A critical element in mysticism is cultivating intuition. Both are commonly dismissed as a lack of intelligence, but this is manifestly itself a lack of intelligence. There is a wealth of study, even in Western human sciences, showing intuition is a valid process for arriving at decisions and increasing knowledge.
In general, intuition is the habit of absorbing patterns. It does not use linear sensory intelligence to process information, but operates in the subconscious. It is vastly more efficient. Frankly, the greatest warriors and athletes depend on patterned learning to react correctly when conscious thought is too slow.
Nor is it necessary to separate the two. Having them jumbled together in your stream of consciousness need not confuse things. A great many things we learn must be learned intuitively, because that is how children operate. Language and music are most efficiently understood by absorption. Only after a minimal level has been reached this way can skills be added on top.
When it comes to matters which affect our lives but rest entirely in the spiritual sphere, intuition becomes imperative. Mysticism is impossible without it, and thus, hearing from God. You cannot grasp the imperatives of your convictions unless you can process them subconsciously and intuit what best fits them in a given context.
Every human carries some intuitive capacity. However, our Western culture dismisses it as unreliable. This is a primary reason why Western Civilization is doomed, because it is wholly unable to grapple with the fundamental moral nature of the universe.
Ed, you should go and teach cognitive psychology and the biological basis of behaviour – you sure as hell know more than those uni types there now. This was my training before I switched over to law (and no printing). Good post, really good post.
Thanks. Even with my own university degrees, I find the only real value of the time there was not the content, but the learning to learn I absorbed while they pushed the content at me. They would not want me, now. If I knew how, I would create an alternative system for those who actually want to learn, not simply need a sheepskin.
I’m in total agreement with you there. That calfskin (as was the custom in the UK) was already worth tablecloth in the old days. Today, especially in Hong Kong where I live now, it’s worth less than wiping paper. An old B-movie starring Bogart keeps playing in my mind whenever I was in class at uni – it was a scene where the words “Knowledge is wisdom” was set in a university tower or wall, and Bogart said, “Oh, now they’re [academics] saying they’re wise.” That scene goes on infinite playback in my mind whenever I meet the more academically flavoured people I sometimes encounter.
Hey Ed- another great thing to write about. I find that as I get older that intuition is far more important to me than intelligence and in fact I think that intelligence must be mostly driven by inuition to be useful. As a case in point- I am a chef and I have gathered a huge amount of learned understanding about food and cooking and so forth yet if I cook a new dish I must intuit how it will taste, be presented and so on BEFORE I apply my learned intelligence to the product. This principal holds true, I believe, in all arenas of our lives.
@DG: Same thing with me as the years go by.
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