The Nature of Intuition

Ecton said:
The question would then be what might distinguish sensory consciousness from intuitive consciousness in the neurological model. My hypothesis is intuition connects flashes from different parts of the brain than from sensory stimulus. In a way, is it just another form of forming consciousness from areas of the brain other than those we describe directly as sensory? That is, is a subtractive approach to defining intuition sufficient?
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This is interesting and makes sense. I've always thought that the description of intuition as a something which couldn't be identified as logical or conscious was flawed. It gives the impression that because the processes of arriving an intuitive result is not visible to conscious reasoning or thought, that it must necessarily be illogical or irrational, and consequently unacceptable.
 
I sometimes envision it working in me like a connect-the-dots puzzle. I find the relevant points of reference (past or present) and then identify a composite image created by allow the dots to connect to form an image. In doing so, this is constantly updated with new information for clearer focus. However, the initial points of reference are very real and trustworthy, so as I move out from making fine adjustments, I find I am seldom off-base once the composite image emerges from amongst the dots.

I also see it as a kind of triangulation, almost like in navigation. The immediate situation is at question, but then I triangulate off of known points that are sure in order to fix a position. This can happen immediately (if the situation calls for this) or over long periods of time in which more and more information is collected, all contributing to a further dialing in of a sense of "where things are."
 
thanks for your thoughts everyone. A connect-the-dots puzzle is kinda how i see it too. Well, the metaphor i came up with is that Ni is a jigsaw puzzle, say 1000 pieces. now each piece is a tidbit of data, information, feeling about something, etc. We cannot look at the box to see what we are making, instead we just use functions such as Ti to slowly figure out what fits where, based on if it works or not. very methodical, very slow and deliberate. The way I see Ni is that we get to "cheat" and take a sneak-peak of the cover of the box the jigsaw puzzle came in, seeing the whole picture just for a moment, just for a flash, an aha! or eureka moment. Then as that picture slowly fades (or rather the immediacy and vividness fades) we use that picture to help us fit the puzzle together much easier. Instead of being slow and deliberate, we can take the liberty to put some pieces aside for now, pick up some others and work with ones we had not considered before. We can piece together the puzzle much easier because we just had an instinctive understanding of how the finished picture would look.
 
for people who test as iNtuitive on the MBTI, how subconscious do you think the process is, (both Ne and Ni)? is it possible one could use it a lot, but it be hidden to such an extent that he doesn't even realize he uses intuition?
 
I test as extremely intuitive Ni and it is supposedly my gift. For me it is kid of like a compulsion that pulls me in a particular direction. It is always switched on and I can always feel it. The only way I can explain it is it is almost like an aesthetic. You know how when you arrange furniture or compose a piece of art or music it can just be 'blah', but if things line up just right it clicks? Well, its like that, but only with ideas, people, places, and events. You just get this sensation that a bunch of things have arranged in a meaningful way, or are close but a little unbalanced, etc. Its almost as if it IS the sense of aesthetics, but at its more abstract level. And then you can probe it and develop Ti with it. You can even use it to solve problems by listening to it and developing frameworks with it. That's how I tend to solve problems in very different ways from most folks. So I tend to use it very consciously, because it tends to take hold of me strongly, both in emotions and a sense of mental tension or ease.

I would say that my Ne is very weak and very conscious. I am constantly coming up with what-ifs that are filled with paranoia, conspiracy, dark thoughts, and other useless crap. My Ne fills my head with useless conjecture that promotes social anxiety. It loves me, but it stinks of low self esteem. It's my enemy and it seems to feed off of my fear and the negative experiences of my past. It never seems to notice the wide array of very positive experiences I've had, that my Ni seems to sing with. I think it is so busy trying to protect me from the results of a negative self-image that it never gives me the hope of possibilities. You know, I think I need to sit down and have another chat with my Ne. Distinguishing Ni from Ne is turning out to be really important for my moving forward.
 
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Originally posted by May
Intuition is knowing something without being able to explain how you know it. Like knowing it's going to rain that day despite the sky looking clear.
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Perhaps you knew it because you sensed the moisture content, or the "feel" of the wind - in combination with the tone of the light (it being affected by moisture content), and subconsciously computed the last time this combination occurred and made a match with the last time it rained under similar circumstances?* These things come with experience and are probably memories impinging upon the subconcsious.




*Of course, it could also be that your joints are sensitive to pressure levels - like in very old people. Are you a very old person?
 
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Intuition for me is like an internal landscape. Sometimes it can be a visual thing, but that's really just an interpretation of it. It is the brains own language, that doesn't need to be interpreted with vision or sound. But I think of it as a landscape. And I reach out into that landscape with many "feelers" at once, spreading out wider and deeper, and feeling the lay of the land.

I've sometimes described it like lightning in slow motion. Many complex branches of electricity all reaching for a destination with some meaning, but only one will make it, and when it makes contact, it explodes into the mind, bringing that link between A to B into brilliant focus.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XwFF5idD_0"]YouTube- Slow Motion Video of Lightning[/ame]
 
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There is a language of the universe that exists in everything. Patterns that are repeated through out all things, even if unrelated on a superficial level. A certain natural law to how everything in the universe functions, that is beyond human logic or values.

Intuition is a tool of human perception that allows us to tap into this language, and comprehend and predict other occurrences using this pattern based language.

There are two channels of information that exist in all information taken in by the perceptions; Literal information and interpretive information. For example, when you see fire burn wildly and then burn out. You saw two things: The first was the event as it literally happens (The fire burned wildly and extinguished), and the second channel of information was a piece of natural law, a universal truth interpreted from the pattern you just saw occur that can exist in many other completely unrelated things (There is an increase of energy before something is about to die.)

Literal information is what is taken in by Sensing functions such as Si and Se, and interpretive information is what is taken in by Intuitive functions such as Ni and Ne.

Intuition does not pull information out of no where, this is why it is not supernatural, although it in a way is very much like a sixth sense that can read a the pattern based language that is beyond the literal senses.
 
Hmmmm. A very good question and one that is very hard to answer with one concrete answer. For me, I guess the best way I could describe it would be how legos work. You are given many pieces and though you don't know exactly how they relate, you know they do. This does not fully describe it either though because I credit my very active imagination to my intution. The ability to take things that do not have any connection at all and create a connection between them, is part of that.
 
Intuition for me is that raw gut feeling that appears out of nowhere. It can be anything from an image that pops in your head to a scenario that plays out on the big screen of your subconscious, to a feeling that take over your heart. I don't understand how it comes to be. It really is a mystery, but a mystery that I fully trusted.

The minute I think about as to what its true nature is, it looses its accuracy. It's could basically be Ni not tinkered with by Ti. However since my Ti has been growing strongly in the past few years, my intuition has become mixed up and somewhat off.

I feel like it's something to act on/trust without any second guessing.
 
Still working through this, but it is rather fascinating. http://www.scn.ucla.edu/pdf/Intuition.pdf

For the purpose of the quotes, a simplified (perhaps too simple) explanation of implicit learning is a method in which learning takes place without conscious review of the rules and logic, as explicit learning does.

These "feelings" have an efficiency of operation which it is impossible for thought to match. Even our most highly intellectualized operations depend upon them as a "fringe" by which to guide our inferential movements.
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It is concluded that the caudate and putamen, in the basal ganglia, are central components of both intuition and implicit learning, supporting the proposed relationship. Parallel, but distinct, processes of judgment and action are demonstrated at each of the social, cognitive, and neural levels of analysis. Additionally, explicit attempts to learn a sequence can interfere with implicit learning.
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In recent years, research on implicit learning has suggested that our behavior can be rule-like and adaptive without a concomitant conscious insight into the nature of the rules being used (Knowlton & Squire, 1996; Reber, 1993). This similarity between intuition and implicit learning suggests that it may be fruitful to consider intuition as the subjective experience associated with the use of knowledge gained through implicit learning.
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The answer to this is actually quite simple.

We are only aware of a tiny part of the stuff that goes on in our bodies and brains. There is a "program" running in our brains that decides what it will send to consciousness for evaluation. Intuition is this program giving us the answer to something without giving us the working out that went on to figure out this answer.

This could be because it's too complicated or just not important.

It's related to the concept of unconscious competence. The ability to do somethin without knowing how you do it. For example catching a ball. This is an incredibly complicated task and if we had to be aware of all the calculations that go on to achieve this we just wouldn't be able to do it.

Your brain makes most of it's decisions without consulting you. It only sends a tiny fraction of what it "thinks" to you for consideration.
 
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also, do you feel as if you have a good intuition? better than average or others? If so, what would you attribute this to? Has it helped you?
 
As stupid as this sounds, I can't tell if I have excellent Ni, or excellent Ne. Or I may just have shitty both. :m150:
 
Well, since it has been bumped:

Intuition, as colloquially used, is the scientific equivalent of implicit memory. There was a study on someone with anterograde amnesia (could not form any new memories), and the doctor concealed a pin in his hand so that he pricked her when she shook his hand. The next time he came around to shake her hand, she hesitated but could not explain why. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
 
Personally I have been developing my intuition for a while to figure out how it affects my way of thinking and whether or not i use it fully to my advantage. I chose to view intuition from a mind/body/soul perspective as opposed to MBTI functions. I don't view intuition as an intellectual function where the information recieved through intuition comes from the conscious brain/mind. Intuition to me is a language of my soul. I have found that intuitive channel works on four ways and most people usually have a one main intuitive gift which they are naturally good at whether they consciously know it or not.

The four channels are:

Clairvoyance - a french for "clear seeing", many psychics are gifted with this intuitive gift, but the average person can recieve random information through flashes in their minds eye, quick visual references and even lucid dreaming. These people are usually very good at visualizing or when doing creative projects they can already see how it would look in their minds eye.

Clairaudience - "clear hearing" - hearing messages, words, directions and instructions but this form is very subtle and not in the crazy szechophrenic "they told me to kill my family". it more subtle in that you may hear a song lyric and it really stands out to you or you overhear others conversation and somehow you hear a part of it that resonates with you.

Clairsentience - "clear feeling' - people in this category are usually extremely sensitive and also known as empaths. These people are usually counselors, healers, advisors and anyone who can feel others emotions and feelings. Some healers can feel their clients pain in their body first and work on healing them. These are also people that gets taken advantage of the most by people because of their openness and sensitivity to help others. This manifests as gut feelings, hunches, sharp pains in body, almost as if the body is a vehicle for intuitive messages.

Claircognizance - "clear knowing" - this is knowing certain information without knowing where it cam from. This usually comes as a thought and if one is aware of their thoughts and thats where meditation can help; one can figure out the difference between an intuitive thought and just an ego mind thought. Major epiphanies or just random bits of information about others and situations.


I found that i am claircognizant and it is my natural gift with intuition. In order to make it more obvious and pretty much use it like an advisor i started to distinguish between my regular chattering mind and intuitive thought. Few things i found interesting:

-Intuition works on the same channel as imagination. This makes it super hard to pinpoint where the information is coming from
-Intuition is gentle, subtle and quiet and comes usually when you are doing mundane chores, or something repetitive where your mind is not chattering non stop.
-Intuition worked the best when i asked a specific question. I usually ask a question about a situation i am having trouble with and the answer usually comes in various forms. I found that 70% of the time it comes through claircognizance; then the other 30% i get the answer via other people, articles, websites or just randomly find the answer and realize it pertains to the question i asked.
- intuition comes in a flash of few seconds and its gone. That "A-ha" moment. I carry a notebook around to try to catch it and it comes at the oddest times.
-The difference between intuitive thought and conscious thought i found was that intuitive thought is very neutral, non biased, gentle and never tells me what i should do or how i should feel. It only presents information and resembles common sense very much. My ego mind and conscious thoughts are usually defensive or aggressive thoughts designed to keep me safe and away from unknown things; very much fear based and sometimes even negative.

I think its important to know what your natural intuitive gift is if you wish to develop it. It is pointless to try to develop clairvoyance if i am naturally a claircognizant. It will be much harder. My goal is to not really figure out exactly how intuition works because it works and humans have been using it for millenias and many ave tried to figure out why we have it and whatnot. I have accepted that i am intuitive person and have a goal on how I can better use it and master it and ultimately trust it to lead a more balanced life. I refrain from living and basing my life and decisions on the conscious mind only as i find that it limits the rest of my being.

The next step for intuitive development seems to be esp; but this takes even more practice and even a mentor.
 
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