Intelligence or skills? · The Emotionally Whole Family

Seth Dahl

Jul 18 • General discussion

Intelligence or skills?

Emotional intelligence has been mainstream since the book with the same title became such a huge success.

But are we going for intelligence alone?

To know about emotions?

To have information about them?

To be intelligent about emotions?

What if, because emotions are an experience, intelligence, or what we know about them, need to be experienced as well.

What if we also need to develop emotional skills, not just intelligence?

Skills only develop through experience.

You try, mess up, reflect, adjust, try, get better, reflect, adjust, etc.

What if emotional intelligence alone is similar to what the spirit of religion facilitates: “Always learning but never coming to the (experiential) knowledge of the truth”. You have the language, you know about them, you can give others advice, but aren’t demonstrating them on a regular basis.

This is a concern I have. That many have some emotional intelligence but not the developed skills that it encourages.

Religion is not just in church, it attempts to pervade every area of life. Let’s make sure we aren’t religious in how we operate in the emotional space.

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