12.04.07
Level of Spiritual Development versus Intelligence
The question might arise - shouldn’t we look to the most intelligent people in society to see what they believe in terms of religion and then just rely on that? Shouldn’t the most intelligent among us be most able to figure out “the truth?”
Well, as I see it, the answer is no! There is a huge difference between intelligence and spiritual maturity. The concept of spiritual growth and maturity is one that is not well recognized in our world and I for one would like to see that change.
Just as you can have very intelligent people who do not have good morals, or who don’t have good social skills, or who don’t make good decisions, you also can have intelligent people who are less advanced spritually.
A particularly dangerous combination would be to have a very intelligent person who is only a Stage One. There are probably some of them running our top corporations right now - and probably some at the top levels of government. What a very intelligent Stage One would give you would be someone very cunning, not inhibited by any moral considerations, acting relentlessly in pursuit of only his own goals, not caring who he has to step on to achieve what he wants, all the while fooling people into thinking he had integrity because of the personal charm he could dig up when needed.
Conversely, you can have very high levels of spiritual development in people of lower intelligence, or lower social status. In fact, you could even have a child, too young to have developed any maturity of any sort, still exhibiting spiritual maturity. There is one instance, in a supposedly true story,* of a homeless street urchin named Anna, who was clearly in Stage Four before she died at the age of seven.
So no, we can’t look to the most intelligent among us for “the answer.” We can only look within ourselves to see which answer we are ready for.
* by “Fynn.” Mister God, This is Anna. New York: Ballantine Books, 1974.
Margaret Karmazin said,
December 4, 2007 at 9:54 am
I totally agree. The state of the incoming soul at birth is probably what determines the stage or stages forthcoming in life, not the body’s brain.