Our Animal Intuition
We tend to speak of intuition as a hidden or under-used human talent. When we speak of animals exhibiting some of the same symptoms of accessing knowledge hidden from the ‘normal’ senses, then we tend to dismiss it as “animal instinct”. We generally do not realize that we have much in common with animals, genetically speaking. (In fact, one of the best tee-shirts I’ve seen had on it, “Over 25% of human genes are the same as those of a banana. Get over yourself”. See the whole lot at the Northern Sun website)
But I digress…
I was reminded of the shared genes by this article I came across at the website of CommonGround.Ca. The author writes of the ways in which animals have the same talents as we do. A mother fox (OK a vixen, then) inexplicably taking her cubs to a hastily and freshly dug den 15 feet higher up the river bank and moving her cubs into it moments before a flash flood destroyed her original den, is an example he uses.
There have also been numerous reports of animals reacting before the Asian tsunami of 2004. Animals racing to higher ground, elephants pulling their tethers from the ground and so on.
Yet people exhibit exactly the same abilities. The !Kung of the Kalahari desert, as reported by Laurence van der Post who spent much time with them, had the ability to ‘hear’ people approaching hours before they could be seen. Post himself scoured the horizon and saw no-one when the new arrivals were first mentioned. When he asked the bushman how he knew, the answer came “I heard them with my heart”.
Now maybe it’s just because we consider the !Kung, the Australian Aborigine and such other peoples to be less civilized (primitive, even?) and therefore to have such abilities to the fore. Maybe there’s a truth in there about civilization. Or, maybe it’s just an excuse. (”We’re civilized so we don’t need that stuff anymore.”)
Or maybe we’re just not ready to admit that the more primitive elements of our brain, the reptilian part of us, is the place linked to the ability to listen with our hearts. After all, we are civilized beings with space ships and computers and fast food. What possible reason could we have for wanting to hold on to the ability to hear or know or feel what is happening to others of our kind when we have the news and the media in general?
Aren’t we happier being cut off from our neighbors, being alone in an electronic world? Re-connection, to the world, to the land, to the people next door, to our food, to our feelings (to ourselves), is really what is important. And the best way of connecting again is through the use of our ancient and primitive skills; our intuitive powers.
Once you realize that, no matter what you might think, or how you might act, you are connected with everything and something like dowsing can show you how that is, the the world changes for you.
And it can never be the same again.
Maybe then we’ll be as primitive as the !Kung and listen with our hearts once again.
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Hello,
I am very interested in your conversation about intuition. I am especially intrigued by the notion that if we know about something in a particular way then we may be engaging intuition.
I have been working with and taking classes at the School of Spiritual Psychology in Benson, NC for some years now and we have spent a lot of time studying this “knowing about something vs. knowing something within or intuitively”.
It seems that in our society our very language makes it difficult to engage intuitively with a situation, person, animal, etc. It seems that when we talk or write about something we become separate. It is over there and I am over hear and I am talking about the particular thing. It seems that speaking intuitively would mean that we would enter into the situation, person, thing, etc. How do we do that?
At the school, we write phenomenologically…which means we write from within and united instead of from without and separate. It seems the way one enters into phenomena so that we can begin to engage intuition….is by being present to the actual activity or resonance of the situation or person.
We can sense the phenomena of something. For example, when we stand in front of a tree, its resonance is different than when we stand in front of a car. We can feel the different resonances or activities. It seems to me that being present to the resonance is a way to enter into something intuitively.
Robert Sardello, one of the founders of the School of Spiritual Psychology wrote a book called, SILENCE. He does not write about Silence, but writes with in it. When you read the book you actually enter Silence…you can feel the activity and resonance of Silence itself…you don’t learn about Silence, but enter into it intuitively. I would recommend it. It was very helpful to me. It can be purchased on-line through Goldenstone Press at http://www.goldenstonepress.com for $18.
Just one simple soul’s input to your extraordinary conversation…
Warmly,
Epoch5h
This sounds rather like the ‘rheomode’ form of language which David Bohm suggested in his book “Wholeness and the Implicate Order”. His reasoning was that our present language has no other way but to force us to distance ourselves from the world. Thus, the phrase ‘It is raining’ raises the problem of what is the ‘it’ referred to. His argument was that a more flowing means of language (his ‘rheomode’) was the answer.
I think, for me, that speaking of writing phenomenologically causes a faint unease, as it immediately makes me wary of what I am thinking and writing, rather than simply doing it. But that is my own quibble. Like most things which are sublimely simple, actually teaching them and understanding them is the really tricky and difficult part!
Nigel,
I think you are on to something when you feel a sense of unease because sometimes when we attempt to be aware of what we are doing we let our head take over and then we get caught up in the trap of the intellect.
Tuition seems to also involve the feeling life…or the heart realm to get a sense of healthy awareness. Using our attention to engage the heart with the head seems to be a way to keep us out of stickiness of some of our thinking ways.
There seems to be a problem with just doing because we don’t know who is doing the doing. We may think we are, but to work with true intuition we must be conscious while we are doing or we are not acting our of true freedom. True intuition seems to have a resonance of conscious freedom….
Epoch5th
I agree with you up to a point. For me, the whole reason for using intuition is not to make it the largest or most important aspect of my life, but to make it an equal part of it. Therefore, I see intuition as being integrated with the rational mind, with logic and intellect. To rely totally on intuition is to not be totally human, in my opinion.
Intuition does, indeed, bring freedom with it, but that is not necessarily the freedom to which you referred, I feel. The freedom for me is the freedom from others’ opinions, desires and so on. It is the freedom to become fully aware of and engage with the world around us, not to be separated from it by our intellect.
Nigel,
You point out some important aspect….it is important to be free from other’s opinions and desires…but what about our own desires and passions that take over and give us no room for freedom. I think we can trap ourselves and many times we are not conscious of it. For example, am I free when I eat because I am nervous or not hungry? This is my own unconscious response to some inner aspect so if I just do without knowing….am I free? If I eat when I am hungry…am I free? Is freedom just doing what we want without be aware of what is driving the doing?
I think you are right when you say we cannot leave out our rational mind, but my sense of intuition is not necessarily the opposit of that. It seems to be a inclusion of thinking life of the head and feeling life of the heart. I do not mean emotions when I say feeling life. We get a sense of our feeling life when we feel the resonance of music…harp music and live on in our feeling life. We can feel the resonance of the world around us…
By including the intellect of the head, which perhaps gives us the place to focus intently and the resonance life of the heart, which gives a place to have more of a diffuse awareness of the world., we are able to hold our focus and diffuse sense of awareness in wholeness because we include our head and heart. This gives an opening to engage intuition….it seems to me.
Epoch5th
I think we’re in pretty broad agreement here. The combination of the two aspects; intellect and intuition, should be in balance.
I think the discussion of freedom is not where I want to take this right now, as it would go way off target, but I take your point.
I would only add that our intuition, in my view at least, is not just something we get a feel for, or have a ‘hit’ about. I think that it acts as a constant force in our lives, offering us opportunities and ways to reach our goals or to at least improve our lives as much as we want them to improve.
However, we seem to be in rough agreement here in the scope of intuition in our human aspect.
Nigel
Nigel,
This will be my last response on this subject because we seem to be in the same ball park, but maybe not sitting on the same deck.
Again, by engaging the head with the feeling life, we do not get a feel or “a hit”, we know without doubt that was is being presented is truly real even though unempirically substantial…
Good day my friend….