David: I have a question about this quote by James I found on YouTube some time ago:
“There is not one Vedanta scripture that supports intuition as a valid means of knowledge. There is a better way to deal with disturbing situations. Intuition can be helpful – but never as one’s primary means of knowledge, because appearances can be deceiving. One’s views should be based on hard and fast evidence, and one should be careful not to ignore facts that contradict one’s views. You are not being fair to the object if you run with your feelings, and you are not being fair to yourself either, no matter how much you value your feelings”.
While I agree with the statement, I have had many spontaneous experiences where I trusted my intuition and saved myself a lot of grief, and vice versa. To my thinking, intuition has a lot to do with a clear, sattvic mind, and following my svadharma. In which case, it could be trusted.
Sundari: As a jiva, a very sattvic mind is very intuitive because being clear and alert, in harmony with Isvara, it can tune into the Causal body. But that still does not make intuition a valid means of knowledge. A valid means of knowledge is one that is true all the time, in all situations, for everyone, and stands independent of anyone’s opinions, beliefs, or interpretations. Only Vedanta, the non-dual science of Consciousness, fits the bill. Intuition is never accepted as a valid means of knowledge because it is subject to individual filters, likes and dislikes and it is always changing.
I am highly intuitive but I am also cognizant of the fact that intuition is mithya and I am satya – the knower of my intuitions. Highly intuitive people can be arrogant because they think they can read the mind of Isvara. Even if you can, so what? Knowing what someone else is thinking or being able to read their unconscious motives is not information that can be used to any great advantage for anyone. It is best left to Isvara.
Intuition and spontaneous response are two terms that can be synonymous and are very much open to interpretation. Both are quite often used in spiritual literature to refer to Self-knowledge, which if Self-knowledge is firm, may be correct. If Self-knowledge is firm, I will automatically act and live in keeping with my svadharma and will always follow situational and universal dharma in every respect it affects me as a jiva. I do not have to think about my response or the information that is coming into the mind from the Field (Isvara) because I unfailingly and automatically respond as the Self to my environment.
When Self-knowledge is firm, karma yoga will be instinctive knowledge, no thinking is involved, and my actions are always appropriate and timely, in line with Isvara. Life works for me, supporting me, giving me all I need. So, my response to whatever is happening in the Field is always the same, meaning, as the Self, non-dual, even though what is happening is always changing. I do not change. But this is not thanks to intuition. It is thanks to Self-knowledge managing my thoughts and feelings, i.e., the jiva program with its inborn tendencies and proclivities.
But if Self-knowledge is not firm, intuition and spontaneous response can be very misleading and unreliable indeed. If my intuition is not based on Self-knowledge, what is it based on? Ignorance, usually – personal interpretation. Intuition, in this case, is like emotion, you cannot rely on it, it comes and goes, and is always different from one moment to the next. Taking ignorance to be knowledge, people feel moved by their ‘inner voice’ or intuition to be ‘spontaneous’ and do the craziest things. So as always, everything in Vedanta depends on context. Are you asking as the Self, a jivanmukta, or as the jiva under the spell of ignorance?
If you are the latter, this morning you might feel intuitively that it is ordained for you to murder your annoying neighbor, or your parents – or to dump your emotional garbage onto someone else in the guise of ‘honesty’. Intuition and spontaneous response will be spot on when Self-knowledge is absolutely firm, not before. And if the knowledge is not firm yet, the only means of knowledge you can always trust is the scripture, nothing else.
So – bottom line: if ignorance of your true nature reigns, do not trust your intuition as it will more than likely be wrong! Even if we think our intuition is about Self-knowledge, if the knowledge is not firm, how will we know if what we think is accurate and in line with the scripture and not really our own interpretation of what the scripture is saying? If we interpret Self-knowledge based on our own bias or intuition, it will not work to set us free of limitation. And we all know how entrenched the mind’s beliefs and biases can be. That is why qualifications are so important for Self-inquiry. Unless the mind is qualified, it will stick stubbornly to its own interpretative thinking, regardless of facts that contradict it.
Gut instincts can provide useful shortcuts, but they can also be very misleading. There is a popular saying in the spiritual literature that says: ‘trust the gut because it has not developed to the level of self-doubt’. Well, that is exactly why you should NOT trust your gut. While we are not served by falling in love with our doubts and suspicions, doubt has a valuable function in our lives because the human mind is intrinsically lazy and apt to ignore absent evidence.
Though the intuition can be useful, it has a huge potential for error. In fact, intuition is really just heuristics, which is a word that describes a function of the brain to simplify and streamline the amount of sensory data pouring into the mind at every moment. It is a series of associations that your brain executes mostly automatically and unconsciously in order to save cognitive resources. And they are not particularly sophisticated associations, for that matter. Though many are inclined to rate their intuition as highly sophisticated knowledge. It is not.
Intuition looks for simple patterns because it makes you feel good when your brain spots one. Most of the time, what “feels right,” what makes you think that you are “following your gut,” comes down to a handful of very simple strategies, for example, reinforced or repeated behavior that worked more or less well in the past . For instance, sticking with the familiar instead of taking risks, imitating people who look successful, or simply trying to fit in with what others are doing instead of following your own dharma.
Intuition may have served us well for physical survival in our caveman days, and as children learning the ways of the world. But it is often wrong and responsible for inappropriate response to what is happening. Familiarity, reinforcement, or imitation will work well if we face exactly the same decision again and again, but they can be dangerous if we apply them in the wrong situation. Another problem with intuition is the lure of stability, which makes us ignore not only absent evidence but rare or unusual events.
There are many books and even some serious academics praising intuition, it is a popular concept for many who believe it is some kind of psychic superpower. The brain always seeks the easiest route to the solution to a problem, and it is much inclined to exaggerate the few times when your intuition was correct. What is usually the case when your intuition is correct is that you are confusing expertise with intuition. For instance, if you are a highly-trained professional at any skilled work, your brain has been exposed to a lot of relevant information and has internalized a series of subtle associations to the point that they are not even conscious anymore. The result might be described as “intuition,” but it is really expertise.
So, as with every question or doubt that comes up when the mind is committed to self-inquiry, it is a always a question of who is asking the question? If you think you are a person, use the power of intuition with care. Often what we think we know about people is nothing more than our own interpretations, which are usually based on the small and limited persona identity. If you are no longer identified with being a person, and your Self-knowledge is firm, you do not need intuition because Self-knowledge gives you 20/20 non-dual vision at all times.
Hari Om
Sundari
