The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology defines Intuition as under: Intuition: A mode of understanding or knowing characterized as direct and immediate and occurring without conscious thought or judgment. There are two distinct connotations which often accompany this term: a) that the process is unmediated and somehow mystical; b) that it is a response to subtle cues and relationships apprehended implicitly, unconsciously. When you misplace an item, despite thinking sequentially through all the things you did earlier, you cant remember where it is. But in the evening when you are relaxing suddenly you remember that the missed item is in your table drawer. Where did this flash of insight come from? It was generated by your right brain, using data supplied by your left. The best known example of a scientist who intuitively perceived a theory is Albert Einstein. Explaining how Einstein perceived the idea, Peter Russell explains in his book, The Brain Book: Einstein is a logical thinker. Yet his ideas initially came to him as pictures and images, and subsequently he put them into words and mathematical symbols. The theory was born when Einstein was lying on a grassy hillside one summers afternoon. He was gazing up at the sun through his eyelids, playing with the light came through his eyelashes, when he began to wonder what it would be like to travel down a light beam. He lay there in a dream state letting his mind wander freely, imagining himself traveling down a light beam, when suddenly he realized, one almost has to say in a flash, just what it would be like. This realization was the essence of the theory of relativity, and it had come to him not as a logical deduction, but as a creative, intuitive insight, the result of synthetic rather than analytic thinking. Einstein recognized the intuition and placed a high value on his intuition and wrote: The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you and you dont know how or why. Analyzing the whole subject intuition, in her beautiful book, The Sixth Sense the author Laurie Nadel assures that one can develop the ability by following easy steps. The important step to identify and develop intuition will be to meditate regularly. Meditation activates both the right and left side of the brain. Sudden flashes and logical thinking both are ensured by meditation. Yogis visualize pictures through their meditation and foretell what is to happen to individuals. Indian yogis, through their intuitive power had invented many wonderful inventions for the benefit of humanity as a whole. Hundreds of incidents reveal their intuitive abilities and the whole humanity see them with wonder. P.D.Ouspensky, in his book, A New Model of the Universe says, The sage of India knew that the powers of man in all the spheres and provinces of his activity can be greatly increased by means of right training and by accustoming man to control his body, mind, attention, will, emotion and desires. In connection with this, the study of man in ancient India was on a level quite inconceivable to us. The powers which yoga gives are not limited to the strengthening of the capacity of understanding. Yoga increases the creative capacity of man in all spheres and domains of life, gives him the possibility of direct penetration into the mysteries of nature, discloses to him the secret of eternity and the enigmas of existence. |
