Human intelligence (IQ) ... from the mind (soul), from the brain (genes)?

[baro-san]

I believe human intelligence is a characteristic of the mind, it stays with the soul, and its development is one of the important goals in each incarnation.

From what I've read we are born with an IQ that doesn't suffer major fluctuations over one's life, under normal health circumstances.

On the other hand I've watched a couple of documentaries, that presented cases when individuals that suffered major traumas acquired new and exceptional gifts in disciplines as mathematics, painting, music, for which they didn't show even some interest before.

Is the brain only a limiting factor of our soul's intelligence, or more?

I've noticed behavioural characteristics in some individuals that are similar to those of certain relatives from previous generations, not only parents, but aunts and uncles, grandparents, or further.

Does the genetical inheritance play a role in the intelligence of an individual? Which and how?

[Seawolf]

Originally Posted by baro-san

Is the brain only a limiting factor of our soul's intelligence, or more?

Lately I've been leaning towards the brain/nervous system/body as being the soul.

The example you gave reminded me of another one I read about. A miner had a brain injury when a spike went through his head. Before the accident, he was a easy-going, nice person that people liked. After the accident, his personality completely changed. He was easily offended, rude, loud and obnoxious. No one wanted to be around him. He became a different person because the spike touched the part of the brain that regulates personality.

Most people see the soul/spirit and the body as separate, that the physical and spiritual are two different things. But what if the body was the soul, the spirit, the source of spiritual experiences, the demons, the angels and on an on? This would make the body very spiritual indeed, and we wouldn't have to look outside of ourselves for answers and enlightenment, it would be right here. That's not to say there aren't part of the body we can't see. The East has known about the chakra system for centuries, something that can't be seen but is part of the body.

[Carnate]

I've worked as a psychologist, and have conducted IQ tests at times on a weekly or twice weekly basis; and spent full days writing reports on the statistics.

Firstly, people should understand that IQ tests have a disclaimer, usually on the front page that says something similar to "IQ tests only measure intelligence in so far as you consider them to be an accurate measure of intelligence". Which is to say, they measure specific aspects of intellectual processing in a way that could be applied to daily (physical) life to determine cognitive capability when compared to other people.

Because this likely needs to be explained in simple terms; they've chosen some aspects that could relate to intelligence, and use those as a gauge to try to determine actual intelligence. This is generally boiled down to Processing Speed, Short-term / Working memory, Visual Processing skills, and Verbal Processing skills. The theory is that these components complement each other in a way that determines a person's overall / general intelligence.

Outside of environmental factors (injury, chemicals, abuse, etc) a person's intelligence does not change much over a lifetime. I believe there are spiritual components to this, which I'll go into a little below.

For the most part, a person's scores on each sub-test remains pretty even.. someone may have a percentile rank of 100 (average) in working memory, and a similar score would be expected in the other subtests.

As a point of interest, I've had an IQ test when I was much younger; overall IQ of 135. I started having some problems with my cognition and memory, was retested about 10 years ago.. IQ of 114.

My latest IQ test was different. Because I'm having trouble with my memory, specifically my short term / working memory, the subtest scores varied. Some parts of my brain started to compensate for the difficulties I've been having. So while my overall IQ went back up (124), this cannot be considered an accurate / reliable indication of my capabilities.

My working memory and verbal skills went way down.. under the old classification system, in relation to these subtests I'd be considered 'Retarded'. However, my visual processing and processing speed have gone way up. I now process information at such a speed that the tests aren't challenging enough to properly measure these traits; and this is a direct result of my working memory being so poor - I've had to process things much quicker because I've got less time to do so.

This is possible because of brain plasticity... our brains have the capacity to adjust and make use of areas in 'non-conventional' ways.


Because doctors and specialists have been unable to determine any physical cause of my difficulties, I've ended up coming here to try and find some spiritual cause (and potentially a cure).

IQ tests primarily measure the physical brain... they don't consider consciousness, or any links/relations to the Mind as it exists in the subtle realms. I think there's some spiritual blockage that's resulting in detriments to how I physically process information. Which is to say, that the Mind or 'soul-consciousness' exists and functions external to the physical brain, and the physical brain is simply a by-product (or one aspect) of that Mind.


In the cases of physical trauma (or similar physical effects), the brain can certainly be a limiting factor. I'd be curious though.. to find out whether someone who was brain dead, or had some form of trauma induced impairment, had complete/full cognition when astral traveling (for example). This would shed some light on whether information from astral traveling was processed through the physical brain to allow us to consciously remember it. I do believe this to be the case, but can't say it with any certainty. I do know that my astral travels are perceived in the same way I experience physical life; the same cognitive issues.

And, intelligence is largely genetic. There are environmental factors that can reduce or raise intelligence within certain ranges, but generally, intelligent parents have intelligent children. In a similar way, behavioural characteristics, instinct, and personality are also genetic.. within certain limitations; we are a soul, but the memories/personality of that 'soul' is often (temporarily) discarded/forgotten in favour of taking on the genetic traits of the physical body; which have been chosen for specific purposes in that life.

[baro-san]

Originally Posted by Carnate

I've worked as a psychologist, and have conducted IQ tests at times on a weekly or twice weekly basis; and spent full days writing reports on the statistics. ...

Thank you! Very informative.

From my experience (confirmed in literature), visual perception is clearer and richer in astral traveling (OBE), but not so much in lucid dreaming.

From what I read: blind people, in physical, see in astral. People with infirmities, in physical, don't have them in astral.

I googled "intelligence definition" and received:

"intelligence. Capacity of mind, especially to understand principles, truths, facts or meanings, acquire knowledge, and apply it to practice; the ability to learn and comprehend. emotional intelligence. The ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups."

This doesn't seem to include creativity, which I would've thought to be an important element of intelligence.

In the model I currently subscribe at, a soul's intelligence develops as it keeps reincarnating, including "understanding principles, truths, facts or meanings, acquiring knowledge". Also, it improves at "managing the emotions of oneself".

I have a hard time differentiating what intelligence is brain related, and what mind related.

The mind side of the intelligence can't be genetic, as souls are said to not reincarnate in the same family lines.

[baro-san]

Originally Posted by Carnate

...
Because doctors and specialists have been unable to determine any physical cause of my difficulties, I've ended up coming here to try and find some spiritual cause (and potentially a cure).
...

If you're not averse to it, try hypnosis regression with a good facilitator, or directly self-hypnosis regression. Presently, I'm a great fan of it, and I think it is actually the essence of most methods of reaching altered states of consciousness, including astral traveling, meditation, praying, etc..

[Carnate]

Originally Posted by baro-san

Thank you! Very informative.

From my experience (confirmed in literature), visual perception is clearer and richer in astral traveling (OBE), but not so much in lucid dreaming.

From what I read: blind people, in physical, see in astral. People with infirmities, in physical, don't have them in astral.

I googled "intelligence definition" and received:

"intelligence. Capacity of mind, especially to understand principles, truths, facts or meanings, acquire knowledge, and apply it to practice; the ability to learn and comprehend. emotional intelligence. The ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups."

This doesn't seem to include creativity, which I would've thought to be an important element of intelligence.

In the model I currently subscribe at, a soul's intelligence develops as it keeps reincarnating, including "understanding principles, truths, facts or meanings, acquiring knowledge". Also, it improves at "managing the emotions of oneself".

I have a hard time differentiating what intelligence is brain related, and what mind related.

The mind side of the intelligence can't be genetic, as souls are said to not reincarnate in the same family lines.

Thanks for the details. It makes sense that the astral body wouldn't be similarly restricted by physical injury. This may support my theory that my situation is not strictly physical in nature.

While some branches of psychology recognise 'creative intelligence', it's rarely included in intelligence batteries as a measure of intelligence. The problem is that there are no (easy/simple) defining rules or guidelines that can be applied to assess 'creative intelligence' in a testing environment. I believe some tests try to do this, but in terms of usefulness as an intelligence measure, it's often avoided completely because it's rarely relevant to study/performance in life situations. It probably bears mentioning that 'creativity' in this respect differs from being creative in problem solving.

I do agree that our souls do progress and develop.. there may be times when some memories and experiences leak into our current lives, but for the most part, this life is isolated from all the others; unless there's a specific need to access past/future life details.


It may help to over-simplify things by considering intelligence the physical brain processing things, and the mind being the controlling agent that directs that intelligence. For example, you are able to consciously direct your attention to a task (which uses your Mind), where your intelligence (brain) processes and solves that task.

I'm not sure how relevant this is.. but you can focus your eyes on a specific word/letter in this text, but can simultaneously direct your attention/focus to something off to the side; being directed towards something that your eyes aren't directly looking at. It may be that this 'focus of awareness' is part of your Mind, and I'm not really sure how to explain it... try it and see for yourself; but try to 'feel' what it is that's directing that focus, what it's doing, and how it functions... It sorta feels like an extension of yourself.

Who can say? Attempting to separate mind from body and soul puts barriers across our paths. IQ is also culturally related. Eysenck got into a bit of trouble, I remember reading, because he made IQ pronouncements about cultural minorities when the tests were based on norms for the average British community.

I suppose it's possible for a trauma or some deeply changing experience to narrow one's attention enough that latent skills are brought forward. Then again, one could come up with all kinds of speculation about unwittingly opening up to the astral.

♠

.

[Carnate]

Originally Posted by baro-san

If you're not averse to it, try hypnosis regression with a good facilitator, or directly self-hypnosis regression. Presently, I'm a great fan of it, and I think it is actually the essence of most methods of reaching altered states of consciousness, including astral traveling, meditation, praying, etc..

I've tried these before, and do have access to memories of some of my past lives. I'm led to believe that the answers to my current situation aren't a result of past life events; more do to with what's happened (or should be happening) in this life.

Part of my problem is that my cognitive issues persist through these efforts. To clarify, when I'm putting sugar in my coffee, if any random thought/event distracts me, I forget whether or how many sugars I've put in. My memory, outside of concerted concentration, lasts less than a second.

Most of my efforts at meditation suffer similar results. I start with good intentions, but part way through, forget (and can't retrieve) what I was doing or where I'm at. It's completely frustrating knowing that something important was happening, but not being able to retrieve any details about the event.

This is partly why writing is fairly simple for me; there's a trail I can readily look back on to determine what comes next. It takes a lot of time and effort to work things out, but the end result appears to come from a 'fully functioning' person.

I did know someone who would have been ideal for guided assistance. In the past when I've visited her, she was able to read my mind, and put me back on task when I lost my place. However, my current difficulties weren't so apparent back then. She has since moved on, and I don't know of anyone with similar skills nearby. The only other person I know of that can read minds lives on the other side of the country.

And to be honest, I'm too wary of getting help from what I (perhaps negatively) call 'everyday psychics'. I lost contact with the spiritual healers and teachers I've had in the past, and don't remember names/contact details to reestablish connections.

[CrystalSong]

I've come to believe that there are many types of intelligence and standard tests test only one type - mental intelligence.

There's also social intelligence. Take the person who only has a average IQ, say around 80, but they marry someone well placed in society, who has power influence, contact and has money. Other people are hired do for them anything that would require a higher IQ than they have and to take care of manual labor. Particularly beautiful women or handsome men seem to find themselves in these situations.

There's Heart intelligence, again take a person with an average IQ on standard testing yet their compassion, wisdom and empathic skills are off the charts. They are a person who's very presence brings peace, comfort, laughter and good cheer to others and a community or large family develops around them, anything that they do not excel at is taken care of by others out of their love for the person.

Or body intelligence, a person who has superior muscles, dexterity, reflex's, agility and speed and is the bar other athletes measure themselves against, yet just has a 70 IQ and poor social skills.

Or a person of extra-ordinary instinct and survival skills, who despite not having a high IQ manages to always make the right choice, land on their feet, come up with unorthodox solutions to situations and somehow just seem to accidently avoid situations that no one else saw coming. They can't tell you how they do it - they just seem to have "Good Luck".

Then there are those who are spiritually advanced, call it spiritual intelligence, who seem to have no need what so ever of the above types of intelligences and all is taken care of for them as need by what appears to be provenance, good fortune and miraculous circumstances. They are relieved of fear, have access to incredible knowledge, and are utterly at peace with all things, people and circumstances and they always have all they need. Theirs is a state of abundance on many levels.

What is interesting is that no one seems to have all types on intelligence, nor do we test for these other intelligences, yet any of these other types of intelligence open doors, make for opportunity and can take care of one's needs.

[Carnate]

Originally Posted by Lorelyen

Who can say? Attempting to separate mind from body and soul puts barriers across our paths. IQ is also culturally related. Eysenck got into a bit of trouble, I remember reading, because he made IQ pronouncements about cultural minorities when the tests were based on norms for the average British community.

I suppose it's possible for a trauma or some deeply changing experience to narrow one's attention enough that latent skills are brought forward. Then again, one could come up with all kinds of speculation about unwittingly opening up to the astral.
.

You're right about IQ norms. This is why large sums of money are directed towards standardising results according to country and (at times) race. In Australia, there are specific IQ tests that are designed for Aboriginals so they are not assessed via materials that are culturally biased.

I think the best example of this was a memory task that got children to remember the location of chess pieces. Aboriginals performed to a significantly lower standard. However, when nuts, leaves, and rocks were used instead of chess pieces, Aboriginals performed significantly higher (when compared to other aged matched students). But, if you wanted to compare short term memory... chimps far surpass us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyJomdyjyvM

These days, most IQ tests are selected to suit the individual and the scores are standardised according to age and gender.. in so far as is possible. This way, most IQ scores can be compared with scores of other people in the local area with some degree of confidence. Generally, IQ test results come with what's called a Confidence Interval that determines a margin of statistical error; where the person's true IQ resides within a certain range of the score provided.

Although there are still differences between countries. By this I mean, that someone with an intelligence score of 100 in one country may be more (or less) intelligent than someone with a score of 100 who lives in a different country. The scores are standardised according to their countries aged matched peers; allowing a true comparison between people they are like to perform with/against in school/work.

Also.. it's pretty common knowledge among psychologists that some tests score favourably in specific ways. If a parent is looking to have their child apply for Mensa (for example), the psychologist can choose a test that leans towards higher scores. Although, it's not professionally acceptable to discuss such things... :P