Theo. – Last time, we brought up the SQ and IQ topic, the spiritual and intelligence quotients. Do you really believe that the scientists care for spirituality and meditation?
The Elder – They started doing so about ten years ago. Nowadays, Mindfulness and Heartfulness meditations are being introduced in all quarters, business, schools, universities and education circles, and they also appeal to all those who are in search of themselves and of a better balanced life.
Theo. – There was a time when meditation was restricted to such ‘visionaries’ as you are. They were considered as being rather weird.
The Elder – Now, they all admit that meditation helps us be more efficient. The objective is to make us better persons and achieve excellence. Meditation is a precious tool for personal development.
Theo. – I’m not really keen on that notion of excellence. It makes me think of the entrance exams for accessing the most prestigious schools, or of formatting intellectual elites and of training ‘killers’ who would do anything to rise atop of industry or government and take power. Just look at the way ENA graduates and politicians behave. If ever they still have a heart, where do they hide it?
The Elder – Keep calm, Theo. They all have a heart, but they often ignore how it works.
Theo, feeling fiery:
– Their intellects are coarse and primitive. They want money and power, and they get it, because they are the best, the strongest. It’s ‘I’, first and foremost, ‘my’ personal interests, ‘my’ club, except that they hold the banner of education, culture and civilization. But it doesn’t ‘Trump’ or fool anyone, does it?
The Elder sent out a wave of calm and serenity:
– Here, achievement and excellence are closely related to the self. You can be happy only if you live in agreement, in harmony with yourself. Then you are naturally ethical and moral. It’s bound to be so. Through meditating on the heart, human beings become what they have always been, i.e. universal beings who are in agreement with themselves and their environment. They become aware of their smallness as well as of their grandeur whenever they behold the starry nights in their inner cosmos and firmament. The practice of Heartfulness meditation allows you to make both your left and right brains work better, as they are under your hearts’ control. The heart is a wonderful integrator, and a potent and faithful friend.
Theo. – Is spiritual science recognized by sciences other than the yogic one?
The Elder – Its beginning to hold sway: transmission channels for the neurotransmitters have been identified between the heart and several parts of the brain.
Theo. – How will scientists come to meditation?
The Elder – They will use meditation to manage constant stress and disturbing emotions, and also to improve their performances or their capacity to decide quickly and efficiently.
Theo. – Is not that going to be our new management model?
The Elder – It’s already working. I was lucky enough to be trained for it when I attended Professor Ichak Adizès‘ lectures. He is a worldwide celebrity in the area of management education for businesses or state governments; his motto for ensuring success is ‘trust and respect’.
Theo. – To improve a business performances?
The Elder – Yes indeed! And it gives excellent results, which can be recorded and quantified, and make people happier in their daily lives as well as on their jobs.
Theo. – How could you make managers change?
The Elder – I don’t want to change them, but I wish they could have the inner experience of what they really are. Then everything else will naturally follow. They will want to do what is right. They will also be more efficient and, above all, happier with themselves, and happier with their social, professional and family environment.
Emotional intelligence will determine the level of performance the person will attain.
Theo. – Which factors will help develop that emotional intelligence?
The Elder – Your interest and curiosity, as it shows your level of involvement and your motivation, and gives you the patience to make all the adequate efforts.
And attentiveness, whose benefits you already know, through meditation, as well as all the joy that comes from it. It is the sign of an optimum operation.
Theo. – So, conditions are the same as for meditation.
The Elder – As in meditation, the neuro–system is non–verbal. They have the same operating mode.
Theo. – What does emotional intelligence really result in?
The Elder – An intra–personal intelligence, which listens to the self, and an inter–personal intelligence, which helps you listen to the others and develop empathy.
Theo. – Those are the heart’s qualities, aren’t they?
The Elder – The words differ according to culture and times. It’s the same as with religions. But here, it is a scientific issue: how to access the second level of the heart, which I have called cosmic or universal consciousness, whereas science speaks of meta–knowledge.
Theo. – It sounds revolutionary!
The Elder – No! It is evolutionary. But I don’t mean to give a lecture on emotional intelligence. The topic is exciting, but I was mostly interested in the condition Professor Mihaly Csikzentmihaly describes concerning learning and fluency, i.e. ‘the flow’.
Theo. – Could you sketch it out for me, please?
The Elder – Fluency, or flow, is the ultimate in emotional intelligence. It is described as being ‘the optimum experience’, which means that the person will give her level best and go beyond his or her own limits. That will arise a burst of joy and a deep sense of well–being. It is a very gratifying state for oneself, no matter how others see us.
Theo. – How will consciousness fare during that optimum experience?
The Elder – It is unlimited. The person will lose track of time and of the self, and yet he or she will have never been so much fully aware of him or herself. In such a moment, action and consciousness blend into one another.
Theo. – Another way to forget the ego.
The Elder – Yes indeed, because the person is totally absorbed in the work to be done and the goal to reach. Efficiency is in the offing, since the mind is flexible, adaptable, creative and receptive.
Theo. – It makes me think of the Taoist Masters.
The Elder – Quite right! They are in a state of constant ‘fluency’. My spiritual knowledge has allowed me to make out the importance and validity of the discoveries made by researchers in the so–called emotional psychology.
Theo. – Is there any reason why?
The Elder – As through heartfulness, yoga or Taoism, one can access one’s interiority and consciousness of the heart without having to resort to spiritual or religious context. Here, the experience is firsthand and objective.
Theo. – So, it is a quasi–scientific approach: don’t believe anything, experiment without any prejudice. The experience is repeatable.
The Elder – There is another similarity with meditation. The optimum experience, due to its fluency and to the fact that it brings concentration about, looks very much like the heartfulness meditation we practice. There, attention is both fluent and relaxed. Perception is circular. The fluency brings about a mild euphoria, though the brain remains impartial and calm. That is why you can achieve exceptional performances.
Theo. – Scientifically speaking, it means that the links thalamus–tonsils and cortex are under control.
The Elder – And that the neuronal circuits are more efficient: abilities and skills are pushed to the extreme at minimum energy consumption.
Theo. – With no risk of burn–out, conversely to what is increasingly happening in companies nowadays.
The Elder – Concerning burn–out, Chinese medicine speaks of a yin vacuum. Being devoid of energy resources – the root–energy – and due to an obvious yang, the person is restless, to the extent of collapsing, because he or she has no access to his or her know–how or skills anymore, and thus ends in losing all self–control. The warnings sent by body, brain and heart having remained ignored, the brain had to provoke a salutary short–circuit.
Theo. – I have somehow pondered over the issue so I know that in such moments we will be getting sleep disorders and find we are unable to recover any energy: psychological, cognitive and even emotional functions don’t work properly anymore. It is the first step towards depression.
The Elder – The effect is the opposite of an optimum experience. One is for regenerating, and the other leads to degenerating. One enthuses you, the other one … you see?
Theophile the Elder
An excerpt from Dialogs with Theophile the Elder
Theophile the Younger’s initiation