#9: Intuition
Today I want to talk to you about intuition.
I've been hearing a lot about intuition lately. Whenever I talk about spiritual ideas, one of the first words that comes up is intuition.
In the spiritual community, people will often say, "My intuition is telling me..."
Whenever I mention spirituality, astrology, or tarot, people will say things like, "I've always believed in intuition..."
There's even a metaphysical store called House of Intuition. Their tagline says, "Your Intuition Led You Here..."
But more often than not, people using this word around don't have a clue what intuition is or how it operates. It contributes to rampant misinformation and makes it more difficult to cultivate the ability to trust our inner knowing and create a new paradigm on this planet.
Today, we're going to demystify this concept that, despite being all about clarity, seems to perplex many drawn to mystical ideas.
What is intuition? Let's dive in.
Intuition, Explained
Raven, from the series Teen Titans
Raised by the monks of Azarath, Raven has empathic precognition, which often comes with having strong intuitive abilities.
Intuition is a form of knowing.
Intuition is a form of knowing that offers a quick, clear read, often beyond conscious reasoning. Lost by many in our colonized age, this form of knowing first appeared when our pre-historic ancestors were learning to survive. Sensing dangers from miles away, our ancestors developed sharp faculties that enabled them to survive and reproduce.
Intuition often defies the limits of rationalism, a mentally driven form of knowledge that came online during the time of the ancient Greeks and became the dominant force in the West during the Enlightenment.
It also challenges the limitations of revelation-based cultures claiming that some have access to God and everyone else has to earn their way. You can learn more about how intuition differs from other forms of knowing in our post on epistemology, the study of how we know.
Intuition is a clear read on a situation. It's a situational awareness that is often sudden and instantaneous. If you're spinning and rationalizing your way into decisions, that's not intuition. That's the mind. And if you're dissociating, that's not intuition. That's wishful thinking.
Your Intuition Probably Isn’t What You Think It Is
It takes time to uncover a greater intuitive capacity, particularly if you've been told your whole life not to trust your instincts. That's one extreme of the polarity that hinders intuition: the suggestion that we're not allowed to trust our inner knowing.
That being said, prevailing voices on intuition have gone to the other extreme, distorting a term that is all about finding one's frequency and making it further inaccessible to earnest seekers:
In New Age spiritual circles, intuition has become a buzzword used to sell self-help books, seminars, and other products that may not actually help people. It contributes to rampant misinformation about what it is and how it can help people.
Many people who are trying to contact their intuition are trapped in their own spell. People driven by layers of the personality often don't realize that when discussing intuition, they're navel-gazing rather than becoming more present to reality, and therefore are not cultivating intuition, but delusion.
There is a way through this quagmire, and it begins with understanding a few basic distinctions around how intuition actually operates. Let me make a few points about what intuition is and is not.
Intuition is quick and clear. Anxiety, dissociation, and emotional reactivity are emotional responses. It's common in spiritual communities for people to call anything and everything intuition. Not every response is intuition, particularly if the primary response is an emotion, such as anxiety or overwhelm.
Intuition is somatic. You cannot think your way toward intuition. Intuition requires self-trust, and the mind only wants you to trust the mind. If you have conflicts between these two, and your mind is in the foreground, then your mind is on the throne, telling you what to think and do, not your intuition.
Intuition is not crystals or tarot pulls. Intuition can lead us to work with spiritual practices, and spiritual practices can help one hone their intuition, but they're not the same. Doing tarot pulls and using crystals does not mean one has intuition, so be discerning in understanding what actually helps create clarity.
Intuition is valuable for its own sake. Intuition is our ability to recognize what is already present. It's valuable for its own sake, not something to be obtained so one can "manifest" or do something with it. If that's how we're thinking, I suggest separating your terms and slowly working through each step.
If you'd like more resources on intuition, you can read our blog post, "How to Discern Your Intuition from the Mind," for further insights. You can also check out any of the resources at the bottom of this newsletter to unlock your full potential.
Keep It Simple
Intuition is inner knowing. For those just beginning, it's often "what I don't yet have words or evidence for but know to be true." (Try saying that!) For those more trained, it's quick and clear, and when practiced and aided by mindfulness or other practices, a full picture is available.
Intuition is about clarity of understanding, a quick flash, an insight, a knowing. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Let's stop putting other things on top of it, or we keep our eyes and minds covered by shrouds. As you know, I want nothing but for everyone to be free.
Sincerely,
Rayner
