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"SQ: Connecting With Our Spiritual Intelligence" seemed harmless as first. The authors propose that in addition to I.Q. (linear thought) and E.Q. (emotional intelligence), the highest dome in our consciousness is S.Q. -- spiritual intelligence. But their vision of "spiritual intelligence" has nothing to do with figuring out how many angels dance on the head of a pin. No. Spirituality is about questions, not answers. This implies that neither the pope nor the Dalai Lama is as spiritually advanced as an agnostic Silicon Valley pseudo Buddhist.

The two present this visual metaphor of S.Q.: A goldfish leaps out of its fishbowl and looks around exclaiming, "Look where I've come from!" Yes. Uh-huh. But does the enlightened goldfish fall back in the water? Or land on the rug to die? Neither Zohar nor Marshall cares.

SQ: Connecting With Our Spiritual Intelligence By Danah Zohar and Dr. Ian Marshall Bloomsbury, 324 pages Nonfiction Buy this book at B&N.com

If you are into New Age, then you may have the patience to fill out their survey, "What Personality Type Am I?" then find your slot in the "basic Lotus of the Self." The book claims that we live in a spiritually dumb culture. This is true. But the work of Zohar and Marshall seems a symptom of this dumbness, not the cure.

I seethed, and then I spoke to them. On the telephone, Zohar and Marshall were delights rather than New Age hucksters -- it seems they are better speakers than writers.

You used chess as an example to distinguish the difference between I.Q. and E.Q.: An amateur chess player uses I.Q. to think of every possible move his opponent will make, while the more advanced player uses E.Q. to figure out instinctively what moves his opponent is likely to make. How would someone use S.Q. to play chess?

Zohar: [To her husband] I don't think S.Q. bears on playing chess, does it?

Marshall: [Thick British accent] S.Q. might make you think, "Why am I playing all this damn chess?"

[Everyone laughs.]

Dividing consciousness into three arenas -- I.Q., E.Q. and S.Q. -- seems arbitrary somehow.

[Silence.]

What designation do artistic abilities fit into?

Zohar: You're picking up on [Howard] Gardner's "nine intelligences," right? The different expert systems in the brain like spatial imagination, artistic ability, musical ability, mathematical abilities -- Gardner calls these intelligences. And they are definitely expert systems in the brain. But they are not full-blown intelligences. They're mental skills that you can only use intelligently if your S.Q. is uniting your I.Q. and your E.Q. Musical ability for instance -- as you probably know, autistic children have it. But an autistic child really can't relate to others. He can't do anything with his life. He lives like a cripple. So one wants to say he has that fantastic mental skill but he can't use it intelligently.

It's a cliché that God is love. But the only spiritual epiphany I've ever had concerned empathy. Where does love fit into consciousness?

Marshall: If you look toward the back of the book there is a chapter on spiritual paths. We say there are six of them. Love or caring for people is one path.

You don't think love is bigger than just one of six paths?

Zohar: I think love is very critical in the emotional part of our intelligence. It's how we relate to others. It's fundamental to our wish to serve, which is connected to our sense of loyalty and following a charismatic leader and serving the community and that sort of thing. But there are deeply spiritual people who have a quest for truth. And there are other deeply spiritual people like Gandhi whose quest was for service. So I don't think that love is the be-all and end-all.

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