Theos-Talk Archives (June 1998 Message tt00171)

> Thoa Tran wrote:
> > I think of intuition as more than animal instinct.  To me, animal
instinct
> > (as far as mating, gathering food, and other common survival functions)
> > involves a built in practical mechanism.
> > Intuition, which helps in finding
> > solutions to complex questions and helps us connect to other beings,
> > involve a deeper source.  It feels to me like a point of contact to the
> > knowing All.  Thought, to me, is dependent on the data gathering and
> > conceptual system.  This depends on how much data we have is more
limited
> > than intuition.

> > From: "Bart Lidofsky" <bartl@sprynet.com>
> 	This is close to my own concept of intuition; it is knowledge that
> comes to the manas through the Atma by way of the Buddhi. However,
> animals and children who have not yet learned to speak have the
> capability of seeing things that most humans are trained and conditioned
> not to see. This is sometimes also called "intuition", but is really
> based in the temporary, "lower" principles, and is based in mentation in
> the midbrain.
>
You've hit on some of the confusion with defining intuition:
1. A lot of people confuse non-verbal thought processes with intuition.
Just because you can get from point A to point J without mechanical
thought, doesn't make it is intuition.  For example, I do a lot of data
design in my job.  Complex data modeling consists of breaking down
functionally identified constructs into idealized constructs and
abstracting attributes and relationships into a generalized model.
Physically, this work is done using diagrams.  When you do this 8 hours a
day, you start storing stable model components physically, rather than
mentally.  It's like guitar players "storing" the chords in their fingers.
Or the phone numbers you can't remember unless your fingers "dial" the
number.  So when you do this, you find your self making great leaps, A to
F, F to L, etc...It's not because you intuitively understand things better,
it's just exploitating alternate memory stores.  Of course when you do
this, it's hard to explain A to F to others.  I actually find it physically
painful --it's like extracting a sleeping dog from it's chair --the thought
doesn't belong where it is, but it's become comfortable.
2. People mistake stimulation from less-used senses for intuition (or
precognition).  I think the sense of smell is the leading culprit here.For
years, acknowledgment of human pheremones is taboo.   Proportionately, the
sense of smell occupies a relatively large portion of our brain, but
culturally, we repress it.  For example, at work (excuse me for the dual
reference, but I'm a Capricorn, so part of me is always at work), I've
found myself getting a whiff of air that reminds me of the administrative
building at SUNY-Binghamton 20 years ago. I think of graduate school.
Suddenly our new intern, soon to get his M.S. appears.  I think we form
memory and constructs of smell more than we like to admit.  There is
something primal and bestial about the sense of smell.  I had the advantage
of growing up on a farm where we were taught to recognize the smell of a
sick animal to that of a well animal and not to cringe from the repugnant
or dying.  Maybe that's why I embraced Crowley's writings when young and
still have a collection of John Water's films.
3.  If think the distinction between intuition and precognition gets
thorny.  Say someone runs a stoplight in from of me and I avoid them.   How
can we know that intuition plays a role?  If I am an alert driver and from
a distance I see a car going at too high a rate to stop safely, then
regular waking-state intellect is at play.  Suppose I had a dream the night
before of a car accident.  As I near the intersection, I get a feeling in
my stomach and slow down to an unusual speed.  Precognition.  Now, suppose
I'm going like hell as usual(intuned with my Martian self), I see the car
not stopping, and I swerve instinctually, bending around the vehicle and
emerging safely.  Instinct.  I think the only intuition scenario would be
if I was distracted by the car radio yet found myself hitting the breaks in
time, not because I was aware of the menancing car, but because it seemed
the thing to do.  From a deist perspective, I suppose I could also be
praying for eternal guidance and wisdom while I was driving and suddenly
hear that angelic voice tell me to stop the f---ing car. But I would call
that divine guidance rather than intuition.  I also suppose there's divine
intervention which would just cut out both car engines, inches from actual
collision.

Pam
pgiese@snd.softfarm.com

"Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light..."