Home | Hindi | Kabir | Poetry | Workshop | BoloKids | Writers | Contribute | Search | Contact                                                 Shop Online

Perspective    
Awaken the Giant Within
by Rajgopal Nidamboor

Gut feeling. Sixth sense. Call it what you may. But, we all seem to use it practically everyday.

Whenever we decide something — from buying a carpet for the living room, to what kind of clothes to wear for a job interview, or what kind of financial decision to make at an important meeting — the final decision always includes a contribution from the intuitive side of our minds.

Simple. Complex. Because intuition, to most people, sounds much like a mystical force, even a monumental gift. Far from it. Intuition, according to researchers is a sort of background sense: a sense of how things should work, with its facts hidden in the brain. Of logic. And, more than all that — a personal power. A power, which every human being is endowed with, albeit not all of us are mindful of its immense possibilities.

Yet, in the stressful, technological age we now live in, intuition isn’t as glamorous a word as cloning, or some newly devised, wondrous computer software. It is verily a subject with a dubious visage, almost devoid of reputation. Conventional wisdom, for instance, brands it as something intangible, supernatural, even unreliable. So much so, it’s thought to be much more a province of women — not men. Men, after all, it is often argued, have ‘hunches,’ or ‘gut feelings/responses,’ or ‘instincts.’ All hogwash, really. They are just myths, even misconceptions. Perish the thought of male superiority!

Intuition, as a matter of fact, was attributed to women more strongly than men, because it isn’t a ‘rational’ process. Popular perception has it that rational thought is the domain of the male intellect, or brain. The idea gained mileage because tasks, or jobs, traditionally assumed to be ‘women’s work,’ required very little by way of intuition. Specialists now argue that men and women are equally intuitive and equally equipped to use this powerful tool — no more, no less — in their everyday lives.

All of us believe in meaningful coincidences. A telephone call, a tryst at a restaurant with a loved one. But, with the advance of technology, and high-tech jargon, the limitations of logic, rationality, and the scientific method as the primal means of guiding our lives are now becoming clear — even painfully, at that. Besides, our world is increasingly turning to modes of perception and understanding that don’t really depend on evidence presented to our senses, or practical wisdom — of modes, such as intuition and faith.

If faith is the keystone of belief, so is confidence, even if we begin to accept the fact that the over-reliance on linear thought is a relatively recent phenomenon. Something, that was long-before espoused by philosopher René Descartes. The essence of the very idea was not Descartes’ own. He was only a leading proponent of an intellectual tradition whose roots go back to ancient Greece — the birthplace of logic, philosophy, and the rudiments of the scientific method. Greece was also the land of the Delphic Oracle. Which was also why the early Greeks recognized that rational thought was incomplete, and it needed the support of intuition.

Example. George Soros, to use a modern parable, is arguably the greatest investor of all time. He’s a man who has often placed his billion-dollar bets on his intuition. However, financial experts will not agree with his phenomenal success on the basis of his gut feelings — not so much on mathematical or scientific template. Argues Soros in his brilliant boo – Soros On Soros, “I feel the pain. I rely a great deal on animal instincts. When I was actively running the Fund, I suffered from backache. I used the onset of acute pain as a signal that there was something wrong in my portfolio. The backache didn’t tell me what was wrong — you know, lower back for short positions, left shoulder for currencies — but it did prompt me to look for something amiss when I might not have done so otherwise.” Hold on! Admits Soros: “That is not the most scientific way to run a portfolio.”

Be that as it may, there’s no denying Soros’ incredible success. Which doesn’t mean that you should also withdraw your money from your mutual fund if you wake up with a backache tomorrow morning. The Soros example is more than suggestive. Soros is an astute thinker — a man who deeply analyses the economic, political, and psychological parameters before making an investment. Yet, it is fascinating — the way he relies on his intuition. It tells him when his logic is incorrect. You can also be like him. You can learn to be intuitive. From your career… to playing cricket.

Yes, it is all possible. You can use intuition to enhance every area of your daily life, and to recover lost information about the past, verify unknown information about the present, or predict information about the future. You wouldn’t believe one word of it. No problem. As Laura Day, a renowned expert and author of a groundbreaking book, Practical Intuition puts it, “Intuition can empower you to be productive and active in any situation. With intuition, you’ll be able to reclaim some measure of competence and control over your life. Intuition will improve your decision-making. It should be an integral part of your life, like exercise and meditation. Employing it will open you up and add to the quality of both your thinking and your emotional selves.”

Day’s prescription is practical, not [an] ‘instant,’ spiritual, how-to toolkit. She advocates you to develop your intuition by applying intuition consciously through practice, not just by reading about it. Day says that reading is primarily an intellectual art, and your thinking mind can interfere with your intuitive mind.

– Continued

Top | Perspective