Practice Library

Four Kinds of Intelligence for Optimal Mental Health and Balance

An eight-session course with Lama Alan Wallace on cultivating conative, attentional, cognitive and emotional intelligence.

The principal meaning of “mindfulness” in English stems from the verb “to mind”, as in “bearing in mind”, and that sense coincides closely with the traditional meaning of the corresponding terms in the Asian contemplative traditions. Across this eight-part course, Lama Alan Wallace explores ways of applying mindfulness in that sense to the cultivation of four kinds of intelligence that deeply influence our daily lives. The first is conative, and refers to our desires, aspirations, values and intentions, which to a large extent determine the course of our lives. By developing conative intelligence we learn to make wise decisions that truly benefit ourselves and others. The second is attentional. How we direct our attention plays an enormous role in determining our sense of who we are and of the world around us, and the ability to focus attention with calmness and clarity leads to optimal performance in everything we do. The third is cognitive, developed through clear, discerning mindfulness so that we come to see reality as it is rather than confusing it with our own projections or failing to see things because of our cognitive biases. The fourth is emotional, cultivated by deve

What this course covers

• Mindfulness in its original sense of bearing in mind
• Conative intelligence: desires, aspirations, values and intentions
• Attentional intelligence: focusing with calmness and clarity
• Cognitive intelligence: telling what is real from what is projected
• Emotional intelligence: knowing our emotions and our triggers
• Hedonia, eudaimonia and where genuine well-being comes from
• Guided practice alongside the teaching across two days

Sessions

1. D1S1 - Conative Intelligence, and Two Kinds of Happiness 69 minutes
2. D1S2 - The Fourfold Vision Quest, and What Free Will Means 67 minutes
3. D1S3 - William James on Attention, and the Shamatha Project 67 minutes
4. D1S4 - Mindfulness as Remembering, and Introspection as Quality Control 76 minutes
5. D2S1 - Unawareness and Delusion, the Real and the Imaginary 83 minutes
6. D2S2 - In the Seen, Just the Seen 46 minutes
7. D2S3 - Between the Spark and the Flame 58 minutes
8. D2S4 - Unhappiness From Within, and the Ambrosial Dwelling 83 minutes