INTELLIGENCE–SPIRITUAL & ARTIFICIAL

Gian Kumar - Spiritual Author
8 min readJun 28, 2023

What is consciousness? Why do all living creatures exhibit and express different levels of consciousness, whereas non-living objects do not? While science focuses on objective and empirical experimentation, subjective experiences such as awareness, consciousness, and experiences relating to the nature of reality, truth, and love remain within the domain of spirituality. We forget we are spiritual beings going through human understanding to experience and infer from what we call body, mind and soul in one composite self. The spirit of awareness enables only humans to become conscious and aware of their physical and mental state. The spirit provides spontaneity through instinct and intuition, culminating with gathered knowledge to understand what one perceives naturally and also what one captures uniquely and creatively in any present moment. So here we have the difference between the intellect and intelligence. Intellect relates to understanding existing categories. Alternately, intelligence connects to understanding new information based upon the unique understanding of every living creature; the highest ability in humans we refer to as spiritual intelligence.

Now coming to artificial intelligence, the word artificial denotes a lack of naturalness or spontaneity, which remains the exclusive domain of the spirit. Science still does not fully understand the nature of thoughts, experiences, personal understanding, and the source of intelligence. These topics fall within the philosophy of mind and consciousness, and ongoing debates and scientific research for centuries are yet exploring these areas. Spiritual intelligence providing unique subjective experiences has been thoroughly analysed and explained in the Indian Vedanta (end of knowledge) philosophy, elaborating on the metaphysical subject of Spiritualism, declaring natural intelligence as divine.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been gaining popularity in recent years, but it is essential to understand how it differs from spiritual intelligence. AI is a product of human innovation and technological advancement, while spiritual intelligence is a product of inner growth and development with awareness in consciousness restricted to living creatures. Have you ever wondered about the difference between artificial intelligence and spiritual intelligence? You are not alone. Everyone nowadays talks about how AI transforms our world, but spiritual intelligence, though ignored, is far more critical and primarily misunderstood.

As technology advances at an unprecedented rate, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of progress and forget about the inner journey. But spiritual intelligence helps provide meaning and fulfilment to life that artificial intelligence can never attain and realise. Spiritual intelligence comes from a connection to something greater than your mind. It’s about nurturing creativity and selflessness in comprehending there is more to life than your emotional desires of ‘me and mine’.

Spiritual intelligence in human beings is profoundly rooted in consciousness, the awareness of consciously knowing who you are beyond your body and mind. It encompasses connecting yourself and others deeply in oneness, empathizing with their feelings, and communicating effectively, transcending from selfishness towards selflessness. Spiritual intelligence also includes intuition- the ability to understand something without conscious reasoning in spontaneity — creatively and instinctively exclaiming — Bingo, I’ve got it! It is about awakening that spiritual self with limitless potentiality from which we are discovering all about stars to the subatomic particles.

While AI is all about logic, data, and algorithms — spiritual intelligence is discovering who you are beyond your tangible mind and its consciousness unique to every living creature. AI designs to analyse large amounts of data and decide without having any personal opinions and beliefs. Based on the data fed into its system, say if we do not enter- good afternoon, it cannot comprehend the same. General AI does not possess that inherent awareness. It depends on knowledge that explicitly responds to patterns, events, relationships, etc., within the provided data. Information needs to be shared with AI to deliver results, whereas spiritual intelligence innovates everything we know and will know in the future. It not only responds but also questions, argues and creates new answers. While AI can be extremely helpful in certain situations, it cannot truly understand human emotions and experiences like it cannot feel envious the way we do.

One of the key differences between AI and spiritual intelligence is their approach to problem-solving. We often focus AI on finding the most efficient solution to a problem, while spiritual intelligence is more focused on finding the most creative and holistic solution. Spiritual intelligence recognizes that every situation interconnects with the larger whole and that the best solutions often involve considering the needs and perspectives of all parties involved.

While AI continues to get more advanced and intelligent, it lacks some critical aspects of human thinking. AI today is narrow in scope and performs a limited, specific task. Natural human intelligence is broad, multifaceted, and adaptable. We have qualities like common sense, reasoning, emotional intelligence, creativity, and the sixth sense that AI cannot achieve. Spiritual intelligence refers to a more profound level of awareness and connection. It includes our ability to ask deeper questions about life and its meaning and our capacity for virtues like empathy, sensitivity, sentimentality and wisdom. This kind of intelligence is uniquely human AI cannot replicate or replace. Although AI will probably revolutionize our lives and society, human intelligence and spirit will always be indispensable. By cultivating our higher faculties, we can ensure that technology serves human flourishing rather than diminishing.

I reiterate General Artificial Intelligence — a machine with human-level intelligence is still science fiction. AI cannot replicate qualities that make us human, like creativity, natural intelligence, telepathy, and spiritual connection. AI cannot grasp spiritual concepts like mindfulness, gratitude or the meaning and purpose of life. While AI will continue altering our lives and enhancing human capabilities, human intelligence is multifaceted. Wisdom, judgment, emotion, creativity, and inventiveness are hard to reduce to algorithms and code. For the foreseeable future, humans and machines will collaborate, not compete. AI will complement human intelligence, not replace or replicate it. Together, we will achieve more than either could alone. But spiritual intelligence — our connection to something greater than ourselves — makes us human. No technology can replace that.

So don’t lose sight of what matters in the quest for progress. Tap into your spiritual intelligence and remember that you are more than the sum of your neural circuits and wires. A whole inner world waits to explore and balance the material with the spiritual for a wholesome living. But please remember, unlike AI, you cannot programme or duplicate spiritual intelligence in a machine simply because it is unique to everyone. Spiritual intelligence refers to your ability to tap into your deepest self to find greater meaning and purpose.

Artificial and spiritual intelligence offers humanity exciting new tools and opportunities; it’s essential to recognize their fundamental differences. Spiritual intelligence connects us to something greater, nurtures human qualities like contentment and clairvoyance, and provides life with profound meaning. AI cannot reproduce these deeper human experiences and spiritual connections that shape who we are. Both have a role to play, but spiritual intelligence remains uniquely human. Spiritual Intelligence connects Us to Something Greater.

While AI and spiritual intelligence are pretty different, we need both today. AI focuses on intellectual tasks and spiritual intelligence and observes inner and mental skills. Machines are not self-aware; spiritual intelligence makes us self-aware, providing us with the unique ability amongst all living creatures to study, understand and experience our physical and mental vibrations. It connects to something greater than your body and perceptible brain, whether in nature, art or a higher power. You are seeing the interconnectedness of all things metaphysically. Tapping into your deepest self, you can find your truths and a purpose transcending the material world. Spiritual intelligence ultimately leads to living that honours your highest self and serves the greater good in divinity for the sake of divineness. Though AI and spiritual intelligence differ, we need to cultivate both to thrive in today’s world. AI augments human capabilities, and spiritual intelligence helps us apply those capabilities wisely.

Recognizing AI’s and spiritual intelligence’s value in today’s world is essential. AI helps us make informed decisions and solve complex problems. In contrast, spiritual intelligence can help us cultivate deeper connections with others and find more meaningful and fulfilling solutions to life’s challenges. While AI and spiritual intelligence may seem vastly different, they have unique strengths. By understanding these differences, we can better integrate both forms of intelligence into our lives and find tremendous success and fulfilment.

AI may modify our lives and jobs, but spiritual intelligence changes our minds to discover and awaken that inner truth. We need AI to solve complex problems but spiritual intelligence to determine which issues matter. Neither can replace the other, so we must develop both — embracing technology and cultivating our humanity. Balancing AI and spiritual intelligence allows us to progress paired with wisdom. The future needs more of both.

So there you have it. While artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly advanced and integrated into our daily lives, it still has a long way to go to match the depth and nuance of human spiritual intelligence. AI may beat us at chess or identify patterns in massive data sets. Still, it lacks the emotional and intuitive capabilities that make us human and how we differ. As mentioned earlier, spiritual intelligence allows us to find meaning and purpose, connect with something greater than ourselves, and tap into our deepest wells of creativity. No algorithm or machine learning system can replicate it. Though artificial and spiritual intelligence portrays as opposing forces, we have the power to ensure they complement each other. We get to choose how much we rely on technology and how we should nurture our human spirit.

In conclusion, human or spiritual intelligence is invaluable and irreplaceable because of its ability to generate original ideas, emotional intelligence, empathy, contextual understanding, self-awareness and common sense. AI lacks these features, making it unmatched in many aspects of human life. AI can excel in specific domains but often falls short when faced with unpredictable situations. It cannot comprehend and apply moral principles subtly and cannot adapt and rely on intuition or instinct. Human or natural intelligence remains irreplaceable, and AI is a valuable tool to augment it, enabling us to achieve new heights while retaining our essential spiritual qualities.

AI systems, including robots, rely on algorithms and models to process and analyse data but lack proper comprehension of the data as humans do. AI models can process data quickly but not interpret it holistically or contextually. AI has significantly advanced in specific domains but lacks humans’ natural intelligence and adaptability to become self-aware. Whether AI can ever surpass human intelligence in all aspects is uncertain. However, technical, ethical, and philosophical challenges must be addressed before AGI can understand and realize them. Ethical considerations should guide AI progress to ensure its overall benefits to humans.

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Gian Kumar - Spiritual Author
Gian Kumar - Spiritual Author

Written by Gian Kumar - Spiritual Author

Gian Kumar was born into a traditional Hindu family, in Burma (Myanmar). From childhood, his life held paradoxes which he struggled to understand.

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