What is the practice of co-intelligence? Part 5 – Ten Qualities

This is the fifth of six posts seeking to describe what it means to practice co-intelligence.  (You can read the first post here, the second here, the third here, and the fourth here.)  In this post I share ten qualities of co-intelligence.  How do they seem to you?  How would it feel to be part of activities that take such things seriously? – Tom  (PS:  This is what the Co-Intelligence Institute is all about – and what your support would help us contribute to in the world.)

5.  Practicing the ten qualities of co-intelligence

We see the following qualities of life in the world and in the kind of intelligence that can help us be and do well with the world.  We appreciate the value of intelligence that is multidimensional, inclusive, wise, responsive, collaborative, self-aware, interconnected, synergistic, holistic/healthy and systemic. We can take a moment now to explore each of these a bit to sense where we might deepen our practice of co-intelligence together. 

• Multi-dimensionality: We recognize that there are many ways to be intelligent and many sources of intelligence. Intelligence includes and goes far beyond IQ scores, our individual ability to think logically, the authoritative opinions of experts, and all the other one-dimensional measures of intelligence we have. It includes intuition, compassion, social intelligence, street intelligence, bodily intelligence, musical intelligence, narrative intelligence, and more.  It includes the intelligences of collectives, of more-than-human life forms, of natural ecosystems, of systems like economics and governance, of transpersonal and spiritual intelligences, and more.  So the first requirement of co-intelligence is to understand intelligence more broadly, focusing on the ability to learn from and cope well with life’s situations. Then we can honor, develop, and use whatever can help us learn and engage broadly and deeply. In these ways and others, we manifest the multi-dimensionality of co-intelligence.

• Inclusiveness: We are open. We embrace many points of view and build bridges between polarized people and ideas, and between human and more-than-human beings and worlds. We value and creatively use diversity, disturbance, and challenge. We wonder about what we’ve missed and what’s outside of the boundaries we’ve made, and what we might do about that.  In these ways and others, we practice the inclusiveness of co-intelligence.

• Wisdom: We are sensitive to nuance, to that which is hidden, deeper, unknown, and unknowable. We maintain perspective, a sense of the long term, and the relativity and ultimate mystery of things. We seek to be responsible ancestors of future generations. Our expanded awareness helps us to be humble and fresh, often with a touch of humor, while serving the wellbeing of the whole. In these ways and others, we embody and practice the wisdom of co-intelligence.

• Responsiveness: We are willing to engage and change, to see things anew and adapt to new conditions. We are aware of our limitations – knowing that all our habits, certainties, predictions, and efforts to influence things can serve us safely and well to the extent that we are flexible, responsive, evolving, and open to learning. In these ways and others, we practice the responsiveness of co-intelligence.

• Interconnectedness: We assume the interconnectedness and co-creativity of all things. We know that we’re all connected, that we are factually kin to all lives and entities around us. Whatever we do – or don’t do – we are all involved in whatever happens. We try to understand the many participants and factors at work in any situation while remaining open to connections we may have missed. We feel – and take seriously – our reciprocal relationship to all beings who are embedded with us in this dense web of interactivity and interbeing that we call life. In these ways and others, we co-intelligently ground ourselves in interconnectedness.

• Synergistic Energy: We pay attention to the quality of these relationships and try to improve them. We know that a relationship (between people, groups, organisms, ideas, etc.) can improve or degrade those involved and those around them. We seek to integrate diverse elements (ourselves, other people, groups, organisms, ideas, etc.) into mutually beneficial relationships that serve the greater world as well as ourselves. In these ways and others, we apply the synergistic energy of co-intelligence.

• Collaboration: We build, invite, and use partnerships to achieve our goals. We seek interactivity and dialogue to generate energy and wisdom, possibility and accomplishment. We value conscious, intentional collaboration, co-creativity and co-evolution. We seek ways to move WITH the existing energies of life in and around us, in service to the whole. In these ways and others, we practice the co-intelligent art of collaboration.

• Self-awareness: We are self-reflective, aware of our own reactions, processes, and place in the scheme of things – even aware of our own consciousness, our gifts and our shadow side. We try to be aware of our own role in what has happened, what is happening, and what might happen. We value feedback that helps us see ourselves more accurately and usefully. In these ways and others, we manifest the self-awareness of co-intelligence.

• Holism: We assume the wholeness of things. We seek to join and serve what is healthy, holy and whole, where everything fits, in its fullest self.  We value efforts to “see the big picture.” We try to see things in their larger contexts, as part of (and made up of) systems and processes, as expressions of broader circumstances and unfolding developments. We know that nothing has a single cause or produces a single effect. Nothing is ever just its isolated self; it always has multiple meanings, roles, impacts and sources – as well as a unique integrated essence – through which we can better understand it and its significance. In these ways and others, we live into the holism of co-intelligence.

• The systemic nature of co-intelligence: We design our lives and relationships, groups and organizations, communities and cultures to support these co-intelligent qualities. We know that the design of environments, relationships, and processes influences consciousness and that consciousness influences these designs. In these ways and others, we are aware of the systemic nature of co-intelligence as it manifests at many levels of human activity and reality.

What difference could we make with these qualities, that would make a difference in the longterm aliveness of life?

Coheartedly,
Tom

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Tom Atlee, The Co-Intelligence Institute, POB 493, Eugene, OR 97440

Appreciating, evoking and engaging the wisdom and resourcefulness of the whole on behalf of the whole

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Related posts:

  1. The prospect of wise public policy (AI – A Partner in Wise Democracy? #7)
  2. What is the practice of co-intelligence? Part 2
  3. What is the practice of co-intelligence? Part 3

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