# i4 : Emotional Intelligence >[!Info] >The [[Intelligences|sensitivity]] to the emotions of other beings (including non-human life forms), felt as your own. Not simply the ability to mentally tag the emotions of others, but the actual tendency to feel them mirrored in oneself spontaneously. # Overview | Ancestor Species | [[4 - Mammals\|Mammal]] | | ------------------------ | -------------------------------- | | **Emerged in Evolution** | ~200 Million Years Ago | | **Associated Location** | [[4 · 💚 · Heart]] | | **Alternative Names** | Relational, Empathetic, Resonant | # Often Seen In - Therapists - Nurses - Counselors - Elementary school teachers - Childcare providers - Elderly caretakers - Life coaches - Priests, clergy - Social workers - Humanitarian Aid workers - Volunteers - Non-profit workers - Social justice activists - Philanthropists - Community organizers - Healers - Waiters, service industry workers - Customer support specialists - Psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists - Human-centered & product designers - Human resources departments # High i4 Strengths In short, empathy and compassion. - Making others feel loved, seen and heard - Holding space for the emotions of others - Resonating with others quickly; Fast affinity - Building and maintaining strong relationships - Understanding other perspectives, where others are coming from - Providing others with nurturing care - Counseling people and help them heal - Reacting quickly to others' emotional needs - Ability to help people calm down, relax, feel safe - Being sensitive to social justice, advocates for others - Effortlessly romantic, makes loved ones feel special - Can be the bridge between people / groups with low affinity - Notices when people are falling behind and slows down for them - Can share hard truths that would otherwise by ignored by wrapping them in love # High i4 Weaknesses - Over-sensitivity to negative emotions of oneself and others - Tendency to take emotional information very seriously when it may have been subconscious or unintentional on the part of the other party - Quick to feel alone or abandoned with lack of love - Can become shy or fearful of interaction with others, especially those of opposing viewpoints or large crowds - Fear of or aversion to difficult conversations, conflict, or tension in relationships - Giving too much without receiving enough in return - Long recovery times - or longer lasting wounds - from painful emotional encounters - Hyperactive sympathetic pain, feeling the pain of others even when not trying to - Becoming easily exhausted or burnt out by cold, low-affinity, or suboptimal interactions # Low i4 Weaknesses - Being overly sensitive to one's own emotional states, downplaying the significance of or similarity to others'. - I would say this is actually the biggest weakness or noticeable characteristic of low i4 I have personally observed. It may seem intuitive that people with low i4 are less emotional people in general. On the contrary, I have found them to be just as emotional as others, and sometimes even more tortured by them. The reason for this is they are more blind to the feelings of others, and thus have a harder time being uplifted by others positive moods or feel like people know what they are experiencing in their own negative moods. This can lead to a feelings of isolation, being misunderstood, and suffering in silence even when others ARE resonating with them. I have seen this be exacerbated by the presence of a low i5, and the resulting inability to communicate one's internal states to others, creating a vicious cycle. - Disregarding emotions of others; Relationships are more difficult - Being blindsided or confused by others' behavior due to lack of intelligence about their internal states - Difficulty in making others feel loved, cared for, appreciated, seen - Rubbing people the wrong way unintentionally - Difficulty making friends - Social awkwardness (unable to read cues & one's emotions are separate from others) # Commonly Confused With Due to i4 being the one other intelligence (besides [[i6 - Abstract Intelligence|i6]], the intelligence assumed in our culture to be the default) that is discussed in contemporary culture[^1] often, most of the other more creative or non-linear intelligences get lumped in with it - namely i2, i5, and i7. ### Confusion with i2, Aesthetic Intelligence Both [[i2 - Aesthetic Intelligence|i2]] and i4 have a sensitivity to the non-tangible "vibes" coming off a person or in a space. However, i2 is more concerned with the energetics created by sensory objects like the colors, the sounds, and textures. The "vibe" i2 picks up on can have emotional resonance, but the primary measurement being taken is "how does this vibe taste?" as opposed to i4's "how are they feeling?" i4 on the other hand focuses more on people and their emotions than things and their vibes. Sounds, outfits, decor, etc are seen through the lens of their emotional significance first, over their aesthetic value. Often, high i4 people may be dearly attached to aesthetically mundane or even ugly objects if they have an emotional connection to it, and prize it in the face of external aesthetic scrutiny - think an old couch, a beaten tee or blankie. ### Confusion with i5, Expressive Intelligence Both [[i5 - Expressive Intelligence|i5]] and i4 are concerned with reading the information coming off people more than any of the other intelligences. However, i5 is more sensitive to what the person is trying to say, if they are being authentic or not, and the dynamics of the overall social interaction over feeling what the other person is feeling. i5 can also communicate great sympathy without actually feeling it (if there is a low i4), whereas i4 can sometimes be feeling it but not be able to communicate it (if low i5). i4 is less interested in the social performance of it all and more about the resonance happening with the other person. It is less interested in the things said and the skill of the communication and more on the depth of the feelings conveyed, and if the emotions are seeming to align or not. i4 is also less interested in masking itself or changing than i5 is, which is characteristically mercurial and adaptive, attempting to match the affect of the other person to be heard. ### Confusion with i7, Spiritual Intelligence High stacking or development of both [[i7 - Spiritual Intelligence|i7]] and i4 often result in valuing compassion, service, and surrender to a higher order than one's own needs. Both of them are also often interested in the concept of ethics, or right action. However, the generator function of i7 is to find what is finally True in the cosmos, and thus what it all means. i7 wants to know what type of story this universe is, what type of game is being played here[^2], and how to be its hero or winner respectively. i7's ethics comes downstream from that view, and can sometimes differ greatly from what humans intuitively desire, like love, having children, community, etc (like in the case of becoming a monk). The generator function of i4 on the other hand is concerned with human beings and their emotions, and its ethics flows downstream from that. Isolating oneself in a cave for years in silence for some spiritual purpose flies in the face of what i4 values, which is intimacy, closeness, and vulnerability with other humans. So i4 ethics often look very similar across human cultures and time, whereas i7 ethics can look drastically different, and many of them historically have downplayed inter-human love as secondary to love of the divine, and potentially even being a slippery slope to sin. # Archetype Resonances Coming soon! [^1]: This started in earnest during the post-war period with the widespread adoption of [[Drive 4 - Love|Level 4]] which of prioritizes its correlate intelligence, i4. This emergence took many forms, some of them being the counterculture, civil right movement, hippies, etc. Recent social movements like Marriage Equality, Me Too, Black Lives Matter, and Women Life Freedom have also pushed empathy for others to the forefront of the conversation. [^2]: For example, the Christian view is that the game being played here is a Test. Things were perfect, we screwed it up, but now we have an opportunity to do good and if we do good enough we get to go back to that perfect place forever. Buddhism is that we are in an illusory, fundamentally unfulfilling dream world ([Samsara](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa%E1%B9%83s%C4%81ra)), and the goal is to wake up from it as fast as possible and help as many others as you can do the same.