People often think that intuition and logic are somehow opposed, and that being logical blocks intuition, but this is not so. Here I am going to clear up some misconceptions and explain how these different aspects of consciousness work together. 

Intuition prefixes and suffixes rational thinking. We first get an idea intuitively, then develop upon it rationally, and where rational thinking comes to a stop, intuition takes over again and leads us to even deeper understanding. This does not mean absolute certainty; rather it’s the way our minds work to take us as far as possible. 

Neither intuition nor logic can ever be wrong. Intuition is an immediate knowing that is beyond reason. By definition, if it was wrong, it wasn’t knowing, therefore wasn’t intuition.

Logic is a process of inductive or deductive reasoning, which requires complete and adequate data and control of all the variables. This process cannot be wrong. If one gets an incorrect answer, the logic was faulty, or the data was faulty. So what is it that goes wrong?

Let’s look at the things people tend to mistake for intuition or logic. We will look at intuition first.

1)      Lack of responsibility for one’s emotions. For example, if you don’t like someone you have just met, and haven’t looked into where your emotional reaction is coming from, you intuit that it is a bad person. Note that intuition does not involve judgement, whereas emotional reactions do, so this is how you can tell the difference. 

2)      Chronic certainty. This is a form of cognitive dissonance in which one is absolutely certain about something, without having any solid proof. It is a fear-based pattern in which one is threatened by a different viewpoint which might shake up one’s world view which one uses as a safety net. Note that intuition doesn’t have this rigid sense of certainty; it simply brings in inspiration that leads you to further discovery. When one’s beliefs are rigid, that is not intuition. The answer to chronic certainty is to learn to listen. Then gradually one learns to see other viewpoints without being threatened. 

3)      Random thoughts popping into one’s head. This happens all the time. These thoughts come from many triggers, often linked to things we have seen or heard but not acknowledged, sometimes just imagination exercising itself. After all, imagination is our most powerful tool, so it needs exercising. Intuition doesn’t feel the same as random thoughts. It is an inner knowing, which is accompanied by the excitement of awakening or realisation. It requires one’s mind to be quiet, so if one has not learned to quiet the mind through meditation, the thoughts that pop up are unlikely to be intuition.

4)      Conclusions about the unknown. When we don’t have the answers to our problems, we often resort to ready-made answers  rather than willingly experience not knowing. For example, you don’t know why your life is going wrong, so you say “it must be my karma” or “I am cursed”. Acting on these conclusions doesn’t get you anywhere. The first step in going forward is to just feel what it’s like to not know.

Now let’s look at what gets mistaken for logic:

1)      Institutionalised thought. People think it’s logical to do what everyone else does, or what they have always done. This is a total lack of thinking, far from logic. It’s based on the herd instinct, seeking safety by following the herd. Someone might justify themselves by saying “everybody knows”, which is extremely irrational. First of all you don’t know what everyone thinks, as you have only met a tiny percentage of the population, and secondly, everybody could be wrong, and often are, as so many jump to these ready-made answers without thinking.

2)      Absolutes. We make absolutes when we are tired of exploring and want to close things down and move on. We may be having a discussion, then when we get tired we make an absolute, then there is no more discussion. In reality, science has many theories, none of which are held as absolutes, as there is always room to explore further. Making absolutes is therefore unscientific and illogical. 

3)      Manipulation and control. People often use twisted logic to convince you to do what they want. Without understanding the process of logic, how to test the data, and the processes of inductive or deductive reasoning, it’s easy to be fooled. When you have been led to make a bad decision, it’s because you have been manipulated by false logic. 

When you get caught in any of the above, both intuition and logic are lost. You see, intuition and logic are both flows of consciousness, whereas the above substitutes are blocks to that flow. The mind needs to be quiet and open; not full of thoughts and closed by prejudice. The best way to develop one’s consciousness, both intuition and mind, is to heal all one’s mental and emotional blocks and quieten the mind through meditation. Incidentally, these go together. Emotional and mental blocks are most easily healed by quietly observing; letting everything come up without resisting or judging it, and letting it pass in its own time. When one goes through healing in this way, intuition also develops.

NB: this process of releasing emotional and mental blocks is made much easier through candali; a method of raising kundalini in safe stages. We work with this in depth in the Ultimate Healing course.

I will be exploring the subject of Intuition and Logic further in my free Public Question & Answer Zoom call on Saturday, 7 October at 12pm UK time.