Understanding Intuition

Understanding Intuition

In another discussion, the subject of the intuition came up. Someone suggested it was just the sub-conscious.

To me, sub-conscious is a poor term as it describes the subjective experience rather than the function. ‘Habit mind’ offers a better understanding. It is a high speed habit processing function that operates just out of direct awareness. This provides us with the ability to do things like riding a bike, walking, and eating with utensils. Things we’ve programmed through learning or have been instinctually pre-programmed with. While sub-conscious/ habit mind may be very fast, it runs on habit and automatic response like fight-flight. It is not creative. We could use a computer as an analogy. It cannot come to conclusions it has not already been programmed with.

Intuition is a different bird. It’s not precise like linear thought but rather generalized and more subtle. It offers pre-sensory impressions that rely on our ‘conscious’ mind to ‘pick up’ and interpret.

Some suggest it is consciousness itself, but it is occurring within consciousness (the observer), so is still mind but rather than sub, it is simply subtler or less focused. It is not below but rather inclusive of. In that generalized state, to borrow physics terms, there is non-locality and entanglement. Put another way, on the intuitive level everything is pre-connected or interrelated. Thus no linear
processing is required. The correct result is simple there, if one knows how to listen. It can seem to ‘jump’ or flow into awareness.

This is meta-physics in the strict sense of the term, but I avoid using the term as it is so misused. It may sound like spooky science but is very much reflected in recent Physics.

The process is pretty straightforward really. If you go deeper into the mind or deeper into physical reality, it becomes increasing less localized and more interconnected until it becomes pure possibility.

But quite simply, you can’t get there with linear thinking. There’s no lines. More like fields.

But you’re right. Every person thinks both ways as all thoughts arises within mind. They are not so much separate ways of thinking as different layers of thinking. Different ways of using the functions.
Davidya

Addendum:
As the discussion continued, processing mind was raised.

I also differentiate this processing mind from sub-conscious/habit mind and intuition as it operates consciously but background and serves a different purpose. Many of you may process work problems or organize things in your dreams or daydreams, for example. This processing may use intuitive function or simply process, crunch the numbers as it where. The results don’t rise in a quick leap but rather a light bulb at the end.

Some people do more intellectual processing such as problem solving or planning and thus need downtime to do such processing, over and above dreams. It may gets noisier and more demanding of resources sometimes. Hence, daydreaming or at least disengaging a bit.

Mind needs time to organize information locally, integrate new data/experiences and resolve data conflicts. Nonlocal intuitive function is too general for data.

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