Kindness in the human face

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During a recent work trip to New York, my husband made a presentation about how to detect different levels of intelligence in the human face. If you look at pictures of children you can see a 'natural' level of intelligence, where the whole face is engaged and you will see a lovely sparkle in the eyes. When children reach adolescence the sparkle begins to disappear - and for many this sparkle may never return to quite the same degree as you see in childhood. Some people though, seem to have re-found this sparkle through living 'spiritually intelligent'.

When asked who people find spiritually intelligent many have answered Gandhi, Mother Teresa, The Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. I recently suggested primatologist and UN Peace Messenger Jane Goodall - well-known for her 45-year study of chimpanzees. Well, I might be a bit colored, but I believe that 45 years of kindness and protection of animals can be 'detected' in her face - and to me this represents someone with spiritual intelligence.

My husband used pictures of all these people in this recent presentation, and just afterwards a lady came up and told a fascinating story (I was present at this presentation). Just two days before her husband (a journalist for a major news network) had interviewed Jane Goodall in Central Park. During the interview he noticed something remarkable happen. All kinds of animals from around the park began to gather around them and wanted to be near Jane Goodall (the hairs on my arms stood up when I heard this - literally!!). After the interview he asked her about this seeming phenomenon, and Jane Goodall told him that it happens all the time where ever she is around.

This story is one of those fine pieces of evidence that animals clearly can sense and register kindness and empathy in humans. Not that I need it to be convinced... but I simply like gathering all these little eye openers for the world to see.