In our previous teaching in this series, we drew a correspondence between the three parts of the Bible and the types of intelligence, the faculties of the intellect, and the physical parts of the brain. As we saw, the faculty of wisdom corresponds to the right lobe of the brain, to the first part of the Bible—the Five books of Moses—and to intellectual intelligence. The faculty of understanding corresponds to the left lobe of the brain, to the Bible’s second part, the Prophets, and to emotional intelligence. Finally, the faculty of knowledge, which corresponds to the Bible’s third part, the Writings, corresponds to the back lobe of the brain, which has a right side and a left side to it, and thus also corresponds to the two remaining types of intelligence, intuitive intelligence to the right and instinctive intelligence to the left.
FacultyPart of brainPart of BibleType of IntelligenceVital Organ WisdomRight lobeFive Books of MosesIntellectualBrain UnderstandingLeft lobeProphetsEmotionalHeart KnowledgeRight side of back lobeWritingsIntuitiveKidneys KnowledgeLeft side of back lobeWritingsInstinctiveLiverWe will refer to this as Model 1.
AN ALTERNATE PERSPECTIVE
However, often we are taught that it is wisdom and the right lobe of the brain that are the seat of intuitive intelligence and that it is understanding and the left lobe that correspond with intellectual intelligence (or simply – intelligence, the type measured by an IQ test). Given these two parallels, knowledge, which resides in the brain’s posterior lobe, which once more divides in two, the right and the left part, must correspond to the two remaining types of intelligence: emotional and instinctive.
FacultyPart of brainPart of BibleType of IntelligenceVital Organ WisdomRight lobeFive Books of MosesIntuitiveBrain UnderstandingLeft lobeProphetsIntellectualHeart KnowledgeRight side of back lobeWritingsEmotionalKidneys KnowledgeLeft side of back lobeWritingsInstinctiveLiverWe will refer to this as Model 2.
So, we have two different pictures or models of how the different types of intelligence correspond to the different faculties of the intellect and parts of the brain. As discussed earlier in this series, these faculties shine their light (or manifest themselves) in the body’s vital organs too—the brain, the heart, the liver, and the kidneys.
From a Torah perspective, whenever we have two different possible models, unlike the way they would be treated scientifically, where only one can be right, we view them both as correct. It just depends on the context we are in. Let us try to explain this in depth by bringing an example from modern science.
FROM THEORY TO APPLICATION
The main difference between the two models is where to put our intuitive intelligence (in wisdom or in the right side of knowledge). But as we said, this is really a question of context. Intuition is necessary both in seeking a new theoretical discovery as well as for applying a new discovery in a practical way. Let us explain.
The different areas of science—physics, chemistry, and biology—all begin with mathematics. Mathematics represents the theoretical framework upon which every hard science needs to be based. But each scientific discipline constitutes a different application of mathematics. Mathematics and its principles are always the same, but the ways in which it is applied vary from discipline to discipline. Thus, in science, to bring about innovation, to advance and progress in science, two general forms of intuitive intelligence or insight are used and both are required. The first is the intuitive intelligence necessary for discovering a theoretical innovation. This could be a new mathematical insight. The second is the intuitive intelligence needed to apply the theoretical finding to reality. To invent a new technology that is based on the new theoretical knowledge that the intuitive wisdom in our mind has discovered. Both are important and necessary. Elsewhere, we have corresponded mathematics with the faculty of wisdom. Thus, the discovery of a new mathematical method would constitute intuitive intelligence in wisdom. The application of that method in a practical way constitutes the intuitive intelligence as it is associated with the faculty of knowledge (the right side of knowledge). More about this in a moment.
The natural order is that first there must be an innovation at the theoretical level, and then afterwards there must come an innovation in how to apply it to reality, how to create or invent something new that will help mankind. Both the theoretical side and the applied side must involve insight, or intuition. To invent something new, to find a new application, certainly demands intuition. If it did not demand intuition, then it would be just an automatic consequence of the newly discovered theory. Stated in philosophical language, if finding an application were automatic, it would indicate that the application could be deduced from the discovery, but in fact it requires induction—to learning something new from given facts—to find the application and this requires deep insight. Thus, discovering or inventing a new application requires a soul, a living soul that has deep knowledge and devotes itself to study, and wants to understand, wants to be able to make a positive contribution to humanity. This soul receives inspiration, which we may even refer to as Divine inspiration from above, and the person with this soul intuits how to apply the new theoretical discovery and make it practical, make it applicable and useful in our physical reality. We will call this type of intuition: applied intuitive intelligence and this is the type of intuitive intelligence that is associated by the sages with the kidneys, because they represent how to make an innovation work in practice. As the sages say, the kidneys give advice. What advice do they give? They give pragmatic advice; how to apply things to reality in the best way. But the theoretical side, making a new theoretical discovery, clearly demands great intuition, whether the discovery is in mathematics or in physics or in any other discipline of science (not to forget psychology, art, music, and other humanity oriented disciplines).
So, in our first model, intuitive intelligence refers to the intuition required to discover or invent a new application. We therefore correspond the right side of the faculty of knowledge with this type of intuition. Based on this first model, we explained that wisdom itself, which enlightens all the mental faculties, corresponds to intellectual intelligence. Understanding, which shines its light into the heart, into the basic three emotions of the heart—love, fear, and compassion—corresponds to emotional intelligence. But the faculty of knowledge, which enlightens the kidneys and the liver, corresponds to intuitive and instinctive intelligence, with the two corresponding to the two halves of knowledge, the right side of knowledge (intuitive intelligence) and the left side of knowledge (instinctive intelligence), respectively.
INTELLECT, EMOTIONS, AND HABITS
But considering Model 2 that we introduced above and its correspondence, we must rearrange intellectual and intuitive intelligence.
This new model considers all 10 powers of the soul, which are divided traditionally into three parts: the intellect (mind), the emotional, and the habitual. In the mind itself, intuitive intelligence corresponds to wisdom, and intellectual intelligence to understanding. The third faculty of the intellect, knowledge, acts like a bridge that connects the mind with the emotional and habitual powers of the soul.
The way this is described is that wisdom and understanding are like a father and mother that give birth to children—the emotional and habitual powers of the soul. The process of giving birth is mediated by the faculty of knowledge, which again, divides into a right side and a left side. The right side of knowledge descends and connects the mind to the first three primary emotional powers of the soul, represented by the heart. These emotional powers are relatively right oriented, relative to the three habitual powers. The emotional powers are known, in translation to English, as loving kindness, might, and beauty (which experientially refers to mercy, or compassion: a beautiful soul is a compassionate soul).
The left side of knowledge bridges the mind with the three lower, habitual powers of the soul, which in translation to English are called: victory, acknowledgment, and foundation. They are experienced in the psyche as confidence, earnestness, and verification (or self-fulfillment), respectively. The habitual powers, as we said before, represent the powers of application. They tell us how to use or apply our intellectual intelligence and our emotional intelligence; how to apply them in practice. The three lower habitual powers are left-oriented because they are bridged by the left side of knowledge (and action-deed in relation to pure emotion is left relative to right – deed requires might (things – changing things in reality – don't come easy, whereas pure emotion is primarily an expression of love).
According to both models, the left side of knowledge is instinctive—it is the origin of instinctual intelligence and all of the habitual powers of the soul.
1. The sum of the Hebrew words for “brain heart kidneys liver” (תיוֹלְּד כֵבָּּב כֵ לַחֹמ) is 572, or 22 times 26, where 22 is the number of letters in Hebrew and 26 is the value of God’s essential Name, Havayah, the Tetragrammaton, thus representing the revelation of God’s Name in each of the 22 letters, the building blocks of every word in the Bible. The simplest letter representation of 22 is כב and of 26 is כו. When we add them together we get the word for “star” (בָּכֹוּכ), one of the connotations of the Mashiach (Numbers 24:17).
2. The essence of Godel’s incompleteness theorem states that no axiomatic system is closed, meaning that by deduction alone, one cannot prove all the true statements in the system. One needs to step “out” of the system, as it were, to prove all of its statements.
