Intuition opens access to the truth of people and things, the philosopher and writer is sure. But you need to rely on it with caution and only in a special state of mind.
Psychologies Q: What is the definition of intuition?
Michel Cazenave Michel Cazenave: This word comes from the Latin intueri, which means “to look.” Intuition is very close to what is called insight, because it allows you to penetrate into the very essence of a thing, person or event. It assumes that we see the reality of the other person who is standing in front of us, or the situation in which we are. Perhaps intuition has a lot in common with foresight. The whole question is whether our prediction corresponds to reality. We can be internally convinced of something, and then it turns out that we were wrong. But I do not know of any way to recognize whether our feelings are true at the moment. And this is the most difficult thing when it comes to the irrational: nothing can be sure, we have no guarantees. Therefore, about should be considered with great caution. How many times have I seen how people make serious mistakes, following the “tips” of intuition! They trusted their feelings, but intuition let them down: their behavior did not correspond to what was required of them.
Are there people who have a more developed intuition than others?
M. K. M. K.: Yes. Here I agree with Jung, who created the classification of psychological types, and among them there are those who are endowed with a special intuitive personality structure. There are people who have insight, the ability to speculate about the future. Others live rather by sensations, they perfectly perceive what surrounds them at the moment. Another type of people are those who are more focused on thinking, reasoning, analysis, device. And if we are not endowed by nature with expressed intuition, we will never compare with those who have this ability from birth. However, most of those who have the gift of intuition do not know about it or discover it late. So mistakes are always possible.
What is the reason for our mistakes?
M. K. M. K.: Most often we make mistakes because we transfer our own anxieties and desires to other people, to the outside world. We see others not as they are, but as we fear to see ourselves. Often people mistake their way of looking at the world for intuition. It seems to them that they see the situation or person in the true light, but in reality they see only themselves! They become a victim of inflating their “I”. The error that lies behind the wrong intuitive ideas is as follows: we think that we understand everything, we know everything, but in fact we are in captivity of an illusion, we are obsessed with the desire to control everything, control the situation, dispose of another person … The environment for this is only promotes. We develop in a society dominated by the ideology of “I”, which invites us to live in peace with ourselves, completely closing our eyes to the spiritual questions that arise before everyone, to the fact that we are affected by things that surpass us and influence us … However, intuition grows precisely from this, from our ability to look beyond the outer shell of things.
Do you need a special mindset for intuition to work?
M. K. M. K.: Of course, intuition implies a certain common field with the person we are interested in. To feel this field, you need to tune in to understand and (perceive) accept, and not take power. To do this, you need to overcome your “I”. Which is impossible if the “I” is not built or is too inflated. It is necessary to give up the desire to impose your own vision of things, from the omnipotence of the subject. This is extremely difficult, because you need to learn inner deep silence. Intuition relies on this depth and peace. How can we pick up signals if we have not been able to silence all the many inner voices that constantly whisper: “you are a bad son,” “your father does not love you,” and so on?
Can I
M. K. M. K.: Well, of course! Any person can change. We could have been brought up in an environment where we were forced to think in ways that were unusual for us. Life events, dramas, changes can serve as an internal psychotherapy that will reveal to us who we really are and allow us to look beyond ourselves. Psychoanalysis is not necessary for this, we can do it ourselves. Were we not coping with problems before the birth of psychoanalysis? But often this path is associated with crises. They have meaning. The question is whether we are ready to go through these crises. They remind us every time: you have to look at yourself and how harmonious your relationship with the world is.
“FOLLOWING YOUR INTUITION IS TO STOP REDUCING EVERYTHING ONLY TO YOURSELF, TO ACCEPT THE OTHER PERSON’S DIFFERENCE AND DEEP WEAKNESS – AND MOVING TOGETHER WITH THEM”
Are not these relationships with the world and with others at the center of intuition?
M. K. M. K.: Undoubtedly. I think, like Jung, that our true identity is irreducible to the “I”, and first we need to deal with this issue. Then we can work on our openness to the outside world: stop withdrawing into ourselves, start truly listening to others, recognize the information that the situation is broadcasting to us, and act on what we hear. The first thing to recognize is that things do not belong to us, we do not reign over them. I know that this is difficult and goes completely against modern discourse that prescribes the action of the subject. I advocate that we learn to perceive the world! Following intuition means accepting and being ready to meet what comes from a person, a thing, given the context. As in love, the point is to stop reducing everything to oneself, to accept the difference and deep strangeness of the other. We are both touched by the other and moved by him. We look into the heart of another person, situation, and move towards him. This is how passivity and activity are combined …
Being passive and acting are antonyms…
M. K. M. K.: Which, however, “walk in pairs.” These are different things, but at the same time we try to combine them, thus creating dynamics. If we give preference to only one of the two movements, we will certainly be mistaken. The principle of unity is born from the interaction of opposites. For the same reason, I advise you to check your intuition with reason, to connect the rational and the irrational. I hate the modern creed: “Let’s trust our intuition.” It’s like, “Let’s trust our emotions!”. The SS man who went into the woods in the evening to play the violin after the crimes committed during the day was emotional. There is no irrational without rational. We need to ask ourselves: “Does this intuitive feeling correspond to my knowledge, does it reflect them?” Helping intuition to enter into a dialogue with thought is very important in order to avoid disasters!