Einstein argued that intuition is a valuable human capacity.¹

Valuing intuition

      Eastern philosophy has always valued intuition. Shankara regarded intuition (anubhava) as the most important means of grasping the nature of reality. The Buddha emphasised the importance of bodhi, or intuitive enlightenment. In early Buddhism, prajna, or intuitive insight, was regarded as the highest activity of the human mind.²

      Jesus had intuitive access to the Spirit that permeates all reality. His intuitions were direct, immediate.

      The Gospel of John depicts Jesus suggesting to people that in encountering him they were encountering God. It was for this reason that his followers argued he was the "Word (creative Spirit, cosmic energy, divine Wisdom) become flesh". To his detractors, and to those wavering on the edge of belief, he explained that his words were not his own, but came from his Father.³

      The West has undervalued intuition. Instead, as Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan commented, it has based its approach to knowledge and philosophy on what it sees as the certainty of mathematics and mathematical logic.⁴ Its interest is in processes of discovery, rather than in the life being investigated.⁵

A definition

      What is intuition?

      Intuition is an elusive capacity, rendering any definition slippery. It is best understood by being experienced. However, in spite of this slipperiness I will attempt a tentative definition. [81]

      Intuition can be roughly defined as "a holistic means of discernment that grasps realities as wholes, rather than parts, and that is not governed by conscious cognitive processes".

      The conviction that intuitions come to us as wholes has been argued by James Hillman, who contended that our perceptions of people are intuitive. We take them in as wholes, not as parts that are consequently fitted together.⁶

Jung

      According to Jung, intuition is a way of perceiving reality. It differs from sensation in that it pays attention, not to sensate clues, but to underlying energies and connections. It involves a transmission of images. The process of intuition often disengages thinking, feeling and sensation, because these capacities can frustrate its operation.⁷

      Nevertheless, intuition can accompany and inform our thinking and feeling.

      Jung also argued that intuition will be employed by extroverts, for whom the external world is of primary interest, in their encounters with that world.⁸ Introverts, whose focus is inward, will use it to explore their inner world.⁹

A connection

      While Jung distinguished between sensation and intuition, evidence indicates that there is a form of "intuition", or direct knowing, which characterises women's perceptiveness.

      Research focusing on differences between male and female brains suggests that women are more "intuitive" than men in this regard because of the heightened capacity of their senses, and because, in women, the two halves of the cerebral cortex are better co-ordinated. The corpus callosum, the bundle of nerves fibres that link the two hemispheres, is thicker in women than in men, allowing for better communication between the two sides of the brain.¹⁰ [82]

      Further evidence for the connection between bodily sensation and intuition has arisen from an investigation of the function of endorphins.

      Candice Pert, co-discoverer of the endorphins, and her team of researchers found that monocytes, a type of white blood cell that is central to the immune response, has receptors in the lining of the intestinal tract as well as in the brain.¹¹ Pert argued that this fact probably explains why some people have "gut feelings" about people, situations or issues.¹²

      Helen Palmer, an authority on the Enneagram, which looks at personality types, argued that different forms of intuition are developed early in life, based on the mix of psychological signals to which children attend. We do not all attend to the same signals.¹³

Observation

      It is easier to observe intuition than to define it.

Relationships

      Intuition allows us to reach beyond external cues, thus enabling us to grasp the essence of a person or situation instantly, and as a whole.

      Intuition is a valuable tool; to be used with care by councillors, therapists and spiritual directors. Jung, an introverted intuitive, used intuition to explore his unconscious.

      To engage others intuitively, and at depth, we need to be open and empathic.

Artistic creativity

      Artistic creativity relies on intuition. The initial inspiration is intuitively gifted. Illustrations of this phenomenon, according to Hillman, are evident in Kant's theory of aesthetics and Mozart's compositions.¹⁴

      I enjoy writing poetry. When I feel the urge to write, I descend into the silent places of the bodyself. [83]

Philosophy

      Intuition also informs philosophy.

      Philosophy is based on the assumption that life is meaningful, even for those who find meaning in life's meaninglessness. The assumption of meaningfulness is intuited.

      Furthermore, philosophy operates on the basis of an intuitive methodology.

      Plato's theory of "recollection", the notion that there are certain things we "recollect", from a prior existence, suggests that the business of living requires us to be in possession of truths that are supplied neither by reason nor the senses.¹⁵ They are intuitively discerned. Even Hegel, who was dismissive of intuition, talked about a World Spirit. This concept came to him, not through sense perception or logical demonstration, but through intuition.¹⁶

      It is not surprising that philosophers, particularly those concentrating on the analysis of language, should be dismissive of intuition. However, as Abraham Maslow commented, if all we have to work with is a hammer, all we will see is nails.¹⁷

      A different perspective was suggested by Friedrich Nietzsche, who, in talking about philosophy, suggested that hope and intuition give it wings. In this process, calculating reason is left far behind.¹⁸

      Radhakrishnan argued that there are three complementary ways of exploring reality--through the senses, through reason, and through intuition.¹⁹

      The Indian philosopher contended that it is through intuition that we grasp situations holistically, as a unity, rather than in bits and pieces. For example, a sunset that overwhelms us with its beauty is experienced as a whole, not as fragments that we put together.²⁰

      Radhakrishnan also argued that intuitive insight is inseparable from self-knowledge. His point was that intuition represents the ultimate vision of the deepest dimensions of our being.²¹ He also suggested that intuitive insight, married to sympathetic understanding, enables us to know others' minds from the inside.²² [84]

      Radhakrishnan further contended that intuition derives from participation rather than observation. In other words, we only know Brahman by participating in Brahman, by becoming one with it.²³ Spinoza, in his Short Treatise, similarly argued that intuition does not convince by the accumulations of reasons, but by union with the thing itself.²⁴

      Radhakrishnan contended that intuition is not a-logical but supra-logical.²⁵ It is not contrary to logic. It transcends logic. It represents the deepest rationality of which we are capable.²⁶ For Radhakrishnan, intuition is neither abstract analysis nor primitive sentience, but wisdom.²⁷

Scientific discovery

      Maslow argued that there were two types of scientists, both of whom were essential to the progress of science. Those in the first group are like tiny marine animals that are responsible for building up coral reefs. They patiently accumulate facts and verify theories by replication. The second group are the "eagles of science", whose flights of imagination revolutionise the way we think about the world. These eagles rely on intuition more than their colleagues do.²⁸

      Maynard Keynes argued that Isaac Newton's intuition was extraordinary. His discoveries were the consequence of the exercise of this intuition. The proofs he advanced, in support of his discoveries, came later.²⁹

      The French scientist, Henri Poincaré, recalling an experience in which intuition played a central role, argued that one of his most significant discoveries came to him unbidden as he was stepping onto a bus. Verification of the insight came later.³⁰

      Einstein made a similar observation about his working methods. He argued that words or language didn't appear to play any role in the initial discovery. Words and other signs came later, in a laborious, secondary stage.³¹ [85]

Personal growth

      Intuition is also important in co-operating with those elements within us responsible for the unfolding of our potentialities.

      It is through intuition that we discern the movement and moods of the unconscious. Dream interpretation, which facilitates this development, is not a mechanical process, but a subtle exercise in intuitive awareness and amplification.

      Dialoguing with our bodies is an intuitive activity.

      Working with others, in furthering their individuation, the developing of their potentialities and individuality, is also an intuitive process, necessitating an intuitive understanding of ourselves, of others, and of the dynamics of the engagement.

Extra-sensory perception

      Some people equate ESP with intuition. However, while ESP may occasionally employ the same channels of communication as intuition, and while ESP is associated with a state of heightened awareness, we should not automatically equate the two experiences.

      Some argue that ESP represents a heightening of sensate awareness, rather than an intuitive apprehension that goes beyond the data presented by the senses. Pre-cognition, that is, discerning events before they happen, could be an exception. Generally, ESP, like ordinary sense perception, presents the sense data on which intuition works.³²

The unconscious

      Intuition is not a conscious process.

      All great art arises intuitively, from the unconscious.

      Jung argued that there were two types of art. The first was consciously produced. The second was the gift of the unconscious.

      In a lecture delivered in May 1922, in which he explored the relationship between Analytical Psychology and poetry, Jung described the means by which the first type was produced, arguing that it involved conscious intention--the deliberate [86] measuring and balancing of the constituent elements making up the work.³³

      In contrast to this process, the literature that arose from the unconscious flowed in its completeness from the author's pen. It forced itself upon him. He stood back, amazed at the thoughts and images that cascaded in upon him. This alien influence convinced him that the work he was creating was not identical with him. It was greater than he was. He was subordinate to the work, which seemed as if it was being created by another.³⁴

      Jung argued that it is the second of these creative processes that generates great art.

Givenness

      There is a givenness about intuition.

      While it is possible for us to descend into our bodies and consciously dialogue with elements of the unconscious, intuitive insights, emerging from the unconscious, are generally serendipitous. Like dreams, they are autonomous, spontaneous.

      Radhakrishnan argued that intuition arises spontaneously from a fullness of life.³⁵ Hillman similarly contended that intuitions come to us, we do not create them.³⁶ Jonas Salk, creator of the Salk vaccine, confessed that he woke every morning wondering what gift his intuition would throw up.³⁷

      The poet, A E Housman, no less excited by intuitive offerings, explained that he would be going about his business, when suddenly, out of the blue, a verse or two, or a stanza would come into his mind, frequently accompanied by an element of emotion.³⁸

      Sometimes intuitions come fully formed. One of the clearest examples of this phenomenon was Mozart's method of working, where a composition would present itself to his mind, not successively, but in its entirety.³⁹

      Intuitions often come unbidden when we are in a state of relaxation and when we are not consciously thinking about the subject connected with the intuition. [87]

      The givenness of creative intuition is sometimes associated with the collective unconscious, particularly with the gestation of ideas within close-knit communities.

Trusting your intuition

      It is important to trust our intuition.

      We do this when we pay attention to feelings, hunches, creative urges and dreams. If we don't attend to intuitions we may miss opportunities.

      Intuitive discernment is a function of the bodyself. The more we are in touch with our bodies, the more sensitive will we be to intuitions. Loving another, by opening up additional channels of communication, enhances our capacity to intuitively discern relational nuances.

A caution

      We should recognise that intuition can be disconcertingly accurate or wide of the mark.

      It is important, therefore, to test intuitive assessments against the evidence of our senses and the analytical judgment of our reason. We should also be aware that intuition has a shadow side. As Hillman argued, it can manifest its shadow side in the opportunism of the psychopath.⁴⁰

Balance

      While it can err, or be conscripted into the service of a pathology, intuition is a life-enhancing capacity. [88]

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