Existential Intelligence

[Peguy]

In the one BBC quiz thread I posted, I tested as an Existential thinker - which I find to be accurate. This got me interested in exploring the issue further, and I found this piece explaining the basic nature of Existential Intelligence - which some claim is a 9th intelligence:

Existential intelligence can be defined as the ability to be sensitive to, or have the capacity for, conceptualizing or tackling deeper or larger questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why are we born, why do we die, what is consciousness, or how did we get here.

There are many people who feel that there should be a ninth intelligence, existential intelligence (A.K.A.: "wondering smart, cosmic smart, spiritually smart, or metaphysical intelligence"). The possibility of this intelligence has been alluded to by Gardner in several of his works. He has stated that existential intelligence might be manifest in someone who is concerned with fundamental questions about existence, or who questions the intricacies of existence. And while Professor Gardner has offered a preliminary definition as: "Individuals who exhibit the proclivity to pose and ponder questions about life, death, and ultimate realities," he has not fully confirmed, endorsed, or described this intelligence.

Perhaps the difficulty is that Gardner wisely believes that this will open a can of worms best left out of the arena of education. Or, since a great deal of the importance and credibility of Gardner's work rests on neurological evidence of site specific locations within the brain, it might be that it is a bit risky for any author or scientist to definitively pinpoint the exact biological seat of spiritual wonder or cosmic awareness without offending any number of people, or some cultural or religious groups. It is important to remember that part of the power of Gardner's work depends upon careful examination of the available data and scientific evidence. So, at this point in time, it might be safer to say that existential intelligence is the "half" in 8-1/2 intelligences that comprise MI Theory.

Despite this avoidance on Gardner's part to definitively commit to existential intelligence, there are many who have accepted the presence of this intelligence as fact and have attempted to clarify what it might look like if it were part of the MI array. For those who have met children who appear to have "old souls," it is often easy to accept the existence of existential intelligence as something very real and important. These are the children who appear to have a sixth sense, they may be psychic, or ones who pose, and sometimes even answer, life's larger questions. Like:

• Why am I here? Why are we here?
• Are there other dimensions, and if so what are they like?
• Can animals understand us, or do animals go to heaven?
• Are there really ghosts?
• Where do we go when we die?
• Why are some people evil?
• Is there life on other planets?
• Where is heaven?
• Why does God live?

These may be those children who can be described as "fully aware" of the cosmos -- of its diversity, complexity, and wonder. Frequently, these are the children who persist in asking those "big" questions that adults cannot answer.

existential

I can easily see how this relates to me.

[Kora]

Haha, it reminds me of when I was a child. I was very scared of death because I realized that it's the end, while other children didn't even thought about that.
I also asked those kind of questions... Mh, but I think it's something that most of the Ns have wondered about in his early life.

[Jennifer]

Originally Posted by Kora

I also asked those kind of questions... Mh, but I think it's something that most of the Ns have wondered about in his early life.

When I was five, I was having nightmares not about dying (because death was a tangible end)... but about not dying (i.e., living without an end).

It is pretty common for N's to think outside the box and wonder about things that cannot be shown -- although I think with some people the questions are far more consuming than for others.

[Lithium]

I can concur on my behalf. IN early life I wondered about this stuff a lot. I don't so much now. Some of the things because I've created strong beliefs on and others because I don't see any further results for the time spent wondering about it.

[Nocapszy]

What'sis, 'nother one'dem new-age multiple intelligences?

[entropie]

I guess it is pretty much the thing I live for.

The mental quest to find the source of possibilities.

Rational people have a hard time to accept that something could be non-linear that is why they are so depressed, because everything has to have at some point an answer.

But existential thinking reaches the surreal and that can not only make ground to new breaking ideas, it can too give the rational, hope

[cloakofsnow]

This sounds like the way I've been my whole life, since a very young age. I often experience it as a sort of stepping out of any present moment and looking at life as if from outside of Time to see life from past, present and future all at once. From this perspective things in the world have meaning far beyond our usual assumptions of things (assumptions based on our sensate understanding of things as well as what has been ingrained from the society we live in).

From my experience, the more existentially "intelligent" a person is, the more prone s/he is towards depression. Sometimes I think it is more fortunate to be born "simple" because "simple" people are happier.