A DEFINITION OF CONTEMPLATIVE INTELLIGENCE (CQ)

Contemplative Intelligence is the ability and capacity to use our meta-cognitive abilities. It is about the conscious awareness of putting your physiology, psychology, emotions and spiritual aspects of yourself together in ecstatic motion. Contemplative Intelligence gives us the ability to recognise, understand, and executively manage our own mind, body and emotions and in so doing manage relationships and social interactions at an advanced level, that is above the norm. Contemplative Intelligence helps you with developing wisdom and advanced awareness and insight that helps you to reduce stress, stay present and recognise the reality (truth) of people, places, things, situations, conversations and events that are undistorted by subjective experience. Your intellect will not get you to where you need to be. This is why what has been referred to as some sort of awakening or shift is necessary to live life efficiently, purposefully and well. Something our ancestors in history have fallen very short of century after century. Having developed Contemplative Intelligence you will be able to take an endless self regulated and loving gaze at reality and naked truth exactly as they are, unhindered by personality or ego defence mechanisms. 

Whilst in the life of the intellect ‘contemplation‘ refers to thinking profoundly about something, in the religious life contemplation is a kind of inner vision or seeing, transcendent of the intellect, facilitated by means of practices such as prayer or meditation. To our clients it refers to living an authentic life on purpose and with meaning. Contemplative practice is about ending your own suffering. It is about awareness and conscious involvement in living a good life on this planet. Even if you choose a simple one. Contemplative Intelligence work or therapy if you will, yields a kind of knowing which changes the whole of one’s life. Yep, expect changes physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. This movement of heart and mind, ignites a love stronger than anxiety, depression addictions or even death and illuminates the mind with the very splendors of God realization and self actualization.

“To rise above the modifications of your mind, when you cease your mind, when you cease to be a part of your mind, that is yoga.” 

Patanjali

Contemplative Intelligence is concerned with understanding why we do what we do and what we do not do that we want to do. It sets this conundrum straight once and for all. It moves us from one side of our brain across a trillion neurons and pathways to the other side of your “brainiverse.” A side where the miraculous is common place as shown to us by Christ, the Buddha, Gandhi and so many others who have managed to change the entire world in a few short purposeful years on earth. This intelligence is a part of the brain’s grey matter that allows you to create, thrive, overcome fear, uncertainty and then problem solve through applying new learning and imagination. Imagination which may have been unavailable or off-limits to you before.

The Power of Contemplative Intelligence (CQ) is only activated when survival mind is absent. You need certainty, safety and calm at the very least to activate this side of your brain. At least at first. This is the mental hierarchy that governs our thinking. It is order versus chaos mind, or survive versus thrive mind. So how do we use it to heal, grow and change our lives for the better? We can start by first looking at what closes off the power of this Contemplative Intelligence, that allows us to see, to imagine and to create all things new. Even ourselves. 

Why we really, really do what we do

Everything we do starts with a thought that is triggered by one of only five senses. Sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. This thought becomes a feeling and then a behaviour that has an obvious consequence. Look at history and you will see a world full of ridiculously foolish, selfish and cruel actions. The world wars, Russia in Ukraine and then how we treated people of colour, how woman were not allowed to vote, how we condemned gay people and how for example Christians, my core religion, butchered our neighbour’s instead of loving them and then believed the consequence was heaven for them and hell for everyone else. This is the scientific and historic story of human thinking running wild. We have learned through great spiritual teachers around the world that we can access a higher level of thought. Meta thinking is available to everyone and this is accessed through certain contemplative practices that we can access through our highest intelligence.

Imagine a world where we don’t go to wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Ukraine or anywhere else for that matter because we have the ability to re-think, to meta-think how this will unfold. This kind of thinking needs to come from another part of the brain. A part other than the intellect which has kept us in the dark for centuries. What did we think the benefit of racism, fascism, gender inequality or cultural bias neighbour would be? The answer is easy, we just didn’t think. Presidents, scientists, kings, priest and other spiritual leaders never where able to really access any kind of meta thinking that stopped us doing foolish things to ourselves, to others and to the world. If we access our Contemplative Intelligence we would be able to see consequences long before we took any foolish actions. We would be able to see beyond our own dualistic projections, defences and biases and understand the true consequences and intention of what we did. In doing so we would no longer have to endure self created suffering, wars, racism or any kind of dualism. In fact we would be able to live, breathe and function in paradise as one entity in this universe, finally free from the splinters of the mind’s intellect. This renewal of the mind, of going beyond and above it is what Contemplative Intelligence (CQ) is all about. It is transformation of body, mind and soul to a meta state of thinking, feeling and being and it is available to everyone, everywhere always.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect

The Book of Romans 12:2 

Contemplation is both personal and communal, internal and external. It helps us let go of our usual, self-focused way of thinking and doing things so that our compassionate, connected, and creative self can emerge. Through contemplation we develop the capacity to witness our egoic motivations, bringing this awareness into our day-to-day actions and living with increased freedom and authenticity through deeper awareness of self, other and God 

Thomas Merton, a progressive monk, or a mystic of sorts put it like this. Contemplation is the highest expression of our intellectual and spiritual life. It is that life itself, fully awake, fully active, fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness and for being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent and infinitely abundant source. Contemplation is, above all, awareness of the reality of that source. It knows that source, obscurely, inexplicably, but with a certitude that goes both beyond reason and beyond simple faith.

Many equate it to prayer or meditation. You might be surprised, however, to discover that you can practice contemplation while mindfully washing dishes, singing, being with a friend, or walking in a park. Contemplation is simply being fully present—in heart, mind, and body—to what is in a way that allows you to creatively respond and work toward what could be.

Contemplation is both personal and communal, internal and external. It helps us let go of our usual, self-focused way of thinking and doing things so that our compassionate, connected, and creative self can emerge. Through contemplation we develop the capacity to witness our egoic motivations, bringing this awareness into our day-to-day actions and living with increased freedom and authenticity through deeper awareness of our self and God’s Self.

Without the proper work, our minds are set on a trajectory towards getting more and more closed off and riddled on ego defence mechanisms. Just like keeping fit keeps us physically capable, our minds also need to be kept mentally fit with Contemplative Intelligence© practices. Our monkey minds have responded to the pace of today, as they always have and cause all of our stress, anxiety, self-doubt, frustration, regret, shame, guilt, and unhappiness. Research shows that our very own ego defence mechanisms have unknowingly put many of us into survival mode where our egoic, monkey minds are automatically always at war, leaving us in F9: which in short is fight, flight or freeze response described in detail in the book. This Lizard brain mentality is causing depression, addictions, extreme stress and obsessive thinking that result in career, relationship and self esteem issues. Our intellects, the very best and brightest of them in history have created a past littered with atrocities to mankind, animals and all of nature itself, and we have done this through thinking. The Vietnam war seemed like a good idea to one of the greatest nations on Earth. So did the Napoleonic Wars, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great through to Jews murdering their own King. Then their was slavery invented by wise God-fearing men that was nothing more than torture of brother and sister. Then every year 10 million people get married and half of them later decide to get divorced in a confused covenant that leaves children growing up in the war zones of broken homes.

Ways to start to practice Contemplative Intelligence

Contemplative Practices are like doorways or portals that provide the bear attention of present moment transcendence, simple self-awareness that can allow you to mindfully be focused and aware of one’s deeper thoughts and emotions. 

A contemplative practice helps you to “awaken your inner observer”. Aristotle said that contemplation is known both as the highest form of activity, and also it is the most continuous, because we are more capable of continuous contemplation more so than we are aware of any other practical activity. So it is doing everything and nothing all at the same time. And it is truly wonderful to experience it!

21 WAYS TO PRACTICE CONTEMPLATION

See more