Mind over matter - foreseeing the future, consciously forestalling/precluding catastrophe, willing oneself good luck or good health - this sounds at first glance like pseudoscience. Fallacious thinking - a cognitive bias. A load of bunk.
Or is it...?
It's too early for me to tell you how effective my sense of plugging into a Cosmic stream of good fortune is. Stick around, and hopefully I'll tell you when I reach 95. When he was that age, my father would ask me, rhetorically, "Why was I so lucky?" I think he knew the answer, although it was something he could not articulate. However, I think he knew. [In parentheses, I'd say here that while my father was never a mentor to me in my youth, he certainly taught me exceptionally well how to live in old age. His attitude to life and to ageing was exemplary.] However, having got to 65, relatively unscathed, I feel more qualified to say that I feel there's something in this than when I was just 35.
The idea of intuition being a sixth sense outside of the the five that have sensory organs attached to them - sight, hearing, taste, smell and hearing - is something that mainstream science would reject, but that most people will to some degree accept.
Magic (as opposed to illusionism, merely a form of entertainment) is the use of the metaphysical, supernatural or paranormal to affect the material world. If your worldview excludes everything but the physical, there is no room for such thing as magic. Cause must precede effect, motion requires a force acting on a body, and the arrow of time goes one way.
We live our everyday lives on the edge of chaos. From macro-scale existential threats (nuclear war, pandemic, super-volcanoes, solar coronal ejections, asteroid strikes) to personal mishaps (losing your wallet, mobile phone or keys), bad things can happen. Can we stave them off with positive thought?
If we are open and sensitive to our intuitions - able to recognise a genuine intuition from a wishful thought or a gut instinct that's just wrong - maybe we just can. Don't ask me to prove it. Intuition may work better for some people than for others, and the question of whether we can improve our intuition by practice is a good one. Can we aim to improve our skills of listening to the void, as it were? Catching that calm, quiet voice that gives us short intimations of future outcomes, or optimal solutions?
Here are a few hints on how to practice intuition and strengthen your intuitive skills:
- Pay attention to that inner voice. The more attention you give it (of the right sort - not Ego-intermediated wishful thinking), the more practical use it will become to you.
- Aim for the highest level of sincerity with yourself. Ask yourself: "Is this really what I'm feeling?" Feel certain that your wishful thinking is not taking over and creating a simulacrum of a true intuition. If it is - dismiss it. Act only on those that pass the meta-sincerity test.
- The Cosmic Purpose tends towards the Good. Your intuition won't tell you how to steal or cheat.
- Your intuition is allied to your Consciousness - not to your Ego. Your intuition won't suggest to you how to become more popular and powerful, how to scale the Ladder of Authority to lord it over others.
- Pay attention to how your body feels - that tickling sensation on the roof of the mouth that often presages a cold or flu. When you feel something's not quite right - tell yourself emphatically "I don't want this - let it go away!" And when you do feel yourself feeling well - express conscious gratitude for it! Gratitude should also accompany the journey of recovery and recuperation.
- Pay attention to how your mind feels - when you feel a sudden rush of euphoria on opening the front door on a rain evening, on seeing a beautiful sunset, on beholding a night sky full of stars - get into the habit of feeling gratitude for that sensation. And when you feel down, remember good times roll around naturally; things will for sure improve.
- Whenever you go out - be it on a long trip or a short walk, consciously express the desire to return home safely, avoiding accidents, crime, losing something, something breaking down or ill health. And upon safe return - give thanks. We are always walking on the edge of chaos.
- Mindfulness/meditation practices that clear the mind of the race of everyday thoughts open the conduit to extraneous intuition - ideas that pop into your consciousness unbidden. Intuitions are often subtle and require a sensitive mind; that can be worked on (see below). With practice and exercise, you can make the intuitions stronger.
- Write it down. I've had a notebook with me most of the time for the past 12 years or so; catching those moments of intuition is helpful.
- Practice decision-making based on intuition. Try making a small decision based purely on intuition, and then reflect on the outcome to see if your intuition was accurate. This may help you build trust in your intuition; bit by bit you can step it up and apply it to more important decisions.
Developing intuition takes time and practice. However, intuition should be in balance with critical thought and analysis; intuition may be misled or influenced by wishful thinking; using it in conjunction with purely intellectual faculties will strengthen both.
"If you will it, Dude, it is no dream." [Leb. 7:19].
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