A Change In Intelligence

When I was young, I hadn’t a clue about life – but it seemed that everyone else did! I joined many spiritual groups to try to find what the truth of life was, apart from creationism and evolutionism.

I started on a path called the Fourth Way, which I followed for nine years, and was threatened with being asked to leave for not conforming. After that, I followed a Bengali guru for five years, and he kicked me out twice. The Tibetan Buddhist teacher with whom I studied and practised for eleven years also expelled me. Obviously, I had a problem in conforming and acting a part …

After going to Nepal in search of teachings, I found other Tibetan lamas, and realised that they all have their own ways. I stayed with the Nyingma tradition for some time, but I don’t really get on with the form and adoration. The other students all appear to ‘know’, but that was just an acquisition of words.

You can’t talk about a group to the group members, so about twelve years ago, I stopped going on retreats, listening to lectures and reading books, which are all very expensive.

Then it happened. Perhaps it was an assimilation of all the past experiences? I no longer relied on teachers and their students (artificial intelligence 🙂 ), and took the Buddha’s words, “Don’t take my words for the truth; test them for yourself” to heart. All words are tainted. 

It took a couple of years to be able to learn to express what is experienced. Looking back on life, it has been one long trauma after another, following people who merely believed, rather than showing any genuine intelligent compassion. I understood what made them that way … belief in words.

I no longer look back in anger, just empathy. Been there, believed that, hoped mantras would work like a lucky charm. I’ve since discovered that it’s all much simpler.

True intelligence isn’t IQ, it’s EQ – emotional intelligence (emotional quotient) – which is the ability to understand and manage our own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathise with others, and overcome challenges and conflict.

ie to be able to control ourself before others do it for us.