Proof of Self
Intuition – Inner Wisdom – 6th Sense – Discernment – Inner Voice – Gut Feeling – Inner Child
I am presenting a number proofs that are based on experiential observation and inductive and deductive reasoning. I believe it is worth while to look at what such universally accepted and used concepts as intuition, etc. may imply.
The concepts of Intuition, Inner Wisdom, 6th Sense, Inner Voice, Gut Feeling, Inner Child, Discernment, Instinct, Insight, etc. are all terms we commonly use to describe a sense we all have of something within us that is a source of guidance, awareness, knowing, etc., that we either listen to or ignore.
Hundreds of books have been written about all of these concepts and are readily available on Amazon.com and other Internet book sites. The constant references made to these concepts show a widely held belief in them. My explanation below, of why people believe in these concepts, is relevant to my theory of Self. It will also give you more food for thought regarding their source, which I believe is the ‘Self’.
Is it possible that these all refer to the same thing, something calling to us from what seems like deep within us, with information? If it is the same thing, why do we insist on calling it so many different names? Why can’t we just agree on one name? And when we say “same thing” do we mean same source? If we do, or if it is, what is that source of awareness, guidance, and knowing that we unintentionally experience?
We have all experienced a certain type of ‘knowing’ that seems to have little to do with information we have obtained through reading, or schooling, or talking to friends, or observing, or any of the past experiences we may have had.
We meet a person we never met before. They are smiling and friendly, but somehow we just don’t feel comfortable. Very often this discomfort turns out to be valid, turns out to have real basis, when something negative happens. If we didn’t listen to that ‘inner voice’ we now realize we should have.
The business or social dealings you entered into, despite your gut feelings to the contrary, usually turned out to be a big mistake. I also, because I like people, am guilty of not having listened to that voice that said, “Something is not right.” I have ignored it, magnanimously I thought, after all I don’t know anything about this person so why should I doubt them, only to regret my decisions. Almost everyone I have ever spoken to has made similar mistakes of omission. Having not listened to that voice from within.
What happened to a client a few years ago is something we all have heard about, and studies with twins corroborate this story to a large degree. One morning she woke up and said she had the worst night of her life. Her head ached, she could not sleep all night. She felt there was something wrong with her daughter who was going to school on the other coast. She called her immediately, and sure enough found her daughter crying. The daughter was very down, and had what she reported as the worst night of her life.
This instance is far from unique. As a matter of fact it seems to be all too common.
We often explain this type of phenomenon by saying things like; “a women’s intuition”, (thereby indicating that men seem to have less of it), or “gut sense”, a feeling we all seem to get in the pit of our stomachs, or “6th sense”, or intuitive cognition, discernment, feeling, hunch, idea, impression, suspicion. The dictionary definition of intuition is: “The power to discern the true nature of a person or situation: insight, instinct.”
These terms and phrases are not based on one or two situations that one or two people experienced. They are based on an almost universal experience all people have, and have had from time immemorial. In the science of human being-ness we tend to discount phenomena we can’t explain. Interestingly we don’t do that in other sciences – nuclear physics, astrophysics, biology, chemistry, etc. Even if we can’t prove it we note it as a reality of that science. Astrophysics has noted certain ways light behaves in space, etc. and instead of discounting it has posited the ‘black hole’ theory.
If we want psychology and the philosophy of psychology, human development, etc., to be more scientific can we discount phenomena just because we can’t see it or explain it? I don’t believe we can.
Next we must ask ourselves, where does this information, that we only seem to ‘feel’ and not have actual knowledge of based on information, come from? Although many theories have been put forth, the fact is that there is a definite aspect of intuition that cannot be explain by coincidence, or by projecting possibilities because there are things we might know in that particular situation.
The only way to explain these instances of knowing and connection is to simply admit that there must be a connection between people that we can’t explain, or see, or touch. From a strict materialist point of view, where there is no wire, or physical entity connecting two people there is no connection, and the pain the mother experienced at the same time her daughter was experiencing was just coincidental. But that is simply being silly. For the sake of pretending to be scientific we will deny the limits of our understanding regarding finding out what in fact does connect us and inform us. By denying we stop our search for the answer.
I feel since these experiences are so universal it would be scientifically more honest of us to posit an explanation and pursue a line of questioning and researching that may prove it. Which is what I did.
So let’s get back to the theory. Since body and mind are electrical, subatomic, vibrating energy fields, so naturally I believe that the ‘Self’ is also. We perceive the boundary of the body and we know that what we cannot touch, contact, especially at far distances, we cannot “know”. The self, being an energetic vibrating field, is not bounded by the body. As such it can come into contact with other selves and other pieces of information, even from quiet a large distance.
In summary, our personal experience with the existence of Intuition, Inner Wisdom, 6th Sense, Inner Voice, Gut Feeling, Inner Child, Discernment, all point directly to a source of knowing which I believe is the Self.
****************************************************************This possibly goes somewhere else!!!!!!!!!!!
I found one of the most profound proofs for the existence of the self, as I was doing research on intuition and insight. In the book - My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor – The author, a brain scientist, speaks about her 8 year journey out of “La-La-Land”. She writes about her experience of functioning without her left brain, without being able to sequence action or thoughts, without being able to learn, or understand the reasons why any sequential action was necessary. What she doesn’t seem to explain is, if she was so happy in “La-La-Land” of her right brain, and her left brain wasn’t functioning, what part of her – she might try and point to somewhere in her brain – fought this 8 year battle? What part of her even had enough consciousness to decide that it wanted to fight this battle. Her only comment, but one that is dropped immediately, is “My scientific training did not teach me anything about the human spirit and the value of compassion.” In the briefest of ways ‘human spirit’ is referred to and implied as her source of motivation. Well, I asked myself, if so, wouldn’t we all want to find out more about this ‘human spirit’:
* how it functions,
* how we can develop it,
* what nourishes it,
* how does it interact and relate to the body and mind
Unfortunately, Jill did not take up that line of questioning. She was content to use the term ‘human sprit’ and felt that she and everyone else knew exactly what ‘human spirit’ she was talking about. I am certain in her mind no research is necessary, and the question of the human spirit, or self, continues to be unanswered.