2024-07-04
At Condo
10:31 PM
Intuition
What is intuition? How does one explain it? To me, it is relinquishing control to my inner self. This self is somehow subconscious and can somehow push one in the correct direction, even when it makes no sense or is hard to comprehend. An example of this is J-walking in downtown Nashville. I J-walk because I have walked around the same route in downtown Nashville and understand the nature of the traffic signals. I understand how the rules of the signs work and, therefore, can anticipate when they will turn green. The intuition is almost as if, now that I understand the rules governing this construct, it can automatically read the situation and make an assessment instantaneously. It is very crucial to my existence and how I operate. I honestly don’t even understand what and why I am doing certain things sometimes, but I trust my intuition enough to see what happens, almost like being in the passenger seat of a car and just letting it drive.
**PLEASE DO NOT START J-WALKING
To me, what makes intuition tricky is that developing it requires one to place themselves in “dangerous” or consequential positions. Almost like kung fu or anime, where the protagonist undergoes a sense of growth by remaining calm in dangerous circumstances, a circumstance where, if one panics, they will be harmed, whether physically or mentally. The act of J-walking is in some way an exercise for this, because if you make a wrong decision, you could get hit by a car, but if you make the right decision, you cross the street quicker.
In my architecture school and profession, I underwent a similar intuitive development. In order to make something nuanced and thoughtful, one has to take risks. These risks would be in the form of time and effort. You would spend a certain amount of work hours, which would translate into costs in the architecture profession. Therefore, making the wrong call could lead to a loss. You are going up against a deadline as well, so there is a buildup of pressure. The longer you spend contemplating, the more time you waste on actually developing your concept or design. So how does intuition play into this? I am an iterative designer, meaning I start with an idea and then improve on it by reworking or iterating on it. You could take a picture of the first try and the final one and see how improvements were made over the course of a project.
For this method of design, working intuitively greatly speeds up this iterative process. Instead of sitting and contemplating each decision, you just make a decision, see how it works, and improve on it. If you do this enough time, you can almost play things out, kind of like the traffic signals. Now, instead of just thinking about a decision, you can start to think about a string of decisions, kind of like being able to see where a path will end up going. Instead of thinking about one decision, you can start thinking about paths. At this level, one can begin to become much more intentional while still being intuitive. This method results in an efficient and quality-designed product that can apply to all things in nature.
So what is the actual benefit of developing your intuition? It doesn’t seem necessary. You could just keep control of yourself or avoid compromising situations. I am fortunate to have been born in a position where I do not need to be in dangerous situations. The same is true for most people I know, so what is being lost when you don’t encounter dangers or risks? Maybe it is just a remnant of our human instinct—this instinct buried within us. Perhaps, back when life was more dangerous, these instincts gave us the ability to survive. I’m not completely sure, but personally, I feel being able to hone your intuition has benefited me and has gotten me out of many stressful or compromising situations. I think rooted in the study of intuition and developing it in an intentional way could further the potential of a human being.
**DO NOT TRY TO PUT YOURSELF IN DANGEROUS CIRCUMSTANCES
Prem Patel
Founder of SHAANT