Trust Your Intuition
More than most words, INTUITION has different meanings and significance to different individuals. To some, it is their guardian angel. To others, it is the universal mind. To others, it may be science not yet discovered. To most, there is recognition at some level that we don’t know everything there is to know about this existence. Sometimes we need to rely on a hunch and take a leap.
The definition of INTUITION tells me that it is a sense of knowing something that is not necessarily evident, rational or provable. My experience since earliest memory has always been that there is a reality larger than my own, that forces are present that I may not be able to rationally detect or quantify. And, by the way, it stands to reason that these other forces or realities may sense me, yet also may not be able to prove my existence.
As a writer, primarily of fiction, I depend on this sense of otherness as much as my education and experience to guide me across the vast frontier of human story possibilities. Research may help me understand genomics sufficiently to write credible scenarios about genetic research, DNA, and biochemistry. Yet there is no rational reason for me to believe that my curiosity about the possibilities of resurrecting memory from ancient bones will resonate sufficiently with readers I have never met to persuade them to part with $14.95 of their hard earned cash to read about it. Nevertheless, I spent years and thousands of dollars of my wife’s and my hard-earned savings to travel to Italy and research the necropolis beneath the Vatican. It wasn’t rational. I just felt in my gut that this was worth doing. The result was SAINT.
Intuition is an important tool in my personal and professional toolbox. Sometimes it is not as sharp as I wish it were for the task at hand, so I recalibrate and rely more on tools such as reason, critical thought, research, and consultation with others.
So many of our best moments, our proudest achievements, our most significant life experiences are not rational. Falling in love and committing the rest of our lives to our partner is not an exercise in logic. It entails other aspects of our process that result in something far greater than we had any reason to hope for. Deciding whether to become a physicist or a writer is ultimately more about our hopes, interests, and aspirations than a logical decision-making process. As for choosing whether to write or not to write, well, that is all about intuition.