The inquisitive one was running through a forest on a winding path. Rocks and roots were poking up and snaking everywhere. The inquisitive one was thinking about lots of random things. Suddenly, a foot hit a root, and the inquisitive one flew helplessly forward, straight through the air!
“Oh no, I’m about to fall!” thought the inquisitive one.
The inquisitive one might have had many other thoughts at that point; but there was no time! In the next instant, the inquisitive one came to the realization that the feet had rapidly and crazily found ground to scramble over, as the arms had flown out perilously without touching ground.
“Wow!” thought the inquisitive one, running more slowly now. “My unconscious mind must be very powerful! I did not think about doing anything. There was no time to think. And yet, I did something miraculous—I saved myself from a possible injury!”
That evening, the inquisitive one attended a party. Wisely, instead of thinking, the inquisitive one drank a lot of alcohol and blabbed all night, until the host explained that the party was over.
The next day, the inquisitive one went to the local college to take a test. Wisely, instead of thinking, the inquisitive one used intuition to answer all the questions.
That evening, the inquisitive one agreed to go across the way to a neighbor’s house to help with an IKEA shelf that, according to the neighbor, had baffling assembly instructions. Wisely, instead of thinking, the inquisitive one used anschauung* to assemble the shelf.
The next day, the inquisitive one, remembering that test grades were now available online, clicked a button to log on to the course’s site. Then the phone started to ring, and the name of the party’s host appeared on the screen. And the doorbell rang, and the inquisitive one, glancing out the window, saw the neighbor at the door.
“Ahhh—what should I attend to first?!” wondered the inquisitive one.
That was the point when, without thinking too hard about it, the inquisitive one did something.
*Many thanks to R.D. for introducing me to this interesting Kantian word.
Thanks, Liza, I needed to read this. It seems I tend to overthink things, which has landed me, even now, in hot water instead of going with my gut instinct.
I’m glad it was helpful to you….
Thanks so much for bringing up Kant’s ideas on direct intuition. I don’t have formulated thoughts about the legitimacy of these particular theories but it’s always nice to be reminded that there do exist reasonable alternatives to the widespread belief that logic applied to the scientific method is the be all and end all of human thought.
You’re welcome…. I always love delving into different philosophical ideas…. 🙂
Just do it and let your inner light shine!!! Don’t Overthink, OverReact or go to sleep in a bad mood.