The Three Quotients

The first one of these three, Intelligence Quotient is widely known as an index of one's intelligence. The second, Emotional Quotient  is the ability to manage one's emotions in a positive way. It is more effective than the first in navigating one's way through life, the most popular example being "Forrest Gump" who though having a below average IQ, lived a successful life.

The third, which is quite neglected, is Cultural Quotient, which really enriches a truly human life. Here, it is timely to remember the root of the word "Culture", which is "Cultus" or Divine Worship according to Josef Pieper, a German Catholic, who wrote an influential book "Leisure, The Basis of Culture." It was in reaction to the frenetic reconstruction of post-war Germany, which was in accordance with "The Protestant Ethic & The Spirit of Capitalism" by Max Weber earlier. Pieper's message was "The idolatry of the machine, the worship of mindless knowhow, the infantile cult of youth & the common mind are drifting us towards the slave society." (New York Times Book Review.)

Pieper felt that the core of Culture (Cultus) is Divine Worship. It is noteworthy to recollect that music & literature also began as a part of Divine Worship. (Gregorian Chants, Samaveda etc.,) In the West, Divine Worship is being sidelined with increasing social aberrations as collateral damage. In the East, it is just used to procure what the IQ or EQ cannot.

Pieper's book has become more relevant than when it was first published half a century ago as religion has been pushed out & overwork glorified beyond its worth. Generations are coming up who are not even aware that they are culturally severely challenged.

Dr.Zena Hitz, a Ph.D from Princeton, also buttresses similar ideas in her "Lost in Thought - The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life." She also spent some time in a Catholic Community, leading a Thoreau like life. She writes that few experiences are so fulfilling as the inner life, whether that of a bookworm or amateur musician, or someone who takes a deep interest in one of countless other subjects.