Everyone—you and me included—has heard their small inner voice speak. It might have been a muffled word of sage advice, a loud yell of urgent caution, or a simple suggestion towards the right move. Evolutionary, our subconscious source of wisdom has served us well—“Whoa! Don’t step outside the cave right now” to “Hey! This wheel and axle invention will be big.” But as real as intuition is, many people choose to ignore their instincts. How about you? Do you trust your gut feelings?
There are lots of terms for gut feelings. Intuition is the main one, but there’re differences of opinion as to what constitutes raw instinct, subtle intuition based on life experience, and plain old gut feelings—also known as the sixth sense, vibes, foresight, precognition, visceral nudges, being-in-the-world, hunches, and downright lucky guesses. These are socially-acceptable labels, not to be confused with pseudoscience stuff like tactic knowledge, remote viewing, morphic resonance, ESP, clairvoyance, and cryptesthesia. Then there’s a half-way, new-age idea called Grok. You might want to Google that.
What got me going on today’s post is a recent comment left on an old DyingWords thread where a fellow made a statement that relying on gut feelings amounted to as much as taking a ride on a Ouija board. “Hang on a moment,” I replied. “I have decades of investigation experience and, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, I’ve come to rely on my gut feelings—hunches, intuition, Grok, or whatever you wanna call them.”
Just a quick personal story before we move on to look at the philosophy, psychology, and physiology behind intuition as well as taking a test to see how much you trust your gut feelings. In 1985, I was part of a police Emergency Response Team (ERT or SWAT for Americans). We were sent to the frozen wilds of the Canadian north to arrest an armed and murderous madman. Michael Oros, the bad guy, got the drop on my partner and me just as I had this incredible gut feeling that he’d silently crept up behind us. I spun around right as the fire-fight started. Because of this intuitive gut feeling—this overpowering presence of imminent danger—I was able to react to save my life and probably the lives of other teammates.
I didn’t imagine that gut feeling. It was as real as the keyboard I’m writing this on, and I have no explanation for it other than we, as human beings, are hard-wired to receive subconscious information through a process best known as intuition. Whether we use our gut feeling’s information or discard it is a matter of personal choice.
Gut feeling intuition has fascinated scientists and philosophers. It fascinates me, as well, and I don’t qualify as either a scientist or a philosopher. It’s not just people who have intuition and gut feelings. Why do dogs seem to know when their owners are coming home, and why do horses naturally understand what people to trust and what people to mistrust? Is it animal common sense?
Surely there’s more to human intuition/gut feeling than common sense. Something else is at work here, and the philosophical theories go back as far as Plato. In his book Republic, Plato defined intuition as “a fundamental capacity for human reason to comprehend the true nature of reality—a pre-existing knowledge residing in the soul of eternity—truths not arrived at by reason but accessed using a knowledge already present in a dormant form and accessible to our intuitive capacity”. Plato called this concept anamnesis.
Ancient Eastern and old Western philosophers intertwined intuition with religion and spirituality. From Hinduism’s Vedic, we get two-fold reasoning for human gut feelings (mana in Sanskrit). First, is imprinting of psychological experiences constructed through sensory information—the mind seeking to become aware of the external world. Second, a natural action when the mind is aware of itself, resulting in humans being awareness of their existence and their environment.
In Buddhism, you’ll find a similar take on intuition. Monks teach that intuition is a faculty in the mind of immediate knowledge that’s beyond the mental process of conscious thinking, as conscious thought cannot necessarily access subconscious information or render such information into a communicable form. Gut feelings, according to Buddhism, are mental states immediately connecting the Universal Mind with your individual, discriminating mind.
More modern-day philosophers, like Descartes, say intuition is “pre-existing knowledge gained through rational reasoning or discovering truth through contemplation that manifests in subconscious messaging.” Descartes goes on to say, “Whatever I clearly and distinctly perceive to be true is true no matter if I see it subconsciously.”
Immanuel Kant offered this: “Intuition consists of basic sensory information provided by the cognitive faculty of sensibility equivalent to what loosely might be called perception through conscious and subconscious.”
In Psychological Types written in 1916 by Carl Jung, you’ll read this: “Intuition is an irrational function, opposed most directly by sensation and less opposed strongly by the rational functions of thinking and feeling. Intuition is perception via the unconscious using sense-perception only as a starting point to bring forward ideas, images, possibilities, ways out of a blocked situation, by a process that is mostly unconscious.”
Freud—always the contrarian—called bullshit on Jung. Freud said, “Knowledge can only be attained through the conscious intellectual manipulation of carefully made observations. I reject any other means of acquiring knowledge such as intuition (gut feelings).”
That’s a short canvassing of philosophers. So, what do the scientists say about gut feelings?
Well, neurologists have a lot to offer about how intuition is biologically tied into the gut. They say our gut, our gastrointestinal (GI) system, has an entire mind of its own called the Enteric Nervous System (ENS) that operates alongside, but independent of, our brain and Central Nervous System (CNS) functions. Our ENS is two layers of more than 100 million nerve cells lining the entire GI system from start to finish—from our esophagus to our anus, or from our yap to our hoop as a layperson might say.
This incredibly complex ENS has a full-time job of regulating our GI tract whose main purpose is to keep us alive through sustainable nutrition. Neurologists say the ENS acts on instinct and constantly exchanges information to our brain through our CNS. When the ENS senses something awry, it immediately alerts the brain that can choose to react consciously or subconsciously.
That works both ways. When the brain consciously or subconsciously alarms, it notifies the ENS which just might explain why you get that feeling in your stomach—that gut feeling. It’s why anxiety can bung you up or make you throw up. In the end, it might be diarrhea that ultimately lets you know to trust your gut feelings.
Okay, that explains the neuroscience behind the ENS gut feeling reaction. But it doesn’t explain what intuition is, and it’s probably worthwhile to look at a definition of intuition which seems to be a different process than a physical gut feeling. Here’s the best differentiating explanation I could find about instinct, gut feeling, and intuition.
Instinct — our innate inclination toward a particular behavior as opposed to a learned response.
Gut Feeling — a hunch or a sensation that appears quickly in consciousness (notable enough to be acted upon if one chooses) without us being fully aware of the underlying reasons for its occurrence.
Intuition — the process giving us the ability to know something directly without analytic reasoning, bridging the gap between the conscious and subconscious parts of our mind, and also between instinct and reason.
If I understand this correctly, gut feelings are short flashes of raw sensory alerts while intuition is a higher-evolved mechanism of subconsciously processing information without stopping to run reams of paper through the mental printer. So, my reasoning goes, intuition must be more of a learned behavior manufactured through experiences, both consciously built and subconsciously retained. Gut feelings, on the other hand, are more instinctive and primal.
I looked around for scientific studies on intuition and found credible works by Daniel Kahneman who won a Nobel Prize for his work on human judgment and decision-making. Without going into detail, Dr. Kahneman and his group conclusively proved there was a valid science behind human intuition which included—not surprisingly—gut feelings.
Another scientific study led by Dr. Gerd Gigerenzer of the Max Plank Institute for Human Development, agreed. Dr. Gigerenzer stated, “People rarely make decisions on the basis of reason alone, especially when the problems faced are complex. I think intuition’s merit has been vastly underappreciated as a form of unconscious intelligence.”
These intuition studies tie into works done by Dr. Gary Klein’s organization at the Natural Decision Making Movement who studied real-life decision processing by people in high-stress situations. They observed police officers, soldiers, paramedics, nurses, and fighter pilots coming to the conclusion that these professionals’ intuitive abilities developed from recognizing regularities, repetitions, and similarities between information available to them combined with their past experiences.
Out of their scientific work of studying intuitive reactions under stressful and challenging situations involving time pressure, uncertainty, unclear goals, and organizational restraints came a fighter pilot training model called the OODA Loop or the Circle of Competence. It’s a simple formula every high-performance jet jockey now memorizes to the point of being instinctive, intuitive, and gut-felt. It goes like this:
O — Observe
O — Orient
D — Decide
A — Act
So, is developed intuition, or its cruder form of visceral gut feeling, reliable? I’d say if it’s good enough to train fighter pilots with then it’s good enough for us. Let’s put it to the test.
I found a terribly non-scientific (but totally fun) click-bait site with a ten-question roll-through called the Queendom Gut Instinct Test. You can take it for a spin here:
https://www.queendom.com/queendom_tests/transfer
To score your results, you have to click the boxes at the site, but don’t worry—there’s no cost involved, and it’s an interesting self-perspective based on your gut reaction answers. These are the ten questions and multiple choice answers:
1. Did you ever get the sense that something was wrong or someone was in danger and ended up being right?
Yes ——— No ———
2. Do you believe that your gut instinct is at least as reliable as your rational mind?
Yes ——— No ———
3. Do you believe that a person can give off good or bad “vibes?”
Yes ——— No ———
4. You’re shopping with your partner for a new home. The real estate agent you’re working with pulls up to a beautiful house in the exact style you are looking for. However, when you walk through the front door, you are suddenly overcome with a sense of dread and foreboding. The place has a really creepy ambiance. What would you do?
A ——— Walk right back out. There is definitely something wrong with this place.
B ——— Ask the agent about the house’s history. If something bad happened here, I am not buying it.
C ——— Do a tour of the place, since I am here anyway. If I can’t shake the negative feeling AND there are major structural issues with the house, then I won’t buy it.
D ——— Shake it off. Even if something occurred, my partner and I will fill it with better memories.
F ——— Make an offer. Who cares about the house’s history? This is my dream home!
5. Two weeks before you’re about to go on a trip overseas, you have a recurring dream that the airplane you’re on needs to make an emergency landing due to a technical failure. What would you do?
A ——— Ignore it. It’s just a sign that I am nervous about flying.
B ——— Go on the trip, but say a few prayers or bring my lucky charm.
C ——— Reschedule my flight. There’s obviously a reason why I am having this dream every night.
6. Your friend introduces you to his or her new significant other. From the first conversation, you get the sense that there is something off about this person – like he/she is hiding something, or not being genuine. What would you do?
A ——— Dismiss it as paranoia. I barely know this person, so I have no right to judge him or her so quickly.
B ——— Put the feeling aside for now, but keep an eye out for suspicious behavior.
C ——— Try to probe a bit and/or do some research to see if there is something to my hunch.
D ——— Warn my friend to be careful and not to trust this person too quickly – my gut is never wrong.
7. Time to upgrade your wheels. How would you most likely approach this purchase?
A ——— I would conduct some research, weigh the pros and cons of different models, and then find a car that fits my needs and budget.
B ——— I would do some research on different models, then test drive the car to see how I feel in it.
C ——— I would have a general idea of what I want, but it would come down to one thing: if it’s the right car for me, I will know it when I’m in it.
8. You’re out buying coffee when you come across an old colleague who left the company to start his own business. He had a major fallout with management when he was turned down for a promotion. He says his startup is doing great, and he offers you a job on his team with a lucrative salary as well as benefits. It sounds like an amazing opportunity – but your gut is telling you to turn it down. What would you do?
A ——— Thank him for the offer, but decline. My gut is obviously picking up on something that he’s not telling me.
B ——— Ask him to give me some time to consider the offer, and then do some research on his company to see if it’s doing as well as he says it is.
C ——— Jump on the offer. There is no way I would turn down this amazing chance for a better job!
9. As you’re leaving your friend’s place and walking to your car, you hear a clear voice in your head say, “Don’t drive home. Stay here for the night.” You decide to listen and sleep over. The next morning, you find out that there was a fatal 8-car accident the night before – on the exact road you were planning to take, at the exact time you were about to leave. What would you most likely be thinking?
A ——— “Interesting coincidence.”
B ——— “That’s so strange. Maybe someone is looking out for me.”
C ——— “I am so grateful I listened to that warning in my head.”
10. You’re at a convenience store to pick up a lottery ticket. How do you choose your numbers?
A ——— I let the machine pick them at random.
B ——— I play the same numbers every time.
C ——— I pick the numbers based on what my gut tells me.
Again, you’ll have to take the test at its online site to get your Gut Instinct Score. How did I make out? I got an 85, and here’s what the site said about me:
Your gut instinct has been your ally. It’s that older, wiser friend who always has your back and stops you from making stupid decisions. When your gut tells you to pay attention, to be careful, to not trust someone, or to go right instead of left, you won’t question the information. You are in tune with your intuition. Chances are that on those rare occasions when you didn’t trust your gut, you regretted it. Just keep in mind that your logical reasoning is your ally too. It is not the antagonist to your intuition, it’s simply an additional source of information and a way to process it all. Just as you shouldn’t rely solely on your intuition to make major financial decisions, you also shouldn’t rely on logic alone as a survival mechanism. Make good use of both. When you use analytical reasoning to evaluate a problem and your intuition to pick up on deeper, more hidden sources of information, you’ve got the best of both worlds.
The Gut Instinct Test doesn’t tell you which questions you got “right or wrong”. I think there’s some sort of algorithmic scoring process that gives you a value which is why I got an 85 or an 8.5 out of 10. I know which one I bombed (for sure) and that was the lotto number thing. I always use the machine quick-pick because I’m too lazy to think it out for myself.
How about you DyingWords followers? Do you trust your gut feelings? And if you take the test, how about sharing your results?
The ‘policeman’s hunch’. Doesn’t hold up in court anymore, but valid nevertheless. It comes with time and experience, but is what makes a good cop.
A hunch is a perfectly acceptable reason to begin an investigation avenue / angle. However, to be admissible grounds for gaining evidence there must be something that corroborates the hunch – not just an open fishing trip. One of the main factors in allowing a hunch in court is the police officer’s experience. Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
Sorry I’m late! The Pats played at 1 p.m. yesterday. What an unbelievable game, too!
Not surprisingly, I got 83 with the same write-up. Libra thing. 😉
This was such a fascinating topic, Garry. You did an amazing job of boiling down the information into easy-to-understand pieces. I’ve always trusted my intuition/spidey senses/gut feelings, and they’ve served me well over the years. It’s the rare occasion when I don’t listen that I get into trouble. I had no idea the gut has a brain of its own (sort of), but it makes a lot of sense.
Better late than never, so they say, Sue. I was thinking of you while I put this together and knew darn well that you’d be right into taking the test. And it doesn’t surprise me that you got the same write-up, although I did beat you by 2 – probably because I have a few more years Libraing than you do 🙂 Thanks for the feedback! It is an interesting subject and I’d been meaning to take it on for a while. However, it wasn’t till I got that Ouija Board comment that I got motivated.
I had to check the Pats standing. 10 and 6, tied with the Bills for 1st so they could well be Super Bowl contenders… a-gain. Happy New Year to your & BOB and the Coletta tribe!
Did you happen to see the score of yesterday’s game? 10 – 50. We slayed ’em! 🙂
No, but I just looked it up – Jacksonville got it handed to them. I haven’t seen much NFL since Emily moved out. She’s a die-hard Pats fan – used to always dress in her #12 Jersey. Not sure what she wears on game day now that the GOAT is gone 🙂
Mini-GOAT, #10! 🙂
Had to Google that… Mac Jones #10 NEP 2021 Season Stats: 21 TD, 12 Int, 3340 Yds, 92.5 RTG – Like… Wow!!! (and 6’3, 217 lbs – starting approach the Gronkisphere 🙂
Happy 2022, which I’m hoping is following an happy ‘21…
Thanks for a “TKZ” fix during their hiatus (though I follow you here already)…
As coincidence would have it, I’m reading _River of Doubt_, about Theodore Roosevelt’s expedition in the Amazon in 1914.
One of the naturalists on the expedition “…had nearly lost his life to [a black caiman] while on an expedition on the Orinoco. The River had been low, and the mud flat that bordered it studded with flat, exposed stones. He was stepping from stone to stone, his mind and eyes on the birds that lined the river, when he suddenly felt the impulse to look down. In mid-stride, with his foot still dangling in the air, he realized that he was just about to step not on a stone but the back of a large caiman. ‘Had I done so,’ he wrote later, ‘the creature would have instantly whirled about and had me in its jaws before I could possibly have escaped’ “ (Candice Millard, _River of Doubt_, p. 161).
I don’t think any of my “premonitions” can quite compare.
And a Happy 22 to you, too, George. I haven’t read River of Doubt but I’m aware of what an adventurer Teddy Roosevelt was – I believe he had very poor eyesight but that didn’t hold him back in the least which is an encouragement to us all. “An impulse to look down”. That’s one more term to describe this unknown, but very real, phenomena – whatever we chose to call it.
Intriguing article, Garry! I haven’t taken the “test” yet but I have had a few experiences concerning physical occurrences (and most especially people) that make me a firm believer in gut intuition.
It’s been considered “woo” for so long, but modern medical science is realizing that gut health is a major contributor to overall health. I found your details on ENS very intriguing! Like the studies done on unused brain function, we are a fascinating tangle of mystery.
I very much want to read about your psychic hypnosis case!
Hi Cyn and thanks for your supportive comment. I wonder where science – medical and other disciplines – will be on the human psych in 2122. I think we haven’t scratched the surface of what consciousness is. Hopefully AI won’t have taken over our minds by that point but, judging some minds I’ve observed, maybe it won’t be such a bad thing 🙂 I think I will write about that case of psychic hypnosis – it was… mind-blowing woo stuff for sure.
You know me, Garry. If I didn’t trust that tiny little voice I wouldn’t have written over 60 novels. I let the characters tell the story that they, not I, are living, albeit in my creative subconscious. Just makes more sense than making stuff up and second=guessing them.
Thanks for the quote from Albert Einstein, by the way. I’ll be using it in today’s Journal over at https://hestanbrough.com.
Good morning, Harvey. I’m amazed at how prolific you are. Your Writing Into The Dark influence (via Dean Wesley Smith) has had an enormous effect on me. Just sitting here and letting intuition take over the fingers on the keys is totally liberating. Thanks for sharing the Einstein quote and the link to this piece on your journal. Happy New Year, my friend!
HNY Garry! Thanks for this amazing information. Your personal experience in the face of danger is a riveting story. I hope you’ll write the entire episode up one day and share it.
Although I don’t have any personal stories to share, I know that feeling of “something’s not right here” that can cause me to change course in whatever I’m doing.
Have a great year! See you on the zone.
And HNY to you, Kay! That feeling of “something’s not right here”. I had a mentor in my early detective years who used that line during interviews & interrogations. He’d identify the issue, say “something’s not right here”, then sit back and get the subject to clarify it. It’s the most valuable conversation technique I’ve ever learned – sometimes non-verbally. The “Teslin Lake Incident” (my extreme danger experience) has been written about in many books, articles, and documentaries. “Descent Into Madness” is the true crime account: https://www.amazon.com/Descent-into-Madness-Diary-Killer/dp/0888393210/ My based-on-true-crime attempt to make sense of it is No Witnesses To Nothing: https://www.amazon.com/No-Witnesses-Nothing-Garry-Rodgers-ebook/dp/B00AJZR28Y/ See you on the zone my KZ friend 🙂
Gosh that was a really good article, Garry. I’ve been subscribed for a long time now but this was one of your best. It brought to mind Rupert Sheldrake’s book, The Sense Of Being Stared At. Have you read him before? He has his critics, of course, but the interviews are very interesting.
https://www.sheldrake.org/research/sense-of-being-stared-at
BTW, the story of trusting your gut during that dangerous episode with the bad guy was amazing. Everyone here would agree that all police and first responders, (active duty and retired) are earth angels among us. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for keeping us safe!
Why thank you for such a nice comment, Kathy. You made my New Years Day! I’m somewhat familiar with Rupert Sheldrake, and his works came up when I researched this piece. (DyingWords followers: FYI, it takes me about 12-16 hours to research, draft, proof, and format a post before I hit the Publish button. It might sound like a lot of work, but it’s worth every minute when I get feedback like I’m getting today – so you can bank on it that this blog site is not shutting down any time soon.) I’ll check out the link to Mr. Sheldrake’s book. Thanks again, Kathy, and have a great ’22! Oh, and thanks for the nod to all first responders. Despite the occasional bad actor, almost all are earth angels.
HNY 2022 Garry! I got an 83 on the test, but I already knew I rely on my “gut instincts” or intuition. My intuition’s helped me prevent several dire safety issues in both my police (short) career and in my children’s lives when they were little. For instance, I had a “feeling” something wasn’t right with my daughter at her school when she was about 8 yrs old. She has Down Syndrome. I drove to the school, even though they hadn’t called me. I got there to find out that she’d walked away from the school because her teacher had locked her out of the classroom, so she’d walked downtown through seven different intersections, to the grocery store they were supposed to be going to for a field trip. Everyone was looking for her, and the vice-principal had decided to drive to the store “just in case” my daughter had actually made it that far. She had, and the VP found a woman trying to put her into her car. Needless to say, I got the teacher fired. All was well, but it was a close call.
Whether these “Feelings” are spiritual, subconscious, or our “gut’, I believe in them. Thanks for sharing your own experience!
An 83, eh? Thanks for sharing your score, Laurie. That spooky house question raised the hair on my arms as I remembered looking at a house with a realtor that did the exact same thing to me. Turns out there was a story about that place that happened after we left. Maybe something for another blog post unless people are starting to think I’ve gone a little dippy. That was a close call with your daughter. Thank God she turned up safe. Like Deb said in her comment, if you want to hear about gut feelings – ask a Mom. Happy New Year and best for 2022, my friend!
As always, fascinating, Garry. Some people seem to have a much more highly developed intuition/gut/foresight/whatever than others. One family member is absolutely scary-uncanny at predictions. His gut feeling saved his life many times. One of the rare occasions he didn’t listen to his gut (it said take a different route), he had a blowout on black ice and went off a 100-foot cliff. He survived but has listened to every gut feeling since then.
HNY!
And HNY back, fellow Kill Zoner! Thanks for the encouraging words, Debbie. Although I can’t fully explain any of this instinct/intuition/gut reaction stuff, I completely recognize that some people, like your family member, are naturally more intuitive or better gut-equipped than others. I had an in-law with a bit of a gut on him but that had nothing to do with an vivid sixth sense. A neighbor said there was never any fat in the Rodgers family until he married into it. Enjoy 2022, and I foresee great things for your writing!
Happy New Year, Garry!
What an excellent article you’ve written! I have nothing to add that you and the other readers here haven’t said so very well.
But I will ask one question: what is your opinion on psychics in police investigations, and have you ever consulted with them on an active or cold case?
RIP Constable Michael Joseph Buday Reg No 33631
And a HNY to you, too, Dan. Thanks for the feedback. My opinion of psychics in criminal investigations? I’ve encountered a few and they were all quacks that burned up valuable time and did nothing but cause trouble especially when they dragged the media into their visions. However, I do know of one case of psychic hypnosis that panned out. I know the hypnotist who did witness recall work for me, and he experimented with the psychic end in a witness’ mind after the main recall session was over and the recording was shut off. It was eerily accurate, and I think I just may do a blog post on the case. Here’s a link to the main article I wrote on Forensic Hypnosis with Dr. Lee Poulos. http://dyingwords.net/forensic-hypnosis-for-memory-enhancement/
And thanks for the salute to Mike who I’m positive had no premonition of what was about to happen.
I can’t count the times I’ve “known” something was going to happen…like the morning my husband died. A voice in my head said, “Today is the last day of your life as you know it.” And it was. Another time there was a drawing and I ‘knew’ my name would be drawn and it was. There were other times, but I’ll leave it at those two. I really enjoy your posts!
My sincere condolences for losing your husband, Patricia. How awful that premonition must have been. I’ve never experienced something like that, but I have had gut feelings when I’ve checked a lotto ticket – usually I foresaw “Sorry. Not A Winner.” And I sincerely hearing that you enjoy my posts. That makes this all worthwhile to get out of bed every second Saturday morning and hit the Publish button.
If we want to know the veracity of the whole “gut feeling, intuition, eyes-in-the-back-of-the-head” thing, just ask a Mom.
All of the above.
Mine was the poster child for intuition. I always got busted, even before I’d done anything… 🙂
Great article, Garry, as usual. Happy 2022!
Thanks, Deb. “Eyes-in-the-back-of-the-head”. I forgot about that term. My mother was a school teacher who said she had eyes in the back of her head. I never saw them but I know they saw me. And the best in ’22 to you, too!
An interesting post. I personally think some “intuition” is a fast response to a learned pattern, such as in the case of emergency workers. But it can’t all be explained this way.
I have had sudden, strong feelings that such-and-such was going to happen, and have always found them to be true. Sometimes these are very specific, such as suddenly knowing my son was going to pick up and drop his baby brother. I got to them just in time to see the baby hit the ground.
Other times it has been less specific and further into the future, but even these are specific enough I recognize when they’ve come to pass. I’ve had many of them. As an example, one time I was planning to visit a friend I knew only through e-mail, who lived a thousand miles away. I made plans to meet him the next spring, but one day in the fall I got the strongest feeling I should go right now or it would be too late. I was by the US border and if I’d had my passport with me I have have just gone, but instead I returned home and contacted him to ask if he was all right. He said he was fine. A few days later he died suddenly. I’ve been kicking myself ever since for not paying attention to what I knew.
I think we have a spiritual ability that is undeveloped because we don’t exercise it. Whether it’s your gut or your mind or your heart, when you know something, you know. Ignoring what you know is like letting your muscles deteriorate by never using them.
I’m so sorry to hear about you suddenly losing your friend, Virginia. That’s very sad that you’re suffering guilt for not listening to that inner voice. It really is tough to explain exactly what gut feelings are although, for me, they’re very, very real. After researching and writing this piece, I think I have a better understanding of gut feeling vs. intuition. Intuitive behavior seems to develop more through experience such as an emergency room responder being able to size up a diagnosis and apply the right treatment or a cop approaching door – also a fighter pilot knowing where a bogie will come from when it’s not visible on radar. Gut feelings just come out of nowhere.
Many years ago, in another life, I had made a quasi-friendship with an ex-con straight out of Cedar Junction Correctional Institution of Massachusetts. It isn’t for shoplifters; it’s for major criminals. One night, on our way out, I had the feeling that he was going to try to kill me. I came within a whisker of being murdered in the passenger seat of a car parked in an empty residential lot on a hill overlooking the Worcester Police Station. It was an unwise partnership, and I have learned a lot from that incident and since that incident, and I like to think that it wouldn’t happen again. But there are definitely such things as vibes and sensations and non-verbal communication. I have no idea if there is a God up there or not, I kind of tend to think not, at least not as religion teaches it. But I am sure that there are things we can’t see that are, nevertheless, real.
Wow! That’s quite the experience, Chuck. I’m with you on vibes, sensations, and non-verbal communication as well as there being real things we can’t see with our conscious senses. As for God, I waver back and forth on that issue. On one hand, if there were a God I’d have won the lotto by now. On the other hand, if there is a God perhaps I’m not listening to Her give me the winning lotto numbers. Happy New Year!
You and yours as well, Garry!