Intuition: the vapors of past experiences*
* An anonymous description of Intuition.
Intuition is what computers don't and probably never will have, despite all the excitement about computer artificial intelligence and 'fuzzy logic.' Intuition is knowing almost instantaneously and reproducibly what the appropriate thing to do without being able to give any rationalization, justification or reasons why we did it, either to ourselves or anyone else. Intuition is not an accident, it is repeatedly getting it right.
MBA training, spreadsheets and computers have made our rational ability as efficient mathematical calculators obsolete, but intuition, long neglected, is enjoying the limelight of acceptability and prominence in many parts of the rational world. Professors at prestigious business schools, such as Stanford University, have lectured on intuition as a valid strategy in business when balanced with logical analytic mastery.
It would amaze an outsider to the American corporate executive suite to see the amount of intuition, combined with organized, rational, auditable planning, that is really used in business. Intuition is possibly as common a source of day-to-day business decisions as reason or logic, especially when both are seamlessly integrated into a single homogenized conclusion.
In corporate circles, however, intuition, at least as justification for decisions, is taboo as the major decision criterion. The intuitive process is pejoratively referred to as, "winging it" or "leaving your rear uncovered." The problem is that we intuitively know that intuition usually works, but by tacit business/cultural agreement, only a few openly and seriously discuss intuition as as a valid strategy in business.
Intuition is also the ability to view our experiences from new or previously untried perspective or point of view, such as the intuitive flash of insight that led Albert Einstein to the theory of relativity. Intuition is dynamically used by all of us in our daily interaction with the universe. For example, using our gut feeling or hunch to make the correct turn in a strange city and suddenly find we are at our desired destination. However, the alogical nature of our intuition, which eludes a cause-and-effect explanation, is not easy for us to accept because it lacks logic.
Many of us wrongly perceive intuition to be bordering on the paranormal and not necessarily within all of us as a normal means of determining accurate information about our experiences in the universe; those who reject the validity of intuition do so at their own peril. In order to tap deeper into our innate mental strength and improve our lives, we must recognize and use all of our potential, including the power of our intuition fueled by the vapors of our past experiences
