Article May 12, 2008 Issue

CAN YOU TRUST YOUR INTUITION?

This sense of knowing what to think or what steps to take in any given moment is inherent in everyone.

BY CANDACE DU MARS

Spiritual intuition is something that's not always acknowledged or talked about, but we can use it every day. This sense of knowing what to think or what steps to take in any given moment is inherent in everyone, since it's a God-given quality. Even so, it's an asset that can be underused, even discarded, if it isn't cultivated and appreciated.

A dictionary says intuition is "the immediate knowing or learning of something without the conscious use of reasoning; an instantaneous apprehension." Sometimes intuition simply says to pull back. At other times it encourages us to keep going. It's the idea that comes quite suddenly to call a friend, leave early for an appointment, drive home a different way, or even change the course of one's life. It can come any time—in the middle of the night, even in the midst of a heated discussion.

Because intuitions may come as a mere whisper, we don't always heed them. But tuning in to these messages and following their wise guidance point to a trust in thoughts that are really messages from God, our Creator. Science and Health identifies them as "angels" and says that angels are "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality" (p. 581). These thoughts are the means by which God speaks to us, revealing the goodness and harmony of His creation.