerves, and in desperation he decided to try them out on his beauties. After all, he didn’t want them to get themselves into a state, especially just before the annual finals. It wasn’t easy but he eventually managed to attract their attention and to persuade them all to follow his instructions.
"Good. Now I’d like you make yourselves comfortable and close your eyes," he began. "Feel the tension gradually fade away from the tops of your juicy heads to the tips of your little green toes." Here he paused for a moment to give his words a chance to take effect and to produce the desired results. "Now focus on your heads," he continued "and become aware of the fibre that extends from your crown chakra and what it’s connected to."
After a couple of minutes, one of the more forthcoming tomatoes, generally regarded as the leader of the pack, broke the silence. "But we’re all connected to each other and we all come from the same source," he observed.
"That’s it exactly," Gilbert Greensleeves replied. "So now you’ve solved one of the mysteries of life. When you fight against each other, you’re only fighting against yourselves. And perhaps now you can be more understanding and tolerant towards one another in future." A hush descended over the greenhouse as all the tomatoes bowed their heads in shame. It was clear that they had all learnt their lesson and Gilbert returned to the house with his head held high, his mission having been accomplished.
And from that moment onwards, Gilbert Greensleeves never had another problem. His tomatoes lived in perfect harmony and won him even more prizes than before!
As Danah Zohar points out, it is important to emphasise that a mere sense of the spiritual does not guarantee that we can use it creatively in our lives. To have high SQ is to be able to use the spiritual to bring greater context and meaning to living a richer and more meaningful life, to achieve a sense of personal wholeness, purpose and direction.
About the Author
Michael Berman is a teacher, a writer and a Core Shamanic Counsellor. Publications include the Build Your Vocabulary series for LTP and A Multiple Intelligences Road to an ELT Classroom for Crown House Publishing, available online via www.crownhouse.co.uk or www.accelerated-learning.co.uk . His most recent book, ELT through Multiple Intelligences, was published in January 2001 and is available electronically only (to download, for example) from www.netlearnpublications.com .
For information about Michael and his writings please click here.
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