Reason and intuition are the two critical faculties of human personality and are essential for living a meaningful, productive and peaceful life in the world. We know what the reason is, but what is intuition? Intuition is a special faculty of knowing or understanding something without reasoning or proof. Intuition is like a 6th sense that guides toward the good and away from the danger. Intuition is superior to reason.
Reason gives us progress and intuition provides proper direction for peace and happiness in our lives. Reason flows from the mind and intuition from the Self. Intuition is sometimes called gut feeling, but it has nothing to do with one’s gut. Intuition is the expression of one’s own heart, which is the abode of the Self. When heart speaks, intuition flows.
We understand how to develop reason, but how do we develop intuition? Intuition can be developed by linking ourselves with our true Self. When we abide in our Self, intuition arises naturally. A quiet mind is necessary to acquire intuition. Restless mind is the enemy of intuition. The following parable illustrates the workings of the reason and the intuition.
Two twins are having a conversation in the womb of their mother. For the sake of clarity, we will call them sister and brother. The sister says to her brother, “I know you are going to find this difficult to accept, but I have a strong feeling that there is life after birth.”
The brother quickly responds, “Don’t be ridiculous. We have been living all our lives in this dark room. This is all there is. Accept your lot in life. Make yourself comfortable and forget about all of this life-after-birth nonsense.”
The sister remains quiet for a while, but her intuition does not allow her to remain silent any longer. “Brother, do not get mad,” she states hesitantly. “I have something else to say. I believe that there is mother.”
Her brother becomes furious. “A mother!” he shouts. “What are you talking about? How can you be so absurd? I have never seen a mother, and neither have you. The idea of a mother is crazy. Who put that idea in your head? Why cannot you accept that this is our life? You are here alone with me. This is our reality. Now grab the cord that feeds us. Go into your corner and stop being so sil1y. Trust me, there is no mother.”
The sister reluctantly stops the conversation, but her restlessness soon gets the better of her. “Brother,” she pleads. “Please listen without getting mad at me. Somehow I have this very strong feeling that the mother is all around us. Those constant pressures we both feel, those movements that make us so uncomfortable sometimes as we keep growing, are getting us ready for a new life, a new place of glowing light, and we will experience it very soon.”
“This is utterly stupid. Now I know you are absolutely insane,” replies her brother. “All you have ever known is this darkness. You have never seen light. How can you even contemplate such an idea? The darkness and pressures we experience are what our life is all about. You will have to fight it as long as you live.”
The sister is quite overwhelmed by her brother’s shocking response. She does not dare say anything more to upset her brother. However, she cannot contain herself either. “Brother, I have only one more thing to tell you and then I will shut up.” “Go ahead,” her brother responds irritably.
“I believe all squeezes we feel once in a while are there to get us ready for another life, life after birth, much more beautiful than this. In our next life, we will see our mother face-to-face. She will play with us, love us, feed us and hold us in her lap. We will experience an ecstasy that is beyond anything we have ever experienced up until now. Do not you think that is exciting?”
Fed up with his sister’s apparent foolish talk, the brother screams at her, “You are crazy, absolutely crazy. Now I’m truly convinced of it.”
In the above parable, the sister represents intuition and the brother reason.
(Note: The above parable is from Dr. Wayne Dyer. Here it is paraphrased.)
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