The problem of intuition
Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 8:37 am
This is an issue I've been considering a lot lately. I was reading the Beginners board, and one recommendation was to always trust your intuition and gut instinct, and that if something doesn't feel right then it probably isn't. This is something I agree with, of course, when working with psychic energy and spirit guides and such, its something you should be very aware of.
However, one thing that made me consider this a little deeper was a fellow at my old job. I started working in a warehouse, and got on well with everyone, it was a pretty good atmosphere, and everyone that I spoke to was friendly. Of course I didn't get much chance to talk to most of the people there, but there was one guy I saw about that really rubbed me the wrong way. I got bad vibes, and took this as intuition to keep clear of him. Something seemed so fundamentally wrong, and there didn't seem any other good reason for feeling this way.
Anyway, it wasn't until a month or two into the job that I realised - the guy looked just like the rapist in Shawshank Redemption, the red haired one, spitting image of him. As soon as I realised this the impression was "lifted" and I no longer felt he was a bad person. So it was clear here that what I thought was spiritual intuition got muddled up in visual impressions, just because somebody shared the same facial features as an evil fictional character.
I remember Zeena LaVey talking about this, and about how if a baby is passed round a room there may be one family member or friend that it just cries and cries over - and that the baby being close to the source instinctively knows that something is not right. BUT - what if the baby had a previous negative experience or scare involving someone with a big moustache, then sees somebody else with a big moustache - surely this might trigger the same reactionary fear?
So my question is - how can you tell the difference between spiritual intuition and just sort of negative psychological programming?
However, one thing that made me consider this a little deeper was a fellow at my old job. I started working in a warehouse, and got on well with everyone, it was a pretty good atmosphere, and everyone that I spoke to was friendly. Of course I didn't get much chance to talk to most of the people there, but there was one guy I saw about that really rubbed me the wrong way. I got bad vibes, and took this as intuition to keep clear of him. Something seemed so fundamentally wrong, and there didn't seem any other good reason for feeling this way.
Anyway, it wasn't until a month or two into the job that I realised - the guy looked just like the rapist in Shawshank Redemption, the red haired one, spitting image of him. As soon as I realised this the impression was "lifted" and I no longer felt he was a bad person. So it was clear here that what I thought was spiritual intuition got muddled up in visual impressions, just because somebody shared the same facial features as an evil fictional character.
I remember Zeena LaVey talking about this, and about how if a baby is passed round a room there may be one family member or friend that it just cries and cries over - and that the baby being close to the source instinctively knows that something is not right. BUT - what if the baby had a previous negative experience or scare involving someone with a big moustache, then sees somebody else with a big moustache - surely this might trigger the same reactionary fear?
So my question is - how can you tell the difference between spiritual intuition and just sort of negative psychological programming?