“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift. We will not solve the problems of the world from the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. More than anything else, this new century demands new thinking: We must change our materially based analyses of the world around us to include broader, more multidimensional perspectives.” –Albert Einstein.
Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge or belief without inference or the use of reason. Intuition is thus often perceived as a kind of inner awareness, sometimes regarded as real understanding or rationality. Cases of intuition are of a great diversity; however, the processes by which they happen typically remain mostly unknown to the thinker, as opposed to the view of rational thinking. Intuition provides views, understandings, judgements, or beliefs that we cannot in every case guided by knowledge or rationally explain. For this reason, it has been not only a subject of study in psychology, but also a topic of interest in various religions and mysterious fields, as well as a common subject of literatures.
In almost everyone, lower forms of intuition now and again express themselves in otherwise mysterious experiences of “knowing”—those that come of themselves independent of the testimony of the senses and reason. These intuitive indications are so-called premonitions, strong inner feelings, and “prophetic” dreams. Premonition means something beyond the intellect. Intuition cannot be explained scientifically because the very phenomenon is unscientific and irrational. There is no reason, link, intellectual cause.
As such, intuition is thought of as an original, independent source of knowledge, since it is designed to account for just those kinds of knowledge that other sources do not provide. Knowledge of some necessary truths and basic moral principles is sometimes explained in this way.
This is intuition. It is a different realm of happening that is not related to the intellect at all, although it can penetrate the intellect. It has to be understood that a higher reality can penetrate a lower reality. Intuition can penetrate intellect because it is lower. It is like this, your mind can penetrate your body, but your body cannot penetrate the mind. Ordinary human beings, studying and working with material life, are circumscribed in their understanding of their sense perceptions and rationalizing intelligence. With undeveloped intuition, their limited power of intellectuality cannot truly understand matters of the soul even when such truth is explained to them. Though great intellects and famous theologians may be well read about the soul, they may nevertheless understand little about it! On the other hand, even illiterates given to deep meditation will be able clearly to describe the nature of the soul of their own direct experience. Intuition links the gap between intellectual knowledge of the soul and the actual realization of the divine Self.
All power of knowing derives its ability from intuition. The highest expression of intuition is that by which the soul knows itself: According to reason there are two realms of existence, the known and the unknown. Religion says that there are three realms, the known, the unknown and the unknowable, thereby meaning that which can never be known. Existence will remain unknowable- mystery- the beauty of it. To penetrate the unknowable is possible, but to explain it is not. The feeling is possible, the explanation is not.
Soul and Spirit and all inner truths can be captured only by developing the power of intuition by regular deep meditation. Intelligence and sense perceptions can perceive only phenomena or qualities of the Eternal substance; intuition alone can perceive the spirit of that Substance. Therefore, it is evident that the culture of intuition by meditation must precede true perception. Intuition is a spontaneous outflow of divine light. This can come only after the elimination of the ego sense. Intuition is the voice of god within you. Intuition guides you unerringly.
The Gurbani time and again reminds us that false (perishable) are body, wealth, and all worldly relations; false is the mind which covets the wealth of others; and false are lust, anger, greed, emotional attachment, egotism. The Gurbani further tells us that without the Intuitive Understanding of the Spiritual Wisdom, even one’s own body and life are false, hence useless. In essence, as indicated in the Gurbani, any worship devoid of Intuitive Wisdom would constitute the worship of ignorance or duality (Maya) only.
“A new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way, but intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience.” – Albert Einstein