This series on intelligence – Future of Wisdom and Intelligence – is extremely timely. I think it addresses our collective concern about the ever expanding hold of material power that is driving humanity almost towards peril. So my talk will be exploring what the antidote is. Heart intelligence is typically conceived as embodying qualities such as compassion, intuition, emotional sensitivity, caring and so on and heart intelligence tends to be seen as underpinned by feminine spiritual principles and practice such as deep listening, integrating the consciousness of a whole and a sense of interconnectedness and so on.
So what else is there to talk about in terms of heart intelligence? So for my presentation on the 19th of September, I will propose that heart intelligence requires intentional and dedicated efforts beyond the main movement of the heart and beyond the feelings, emotions and intuition. Heart intelligence must involve, what we may say, turning towards God, the divine or the transcendent and it must include the aesthetics – beauty, and the ethics – the good. So to do this, I will draw upon Simone Weil’s writing. As you know, Weil is a French mystic, philosopher, activist, feminist, a theorist and whose work has not only been well read, but whose idea also now is seen as extremely relevant and illuminating for navigating our present struggles.
Why am I drawn to Weil's writing?
Well, first of all, Weil is one of a kind. As a mystic, she did not only just stay in her own inner retreat, instead she contemplated upon our secretness and our dignity from the experience of working in factories alongside with those enslaved laborers, those colonized, oppressed and marginalized. Now, as a philosopher, she did not work from the comfort of her study or an armchair rather she reflected on our rights and obligations, whilst thrashing herself in the front line of wars and revolutions. As an activist, her fight for social justice was rooted in the childlike-faith in the good, in beauty. And finally, as a feminist, a theorist, she defied the frailty of a woman’s body and suppressed all the visual signs of her femininity.
For me, Simone Weil is more than just intriguing or beyond categories, her writing and her entire body of work can be understood as an expression of embodied intelligence, enlightened by love. For instance, her response to the concept note for this series of webinar in which you suggest that the etymology of the word ‘wisdom’ has roots in Latin meaning ‘to taste’. And her response would be ‘all wisdom originates in God and hence can nourish our soul’. However, do we know that we are hungry? So she said:
So her idea of heart intelligence has to connect something beyond ourselves. Another reason to reflect on Weil’s writing is that today we can bet through the lens of Weil’s ideas, we can better understand the effect of present experience which she calls affliction.
In most societies today, human beings are treated as objects, manipulated, exploited, killed. For the sake of a material expansion for Weil, this is the reversion of the means and end. You probably remember that Seneca said ‘Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool.” And today, it is the other way around because all of us are dangling on this machinery of material. So the material comfort and technological advancement should in principle serve the well being and the wellness of more than human, well being of human and the wellness of more than human in nature. Instead all of us a part of system production. So regardless one is at the receiving end for Weil, regardless one is at the receiving end of ali or perpetuating it, perpetuating it, one suffers the same soul wound. Thank you very much indeed.
for giving us a poor taste of what you’re going to be talking about in September and I really look forward to the occasion. Thank you.’The danger is not lest the soul should doubt whether there is any bread, but lest, by a lie, it should persuade itself that it is not hungry.’ So her idea of heart intelligence has to connect something beyond ourselves. Another reason to reflect on Weil’s writing is that today we can bet through the lens of Weil’s ideas, we can better understand the effect of present experience which she calls affliction.
In most societies today, human beings are treated as object, manipulated, exploited, killed. For the sake of a material expansion for they, this is the reversion of the means and end. You probably remember that Seneca said ‘Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool.” And today, is it the other way around? Because all of us are dangling on this machinery of material. So the material comfort and technological advancement should in principle serve the well being and the wellness of more than the human nature. Instead all of us, a part of system production, regardless one is at the receiving end of affliction or perpetuating it, one suffers the same soul wound.
Curious to find out more?
In this round table dialogue, Prof Scherto Gill, Founding Director of Global Humanity for Peace Institute (University of Wales Trinity St David) along with Dr Anne Baring, MA Oxon, PhD in Wisdom Studies (Ubiquity University) and Andrew Harvey, internationally renowned religious scholar and writer will explore Heart Intelligence and the practical implications of a new integrated intelligence.
We look forward to your participation in these reflective sessions.
