Many eminent thinkers — from Kant to Jung to Einstein — have stressed the importance of intuition and have depended on it in their personal and professional lives. They have tended to define intuition as ‘a priori’ knowledge, as a fundamental and indispensable aspect of human nature.

Then there are those scientists and psychologists who have explained intuition away by lumping it in the same province as animal instinct. This is not so surprising since Western society has always extolled the intellect and genuflected before the altar of Reason. And we have to give reason its due. Our world could not have evolved without it since everyone of us thinks / reasons every day. But, as Aristotle said, reason is subject to error.

We must realize that intuition and reason do not stand aligned against one another. One was never meant to supplant the other but merely to balance and complement. In this light then, let us take a closer look at what intuition really is.

Intuition is a process of receiving information / insight exclusive of any rationalization, of any act of analytical application. It is how we interface with the Cosmic, our Higher Self, or whatever we want to call the Consciousness that unites us all. Intuitive impressions manifest in our objective minds and are then either acted upon or ignored. Unlike deductive or inductive reasoning (which oftentimes is open to question) true intuition is unequivocal and crystal clear…

Intuition is not a ‘woman’s thing’. Everyone has it, but intuition has to be comprehended, enhanced and then employed. Many small children are quite intuitive because parental conditioning has yet to take root, but soon even they fall into a ‘reasonable’ frame of mind after hearing the following admonition one too many times — “Now dear, don’t be silly. It’s just your imagination”. Intuition is then inhibited and ultimately smothered because, after all, father and mother know best.

Many creative people use their intuitive power. A number of famous inventors have had similar “aha” experiences. They have struggled sedulously on a particular project for weeks, sometimes months and years, and the final piece of the puzzle just does not fit. It seems that every logical option has been attempted. Then one day when they’re preoccupied with something else, relaxing in a fishing boat, they encounter this very formidable flash of insight. The answer is now so obvious!

What happens in these cases, oftentimes, is that after the analytical mind decides to take a breather, the subconscious continues to assess all current information, plus any and all suppositions and conclusions that have been previously stockpiled in the memory banks. A successful resolution sets off an ‘inspire’ alarm sending the information reverberating into objective reality.

Hold on a minute — you interrupt — I’ve had strong gut feelings before and half the time they turn out to be wrong! Intuition is unerring but our objective translation process is certainly not infallible. We can misinterpret an impulse from the higher/inner self.

Remember, depending on the state of an individual’s spiritual development / awakening, intuition can manifest in a number of ways. It can be an ephemeral impression not much stronger than the barrage of countless other thoughts that pass through our brains every day. It can be a persistent symbol or idea that seems to fly in the face of logic. It can be a physical sensation one feels in the solar plexus area, and so on…

True intuition is never vague. There is no element of doubt. Once [and only once!] you develop a feel for how your personal process functions, then remember that impulses should be acted upon — even if sometimes they don’t seem logical. Your confidence will surge as a certain level of mastery is reached. When there is a crucial decision that needs to be made or an imperative question that has to be asked you will know that a powerful ally resides within you.

Source: A series of selected excerpts from “Intuition – It Stands to Reason”, by Paul Naras on (the now defunct) ‘Vital Spark’. Shared here with permission.