Why Spiritual Intelligence is the Advantage that Matters Now

Michelle Burns

Executive Coach for Christians Ready to Transform Faith into Action with Mindset, Emotional Intelligence, and Executive Presence

Get it Wrong, and AI Becomes Your Master. Get it Right, and AI Becomes Your Servant.

The Battle Between Head, Heart, and Holy Inspiration. When Innovation Meets Divinity

We are living in an age where the speed of innovation has outpaced the speed of introspection. Artificial Intelligence promises to revolutionize everything, from how we work to how we think, but it also invites a deeper question: What happens when creation forgets its Creator?

This isn’t just a conversation about machines. It’s a conversation about meaning. About whether progress should come at the cost of presence. Whether efficiency is worth the price of essence.

The Rise of AI and the Rejection of the Divine

Some of the loudest voices in the AI revolution have made bold, unsettling claims: “We no longer need a soul.” Others have hinted that humanity can finally “replace God” through artificial intelligence.

Let that sink in.

That’s not progress, that’s pride. The same temptation that once whispered in the Garden now speaks through algorithms: “You can be like God.”

AI is powerful, yes. But power without reverence becomes dangerous.

My Journey into the AI Summit

When I attended Tony Robbins’ AI Advantage Summit, I expected tools, tactics, and maybe a little motivation. What I didn’t expect was conviction.

Yes, it was a high-energy sales pitch, let’s call it what it was. But somewhere between the slides and the success stories, a deeper truth emerged.

The turning point came when Arthur C. Brooks took the stage. Brooks reminded us that the brain has two hemispheres for a reason.

The left brain is logic, order, analysis, control. It’s the engineer, the planner, the executor.

The right brain is intuition, creativity, connection, and love. It’s the artist, the dreamer, the one who feels before it thinks.

And here’s the golden line that stayed with me:

“Never use a left-brain tool to solve a right-brain problem.”

AI is a left-brain tool. It’s brilliant at structure, speed, and efficiency, the perfect partner for logic and productivity. But it’s true gift is this: it can give you time back. Time to simply be, to reconnect, to create, to think, to pray, to love.

Use AI to handle the work that drains your energy, so you can invest that energy where it truly matters, in BEING human.

You can’t spreadsheet your way out of loneliness. You can’t code your way into compassion. You can’t automate meaning.

The Divine Design of the Human Mind

The right side of our brain is not just creative, it’s sacred. It’s where divine inspiration enters, where we feel aligned, intuitive, connected to something higher than ourselves.

When we tune into that side, we hear more than our thoughts; we hear whispers of grace.

Lose that connection, and we risk becoming data-driven shells of divine beings, efficient, but empty.

AI Can Imitate Intelligence, But Never Inspiration

AI can write poetry, paint portraits, and even mimic empathy. But it doesn’t feel. It doesn’t pray. It doesn’t love.

Intelligence without inspiration is like a body without breath. It can mimic life, but it can never embody it.

That’s why emotional intelligence will always outpace artificial intelligence, because love is not programmable.

The Ultimate Intelligence. Why SQ Leads and the Others Follow

Before we talk about where AI is going, we need to understand what truly makes us human.

Most conversations today focus on IQ (our intellect) and EQ (our emotional intelligence). Now AI is dominating the spotlight with speed and power that outperform our logic.

But there is a deeper intelligence, older than psychology, higher than intellect, and essential to true leadership:

Spiritual Intelligence (SQ).

If IQ is how you think, and EQ is how you feel and relate, then SQ is who you are becoming and why it matters.

Think of SQ as the intelligence that connects your mind to God, your emotions to meaning, and your leadership to purpose. It is the “master intelligence” that fuels the others.

IQ: The Engine

IQ solves problems, organizes information, analyzes data. It’s essential, but blind without direction.

EQ: The Crew

EQ helps you communicate, empathize, build relationships, and influence others. Powerful, but can be misused without morality.

SQ: The Rudder

SQ answers the deeper questions: What is right? What is meaningful? What is God calling me to do with my gifts? It keeps your ego in check and your actions aligned with virtue. Without the rudder, the ship drifts, no matter how powerful the engine or skilled the crew.

AI: The Machinery

AI accelerates your work, expands your reach, and multiplies your output. But it cannot choose your direction. It cannot tell you what is holy, ethical, or wise.

AI answers: “What is the fastest way to do this?” Only SQ can answer: “Should I be doing this at all?”

This is why SQ isn’t just another form of intelligence, it’s the governing force. It’s the source code behind purpose. It’s the spiritual logic that gives IQ and EQ their meaning.

And in the age of AI, the leaders who rise will be those who let SQ drive, EQ guide, IQ execute, and AI support.

That hierarchy is the new competitive advantage: Spirit → Heart → Mind → Technology

Everything starts with the Human Spirit. Lose that connection and we risk becoming data-driven shells of divine beings, efficient, but empty.

The Great Seduction, Convenience Over Connection

The danger isn’t that AI will destroy humanity. It’s that it will distract it.

Little by little, we trade prayer for productivity, reflection for results, presence for performance. We start outsourcing our thinking, and eventually, our feeling.

Efficiency becomes the new idol. But faster isn’t always better, sometimes it’s just noisier.

Use the time you save to become the person you were created to become, a little more grounded, a little more aligned.

A Call to Re-Center the Heart

Before you open your laptop, open your heart.

Start your day in prayer or meditation. Breathe. Create something without an algorithm’s assistance. Let inspiration, not automation, lead your morning.

Once your heart is aligned, use AI as a tool, not a teacher. Let it help you execute what divine inspiration has already authored.

Faith and Technology, Partners or Opponents?

Technology is not the enemy. Pride is.

When we place technology under divine authority, using it to serve humanity, it becomes a tool, not a competitor.

AI should never replace our relationship with God; it should refine our reach, our message, our ability to serve.

The Power of Emotional Intelligence in an AI World

AI can analyze patterns, but it can’t perceive pain. It can predict outcomes, but it can’t offer compassion.

That’s where emotional intelligence steps in, the sacred synthesis of empathy, awareness, and understanding.

The leaders who thrive in this new era won’t be the most efficient; they’ll be the most spiritually and emotionally intelligent.

My Time in the Mountains, A Creative Awakening

For the past three months, I’ve been on a creative retreat in the Rocky Mountains.

Here, I rediscovered something AI can’t replicate, stillness, connection, faith.

When you quiet the noise, you remember that God’s voice isn’t loud. It’s the whisper that says, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

From Resistance to Revelation. My Christian Leadership Shift

For twenty-four years, I’ve devoted my life to this work, Life Coaching, Mindset and Emotional Intelligence, Relationships, Addiction Recovery, Holistic Health, Executive Coaching. I’ve walked with people through reinvention, healing, growth, and breakthrough. But nothing has transformed my work, my calling, or my confidence the way this next step has.

Bringing my faith into my coaching has been the most significant shift of my entire career. Not because it changes what I do, but because it changes why I do it, and Who I do it for.

What began as resistance has become revelation. What I once avoided has become the most grounded, aligned, and powerful expression of my purpose. I’m no longer separating the spiritual from the professional. I’m integrating them, intentionally, unapologetically, wholeheartedly.

Now, I’m stepping fully into Christian Life and Leadership Coaching, developing this work with a level of commitment and clarity I’ve never known before.

And yes, I’ve launched a podcast to support this mission: The Holy Coach Podcast.

This isn’t just a new chapter. It’s the turning point where everything I’ve learned, taught, and lived over two decades finally converges into one integrated calling.

The Future Belongs to the Heart-Led

As AI accelerates, humanity must awaken. The future won’t belong to the smartest, it will belong to the most authentic.

To those who use wisdom without losing wonder. To those who blend innovation with integrity. To those who remember that every code, every click, every creation carries the fingerprint of its Creator.

Keeping God in the Code

AI is not the enemy of God, but it’s not a substitute either.

Use it wisely. Let it multiply your mission, not your ego. Let it free your time, not your conscience.

When we lead with love, we create technology that serves, not seduces. The world doesn’t need more artificial intelligence, it needs awakened intelligence.

Be intentional with the time AI gives back to you. Don’t let those extra hours disappear into distraction. Invest them where they multiply your life: create something that didn’t exist yesterday, reach out to someone you love, walk outside and let nature calibrate you, sit in silence and pray, pursue the work make you come alive.

Thanks for reading. If you’re feeling called to go deeper:

• Listen to The Holy Coach Podcast: https://tr.ee/lSHwmo

• Join the Waitlist:  The Foundations of Holiness Bootcamp. www.burnscoach.com

• Book a Free 30-Minute Clarity Session: https://tr.ee/C7lg0M

Blessings, Michelle

FAQs

1. Can AI ever have consciousness?

No. It can simulate awareness but not experience it. Consciousness requires a soul, something only God can breathe into being.

2. How can faith and technology coexist?

When technology serves truth and love, it becomes an extension of faith. The key is stewardship, not surrender.

3. What role does emotional intelligence play in leadership today?

It’s everything. In a world of automation, empathy is the new authority.

4. How do I stay spiritually grounded while using AI?

Anchor yourself in prayer, community, and reflection before engaging with tech. Keep your inner world stronger than your digital one.

5. What’s next for faith-based professionals in the age of AI?

A renaissance of purpose. Those who combine faith, creativity, and intelligence will lead the next era, not through algorithms, but through authenticity.

burnscoach.com