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Intuition - The Sixth Sense.

Some call it a hunch or a "feeling". It's a little voice inside our head that gives us advice, that gives us emotional feedback. It is intuition and it's something we've all experienced. Further down on this page we've posted an introductory article on the subject. After you read our article, you might want to do further research. Two brief but excellent online articles worth reading are The Power of Coincidence about how our brains recognize patterns even in random events, and Do We Fear the Right Things? which looks at why we notice and fear certain things when other things more likely to harm us are ignored. Both articles are written by David G. Myers, a social psychologist and professor of psychology who has written many articles and books. His web site is http://www.davidmyers.org. When you are ready to read a book on the subject, please consider these books.
	"The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence" by Gavin De Becker claims that there are "warning signals" of potential danger that can be acted upon to protect us. According to the Editorial Reviews at Amazon.com, "Perhaps we have a bad feeling about someone we've just met, or a little gnawing perception that a situation just doesn't 'feel right,' or perhaps even a fear that a co-worker might do something harmful. What de Becker, renowned expert on violent behavior, explains here is that instead of shrugging off these fears, we need to listen to them, see why we're having them, and act accordingly. Far from being silly intuitions, often these can truly show when something is wrong..." Read More...
	"Intuition: Its Powers and Perils" by David G. Myers. The author, mentioned above, has a web site about this book. This professor of psychology states, according to the Editorial Reviews at Amazon.com, that intuition "can be an effective way of knowing and doing, helping us empathize with others, intuit social cues or perform rote tasks like driving cars. It can also lead us astray: illusory correlations, self-fulfilling prophecies, dramatic anomalies and other misleading heuristics may feel like direct perception, but are not. Statistically random events may appear to have patterns, but 'random sequences are streaky.' ..." Read More...
Call it a "funny feeling", call it Intuition, call it a "Sixth Sense". Whatever you call it, have you ever taken the time to think about what it really is and if it is really reliable? Here are some thoughts on the subject.

The Sixth Sense
by Angelica Candelaria
Intuition: That innate gift that defies intellectual boundaries accompanies us throughout our lives yet progressively becomes more difficult to discern amidst the din of conditioning, advice, and external circumstance. The guiding "force" which can lead us into pools of knowledge that would otherwise be unavailable through straightforward reflection must consistently vie for our attention if we are not attuned to it. Yet how do we reconnect to that part of ourselves? How do we momentarily discard the safety blanket of logical reasoning in favor of an inexplicable sensation?
Many advocate following the intuitive senses as a pathway to a more fulfilled and successful existence, suggesting particular exercises to hone our arguably supernatural cognitive skills. The basic idea behind all of them is to consistently set apart a time to quiet the mind and divert our attention from the highly popular analytical method of problem-solving to the more creative approach of carefully heeding sentiments, sensations, and dreams: a process that inevitably forces us to dismiss the inquiring persistence of "why" and act according to faith in these manifestations of the human heart and psyche whose compass is impalpable. This can understandably raise the question of how we can detect whether or not the inner voice we hear is indeed that of our intuition or another among many that support inveterate, comfortable dictates. Even those of us with a predilection toward trusting something that challenges conventional wisdom may not be entirely at ease with the pat answer, "if it contains no ambivalence, it's your intuition."
How many occasions have you been utterly convinced that the stars were aligned in your favor only to discover that your impression was erroneous? How many instances have you been involved in an ultimately disastrous venture or relationship whose initial promise overwhelmed you to such a degree that you sensed it could only be the luminous, all-knowing eyes of your intuition directing you to proceed? Perhaps you dismissed thorough reasoning and examination, overcame formidable hindrances to follow your bliss in the name of this "rightness" of feeling only to be trampled underfoot by the pain that subsequently ensued from it. However, that still-small voice was so convincingly unambiguous that you did not challenge its apparent wisdom.
Although it cannot be disputed that following a "gut feeling" can bring about brilliant, not to mention lifesaving results, it cannot be deemed an unerring source of sagacity, as attractive as the notion of accessing such a Godlike quality is. It is instead a tool that has graciously been instilled within us, designed to be considered in combination with the other five senses. As with any gift, we must be good stewards of it and utilize it responsibly. Armed with the realization that feelings are unreliable and subject to ebb and flow, this can be an arduous task. What deceptively appears to be a hunch can in actuality be a projection of our own desires upon certain situations. Our minds can manipulate a scenario to accommodate and reinforce the workings of a distorted filter of perception. The element of human fallibility is ever-present and capable of tainting even the purest of instincts, hence the assertion that intuition involves something that "just feels right" seems rather a simplistic response to the inevitable complexities involved.

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