Continuing his explanation of intuition, Hazrat Inayat Khan considers the common problem of the inability to catch intuition when it arises. The previous post in the series is here.

In order to become clear so that it can be distinguished, intuition turns into three different conditions – into a feeling, into an imagination, or into a phrase. The person who hears the voice of intuition, even when it is in its first process of development, is more capable of perceiving intuition and it is he who may be called intuitive. Another person distinguishes it when it expresses itself in the realm of thought. Then there is a third person who can only distinguish his intuition when it is manifest in the form of a phrase.

It is the kind person, the loving person, the pure-hearted person, the person of goodwill, who is intuitive. Intuition has nothing to do with learning. An unlettered person can be much more intuitive than one who is most qualified, for intuition lies in another domain of knowledge and comes from quite another direction.

Very often, an intuitive person makes a mistake in catching the right intuition, for the intuition comes from one side while his mind reacts from the other side, and he does not know which is which. If he takes the action of his mind for intuition, and is once disappointed, then he loses faith in himself. So, naturally, he no longer gives thought to intuition, and that faculty diminishes in him more and more every day. To catch an intuition is the most difficult thing, for in a moment’s time, both are working – intuition on the one hand, and mind on the other. It is as if two ends of a stick placed in the center upon another stick were to move up and down, and one did not notice which end rose first and which end rose after.

Therefore, one needs to take a very keen notice of the actions of the mind, and this ability is gained by a thorough practice of concentration. One must be able to look at one’s mind just as at a slate placed before one. While looking at it, one must be able to shut oneself off from all sides, fixing one’s mind solely upon one’s inner being. By developing concentration, by stilling the mind, one can be tuned to the pitch that is necessary to perceive intuition.

If one has once been disappointed in perceiving one’s intuition, then one must not lose courage, one must go on following it even if it continues to be a mistake. If one continually follows one’s intuition, then one will come to the right perception of it. 

To be continued…