Intelligence vs. Intellect

Spirit has many descriptive names in New Thought. Divine Mind, First Cause, God, Universal Intelligence. Universal Intelligence is the everywhere-present all-knowingness of Spirit. Universal Intelligence knows all things and everything because it knows only itself, which is everything.

Because we are individualized centers of Spirit, we have that Intelligence too. Our Intelligence is our connection to Divine Mind. We are consciously and subconsciously connected to Universal Consciousness and Subconsciousness. When we think, we are connecting with Universal Consciousness. When we use our intuition, for example , we are connecting with Universal Subconsciousness. We have a "knowing" inside of us we need to take heed of. When we have decisions that need to be made, we can connect with Universal Intelligence and know that our decisions will be correct. When we do a spiritual Mind Treatment, we are consciously connecting with Spirit, that all-knowingness of the Universe that can guide us in whatever conditions we need to address. The Intelligence that keeps the planets in alignment, that keeps the Earth rotating, that keeps the Sun shining is at our disposal.

Then there is the Intellect. Intellect is our human reasoning, limited to our five senses and our interpretation of our surroundings. We need our intellect. It performs a very important job. It allows us to observe what is happening in our lives and deduce the Cause -- which is what we are habitually thinking and feeling. Once we know the cause, we are at liberty to change our thinking (the cause) to something better for us.

The sticky part comes when we only use our intellect and not our Intelligence (which is what the human race has been doing in its evolution up until now). When we only use our intellect, we get the "I'll believe it when I see it" attitude toward life. It becomes a tether that keeps us from soaring to our highest spiritual Growth. It keeps us limited to living a life of perception only. Reacting instead of acting.

When has the "I'll believe it when I see it" attitude ever created something or made something happen? Did the first carpenter who made the first chair say, "I'll believe there is such a thing as a chair when I see one"? Did Thomas Edison say "I'll believe there is such a thing as the electric lightbulb, when I see it"? Nothing would ever have been invented with an attitude like that. I will go as far as to say every inventor, every artist has tapped into the Creative Mind of Spirit at those moments. We can all tap into Creative Mind. Universal Intelligence knows all potentiality.

We are at a very exciting time in our evolution. We are moving beyond our Human Intellect. We are connecting with our spiritual Intelligence as we come to believe there is more to Life than just what we experience with our senses.

Continue your Growth, trust in your Divine Nature, be open to the guidance of Spirit.