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Sept. 7, 2005 Skeptics' determined efforts to make logical thinking supreme over intuition or psychic knowing fails over the centuries because so many persons actually use and trust their non-logical intuition. Useful ideas often come not by logic or by memory but by good intuition. This is why no matter how vehemently the skeptics argue against non-rational cognition, a great many persons often use their good intuitions. They can't prove the answer by logic, but it tests out anyway. Logical thinking is illustrated in the linear sequence of sentences: (1) All men are mortal. (2) Socrates is a man. (3) Socrates is mortal. Illogical thinking is illustrated in the linear sequence of sentences: (4) All men are mortal. (5) Socrates is a man. (6) Some roses are red. All six sentences are true, but sentence (3) follows reasonably from (1) and (2). Sentence (6) doesn't follow reasonably from any of the sentences (1,) (2,) (3,) (4,) or (5,) or any combination of them. Even so, sentence (6) is true. This sentence was added not by rational logical thinking but by a non-rational illogical thinking that one might call "imagination," or "impulse." Certainly non-rational thinking would have been eliminated if it were truly deleterious, just as deleterious genes get eliminated unless in some combination they are beneficial. We frequently observe illogical thinking, and so we conclude that intuition is useful. This is the way an evolutionist thinks. And so like evolutionists we consider how non-rational thinking is beneficial. Non-rational thinking is unpredictable and gives us new ideas. The innovator may not care whether the new ideas follow logically from other ideas. Since new ideas are required to produce useful inventions, the value of non-rational processes is demonstrated. Skeptics are disturbed by thinking which inserts non-sequiturs into the flow of speech or writing. Skeptics attack such thinking as "irrational" or even "psychotic." Even if some people are talented at formulating finished argumentative discourses, and thus convincing many that they are leaders worth following, one mistake makes the whole discourse invalid. Implementing the program is likely to result in disaster. Working without such a grandiose plan is the way humans worked before large scale reasoned plans were implemented. The immense waste of "great" civilizations makes one pause and wonder about the intuitive intelligence that civilizations have lost, and how this wasted intelligence might be reclaimed. Skeptics negate as logically invalid and attack a sequence of ideas that don't follow logically from prior ideas, even if all the ideas are true. Similarly, a false idea can sometimes be proved by logical argument. One really needs to test an idea to see how valid it is. Reasoning by itself isn't enough! A psychic or intuitive person can get a testable idea that didn't come by reasoning, by calculation, or by memory. This is why ignoring intuitive thinking isn't smart when teaching intuitive students. Trying to force intuitive students to just make a logical plan or follow such a plan is like trying to force a two legged human to run on just one foot. Such a hobbled person won't go far. This is why a strong psychic rejects the traditional educational system of hobbled authoritarians. Saving the human brain is the saving grace. ------------ About the author: John L. Waters is an amateur psychologist and independent researcher on self-healing, integration, and problem-solving. John has created art, music and songs, prose and poetry, and helped people solve a difficult problem. For more information, read: John's letters of recommendation: http://members.tripod.com/johnlwaters/recommendations about John's self-healing and integration: http://members.tripod.com/johnlwaters/index.html about John's independent research: http://www.humboldt.edu/~jlw47/index.html about John's seeking an agent or a publisher: http://www.writers.net/writers/39295 Email: blueguntwo@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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