Is studying emotional intelligence harmful to the Catholic faith?

[graciew]

Here is an example of some practical application.
Very quick.
Some persons have very good ideas and difficulties to bring them down to earth at the same time.
Some other persons are not to good in the sphere of ideas and at the same time time are very practical
Knowing this,you would know how to team them up according to their strengths.
It doesn’t t boil down to one is intelligent ,the other one isn’ t.
And in working together both profit…
Just a simple example.

 

[edjlopez23]

Emotional Intelligence looks helpful and shouldn’t be harmful to the catholic faith. I was just making sure.

 

[Shakuhachi]

Well, in EI theory, that would be a rather low level of emotional intelligence. A higher level would be someone recognizing that a fight could be brought on by anything from tiredness to low blood sugar, from stress at work/school to worry about money/bills/possessions – and then taking responsibility for their part of the fight and apologizing.

In real life, someone with high emotional intelligence is usually seen as a mature person.

Someone with low emotional intelligence is usually regarded as being immature.

That is a helpful summary. I just don’t understand how people can be so fearful of everything. If Catholic faith is that fragile i dont think it would have survived. Comments were made about “pagan” origins of mindfulness as if Pagans Plato and Aristotle were not the foundation upon which Sts Augustine and Aquinas built.

 

[graciew]

Well,we ve got our own sort of " mindfulness" in prayer.
And given the " violins" added to what is a technique,posters have their concerns and rightly so.
Something like this goes about ( hatha?)yoga. Exercises to stretch your body and breath is ok but we do not engage in all the philosophy, chakras and the rest of it.
Mindfulness as being present isn t something foreign to our Saints so as long as we keep anchored and learning our own sources ,there isn t an issue.
Where and who gives these talks and stuff is important,and even then the subjective might permate.
And the rosary, we are using all of ourselves,mind,spirit and our body,our fingers, to focus on prayer…

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I just don’t understand how people can be so fearful of everything. If Catholic faith is that fragile i dont think it would have survived.

Many, if not most of us Catholics, are not so fearful of everything. Some people struggle with scruples. Some people may also be less confident of their knowledge of the faith, and want to make sure they do not screw up and stray into some bad area.

 

[Bruised_Reed]

EI tests and personality tests are two different things. Emotional intelligence has two parts: interpersonal and intrapersonal. An EQ test will let a person know a person’s ability to empathize with others, how well they identify, evaluate, control, and express one’s own emotions, and how they perceive and assess others’ emotions. It’s self-awareness.

 

[CHRISTINE77]

Some people are just inconsiderate jerks. There’s no EI test that will help them. Either you are considerate to your neighbors or you are not. For one person to bear the brunt of being understanding with a person who doesn’t even care how much he bothers the other is just a test of patience.

 

[graciew]

I do not know why this thread derived into tests,Christine…Moreover,I personally didn t know there were EI tests…
Edi asks about a course and if it is harmful,not about the use and effectiveness of tests.
And given she/he also posts the link to the contents of the course,as objectively as possible we can moré or less approach the subject as we would do with a son or daughter asking as they study…
I agree with Bruised Reed it helps in self awareness…
And patience…is a virtue…yes…

 

[Shakuhachi]

I can understand that. But it also seem to me there is an element of fear of themselves. Mindfulness, for example, is simply a dive into one’s own being, one’s own soul. If ones fears that, perhaps there is good reason for them. Who know what we might find out about ourselves. I just think it is part of the humility and death to self (that is the self we think we are) Jesus talked about on the path to our true self in Him.

 

[Bruised_Reed]

Some people are just inconsiderate jerks.

This is incorrect. Some might say the people in the autism spectrum lack EI. I’ve had a couple if coworkers that lacked EI; they weren’t jerks (okay one was, but that was because she had no desire to change) but the other has become very self-conscious about how she is perceived. I don’t think she’s a jerk but she has a harder edge to her and has worked in a lot of fields that are traditionally male but she needs a gentler approach in her work now and it doesn’t come as easy to her.

There’s no EI test that will help them.

There may be, idk, but I’ve read different books and articles that were helps for parents of kids diagnosed w/ AS to help them identify certain social cues to make social interaction less confusing for them. I even wondered if that info might help with Co-worker 1 because she could not read people. At all.

A test would give a person an idea if they needed to work on their EI and maybe p(name removed by moderator)oint what they needed to work on specifically.

I think Co-worker 2 is considerate but sometimes misses cues that others send that can make her seem insensitive or self-involved. When she was growing up she learned that there were certain things one did that keep the wheels of social interaction go smoothly but there were a few she didn’t learn. I know Coworker 1 grew up in a very dysfunctional family and was also isolated socially during abusive marriages so didn’t learn how to act in certain social situations over time like other people do. Heck, I didn’t have some of those advantages and I had to figure out how to navigate certain situations on the fly but also read books and paid attention to what “naturally” gracious people did.

A jerk is someone who knows those cues but ignores them and doesn’t care.