Oedipus Complex and Spiritual Intelligence: Are Men Less Spiritual than Women? Part I

This article is part one of two. Its subject matter arose out of reading and research during the Covid-19 pandemic which had a threefold impact on the psychological, social, and spiritual lives of men and women under lockdown conditions. Studies show that men were likely to be more adversely impacted than women on all three accounts. This led this researcher to ask whether men were less spiritually intelligent or adept than women. I initially the research targeted colleagues and their students at tertiary institutions but after a slow uptake, it was extended to friends on Facebook and social media. Using a mixture of purposive sampling and random sampling from social media, the research set out to corroborate or contradict the view that men were less religious or spiritual than women by asking two questions: “Do you agree with the hypothesis that men are less religious or spiritual or that they have less spiritual intelligence than women? What in your own view constitutes spiritual intelligence?†The question in the sub-title, meant existentially or phenomenologically, is deliberately framed in binary terms to elicit debate. This work explains the putative lack of spiritual intelligence in men using Sigmund Freud’s Oedipus complex through an illustration from the Afikpo village-group of Nigeria. Spiritual intelligence is concerned with psycho-social-spiritual dynamics and their relationship to Homo sapiens’ or even Homo religiosus’ existential being-in-the-world leading to self-transcendence. Part I deals with the theoretical issues underpinning and arising out of my research on spiritual intelligence while Part II deals with the results of the research and the ensuing discussion.