Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Vibes, logic, intuition, and ways of seeing

Note: If you're a normally functioning person, there's no need to read this.

This realization keeps coming up in every day life. It's about ways of seeing things. For example, one way of seeing is to form a logical framework for the world by choosing some axioms and applying them. Let's say you arrive home, and you walk into your house. The door was unlocked. As you walk in the door handle feels a little slimy and you step on something crunchy. Your subconcious sees a blood splatter on the wall and that some items are disshoveled. To see the situation logically you might say

"I know something isn't right here, because I remember locking the door and sweeping the floor, I don't remember the door handle ever having felt this way in the past (and my palms aren't sweaty or greasy so it's not my palms), and I'm getting some visual cues even though I can't pin them down that something's out of place."

Using a cognitive process of fact checking and logical discrimination you can see the situation. Imagine that another person walks into the same house and just says "I'm getting bad vibes." What is going on in this second person's head?

Is it the same process of thought that went on in the first person's head? Is it the same conclusion?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this. I'd say that the conclusions is very similar. The thought process, if you can call it that in the second case, is different. The second person is using intuition. I would say that a lot of the same thoughts are going on. The intuitive process still notices the door's unlocked, still feels something strange and sees something strange. But rather than thinking it through, there's some combination of bodily memory, noncognitive processes, and whatever that pulls together to notice something's wrong. To even analyze it like this defies the nature of the process. The thought process for intuition is perhaps not exclusively a "thought" process. You might say the thoughts are distributed throughout the body using body memory. You might call it a gut reaction. But you might not call it anything and just learn to use it from time to time. The language that falls out of it, say "good vibes" for example, isn't cognitive in nature, but it's still useful in getting through life. It makes mistakes sometimes, but so does logic when you forget to include certain aspects. Intuition doesn't always give you the same information as a logical framework, but it can be much more effecient (or even more human) in its expression - "bad vibes" how compact. I'm not arguing to use intuition exclusively or even predominantly. I'm just trying to figure out why it has more of a place in my life now and how others who were logically trained might glean some insight from what I've been noticing. If you encounter some new object, it's helpful to take a look from a few different angles. You'll even see people sort of coking their head and moving left and right to take a look at something. Well I can see a lot more angles than I used to be able to, or maybe I'm just becoming more aware of how to use the angles.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think what you are calling "intuition" comes naturally to people, while what you call "logic" is something that is taught to people at universities (engineering ones).

"To even analyze it [intuition] like this defies the nature of the process."

Then why does it need to be analyzed in the first place? A bum could and would use the intuition process and not the logical, so isn't it a shame that we are trained to use the logical so much that we need to analyze the intuition process and defy its nature?

I think the idea that we must "learn to use it [intuition]" and that it is "still useful in getting through life" is very un-natural and very logical. We don't "learn" intuition nor is it "useful". Emotion and life cannot exist without it. Taking a logical approach to intuition is just as bad, and maybe worse, than using a logical approach to life.

To say that intuition is "much more efficient" is using the same logical process to come to the conclusion to use intuition.

The main problem is the "others who were logically trained" in the first place. I know that there is room for scientists, mathematicians and engineers in the world, but I know that there is also a way to be taught those subjects in a humanistic, intuitive and non-pretentious way.

- Beau

jay said...

I agree with Beau. There should be a disclaimer at the top of the article "If you're a normal person, there's no need to read this."

Anonymous said...

As intuition is part of being human, it exists and is useable by everyone. I agree that the whole aspect of being human is what is important; the rational and the intuitive.
Perhaps a different example would have been of greater benefit in making your point, because the sensory aspect could not be negated in the example. The feel of the handle and the crunching underfoot would be pretty much dead giveaways anyway, I think.
You can see my point of view on my blog at the intuition center, which explores the whole range of intuition.

Anonymous said...

Not all people are in tune with their intution and the better you get at listening to your inner-senses, the stronger your intuition becomes. Most people have not harnessed this skill and those are the ones that doubt it. Its all kind of the same feeling of the third eye, the sixth sense, intuition, vibes...this ability to gather information at a faster pace. But it takes practice and a trusting of the gut feelings, intraspective and interspective knowledge. You get this interaction between people, between people and animals, between people and their environment. I, myself, have moved around alot and been thrown into many situations with all kinds of people, have learned to trust my core. I know who I am, what I want, where Im going, and how im ganna get there...this is the intrapersonal knowlegdge and it takes time to learn. Many people dont know who they are. But heres the second step, understanding other people and understanding your environment. This just takes, again, practice, time, different experiences, and trust. I can now interact with all kinds of people from all over the world, any kind of person and in any kind of environment. This comes from keen observation skills, being able to pick up on the little things in a moments notice. My immediate family growing up always told me I have a photographic memory...I am able to walk into a room/setting/ environment and use my skills to just know whats there...a friend can come back to me and say hey have you seen this or that, or him or her, etc...although i wasnt looking at the item or person in my immediate enterance I just know where the "this or that, etc" is, where wearing, standing, ( and the really cool part is I can sense emotions (vibes)...it almost feels like i can read peoples minds, haha that might be a little too far, but you get the point). Vibes and intution are not compartmentalizing every aspect of life (like you can the logic) but rather understanding like a whole concept. Analogy: instead of breaking the world down and reading one sentence at a time, its the ability to look at the whole picture, the whole paragraph and know whats going on. If you got this talent keep harnessing it, cause it will only get stonger! Try to encourage others, they may think your weird but those are just the ones that have the most to learn, they are the least intune with themselves...they are the ones we should help out the most! Its a beautiful thang, and its euphoric to meet someone else in tune...the chemisty is explosive. Pass it on. I know I have a sixth sense...you do too! I can just tell.