Intelligence, they say, is what distinguishes a human being from an animal. Intelligence, as manifested in human beings, the argument goes, is the crowning achievement of evolution. According to this thinking, intelligence is where nature’s evolution of species ends and there is nothing breakthrough that can come forward anymore.

And what if this is not the end? What if this is just the beginning of something else? Hard to imagine for most of us, but this is what distinguished spiritual figures have asserted thousands of years ago and continue to say to this very day.

For most of us who are often entangled in the crushing routine of daily chores with its (momentary) ups and (uninvited) downs it is a utopian thought that defies belief. How else could one react to something that is not yet known to oneself and hardly ever observable in others? How could one relinquish relying on the only superior tool (or so we think) that nature was kind enough to bestow on human beings in order to deal with the constant challenge of survival?

But wait! What if there is a chance, however slim it may be, that there indeed may be something else around the evolutionary corner that is humanity’s next and already beckoning destination? What if there is a tool, a method, a door, a key or a map that can open, clear or point the way?

Throughout our own lives we have all relied heavily on our own as well as collective intelligence in a never-ending effort to come closer to the elusive goal of enduring and all-encompassing happiness. After all, this is why scientific institutions exist and why university education is so much prized. But has the level of general happiness increased? Are the richest of people truly happy? Why are there wars despite a massive increase in collective intelligence, undoubtedly a déjà vu if we are to learn anything from history?

Perhaps, intelligence (just like money) has little to do with true happiness. Perhaps, something else is needed. This is not to say that education is not needed or that technological progress is to be shunned. Perhaps we are looking in the wrong place, employing means that are not appropriate to the task at hand, while being uncontrollably driven by a chimerical notion of the end result.

What if the end result were to be re-defined as being content and at peace with oneself and the world at large, no matter what? What if happiness were to do more with having less of material wealth and more of the inner wealth? What if a truly evolved being were to be one with a markedly evolved soul, lofty ideas and ideals and less one who hankers for egotistic pursuits?

How does one evolve one’s soul? Through meditation, this is what the meditation masters have been telling us all along.

How long does it take? As long as needed.

What is the role of the mind and human intelligence? To assist with the provision of the basic daily needs for ourselves and others, while clearing the way for the soul to come forward.

Intelligence or something else then? Something else, then intelligence.

For more articles on integrating meditation into the present-day lifestyle and for more information on starting a meditation practice of your own, visit www.GenevaMeditation.ch.