Instinct, Reason, Intuition Little is known to modern science of the true nature and origin of, and inter-relationship between, Instinct, Reason and Intuition. Modern psychology describes them to be epiphenomena of neurological functions. Theosophy, however, thows clear light on these three mysteries, and shows that in these three mysteries, and shows that in these are epitomized the whole science of evolution of the universe. Instinct is a direct perception of what is right, within its own realm. Intuition is direct cognition of truth in all things. Reason is....the balance between instinct and intuition. (The Friendly Philosopher, p. 263) Instinct is manifested in all the lower kingdoms of nature as also in man; but in man it is more or less obscured by reason. Reason is a faculty exhibited only by human beings by virtue of the development of mind and brain. Intuition is the highest spiritual faculty, far above both reason and instinct, capable of being developed and exhibited by man alone, and which, when fully developed, illuminates reason and makes man perfect. Birds seasonally migrate, across the oceans and continents, to escape the cold winters of the North for warmer habitats of the South for breeding and feeding. Their navigational skill, the precision with which they navigate their annual migratory path and reach their destination, and the punctuality of their arrival and departure therefrom for their original homes at the end of the season, is a marvel on which there are only conjectures by science as explanations. Similar marvel is exhibited by salmons when they migrate hundreds of miles from the sea, through the estuaries to the rivers, and swim miles upstream to the place in the fresh waters where they had hatched out the eggs, and lay eggs in the same place to breed their young ones in their turn. Every species of animals, from the bacteria to the whale and the elephant, exhibit unerring skill, intelligence and discrimination in self-preservation, reproduction, feeding, nesting, seeking right remedy in sickness and so on. Architectural skills of ants, their social and political organization, show high degree of intelligence and orderly social behaviour. Bees exhibit similar skills in building the hives on geometrical patterns, and in their social organization. Some species of ants are able to foresee the coming of storms and take safety precautions. Plants show remarkable perspicacity in their behaviour and struggle for life. Even unicellular and multi-cellular micro-organisms show intelligence, free-will and discernment within the limits of their life cycles. For instance, the epithelial cells in the intestines display remarkable instinctive intelligence and discrimination in choosing the particular nutrients in right amount to be absorbed and reject the rest. Science of Genetics has unraveled the marvels of the intelligent, co-ordinated and concerted actions of DNA and RNA molecules in the building and maintenance of organisms. Every organ and cell in the body of man, animal and vegetation exhibits uncanny intelligence and skill, not only in their individual behaviour but in their collective co-ordinated action as well. Among the people who live close to nature, as the forest dwellers and tribes, instinct is active. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, shows that the instinct of the first early races showed them the natural remedies for ailments. Thus: We see what indicated the way to man to find relief for all his physical ailings. It is the instinct of the early races, when cold reason had not as yet obscured mans inner vision....Its indications must never be disdained, for it is to instinct alone that we owe our first remedies. (Isis Unveiled, I, 434) In the recent tsunami disaster in India and South-East Asia in which thousands perished, most of the animals escaped. Elephants in forests, domestic animals and birds, sensed in advance the coming disaster and moved away to safer places, whereas man, with his superior faculty of reason, was taken unawares. The explanation of the mystery of instinct, reason and intuition is to be found in the double evolution of Spirit and Matter, as taught in the ancient science of life. Spirit is the one Universal and Eternal source of all forces, of manifestations of all intelligence and consciousness in the universe, and in which is inherent evolutionary impulse for self-manifestation, in accordance with the Cyclic and Karmic Law inherent in itself. Differentiating the primordial pre-cosmic Root-Substance (Mulaprakriti), an aspect of itself, along seven descending Cosmic planes, and reflecting itself as Jiva or Monad (or Soul), the Universal, Eternal Spirit (Purusha) which is One, evolves the universe into manifestation, from within without, from the Unknowable Absolute Life. The Jivas evolve through forms, from the lowest elementary forms progressively to the higher forms by transmigration, the orderly process being regulated by the Law of Karma. Thus, there is no dead or inorganic matter, but all is life, is conscious, and has the potentiality of omniscience and omnipotence of Spirit latent in itself. At last, the omniscience and omnipotence of the Supreme Spirit inherent in each, is brought to full self-expression and self-manifestation—or conscious godhood. Viewed from this angle, it can be easily seen that instinct is the instantaneous and unerring cognition of an omniscient mind, manifested in the mineral atom, the amoeba, the plant, the animal, and also in man—where finite reason has not overshadowed it. Instinct is the very divinity in action through the life-forms in their ceaseless progress towards higher life. It grows and develops in accordance with the law of the double evolution, spiritual and physical (Isis Unveiled, I, 425). Each perfected species in the physical evolution only affords more scope to the directing intelligence to act within the improved nervous system (Ibid). Instinct is the spiritual unity of the five senses, called the sixth sense, which the animals exhibit. That instinct is the facility acquired by life-forms through repeated experiences gained through transmigrations, in their respective kingdoms, is easily seen in such voluntary actions as walking, eating, using of limbs for various activities, etc., which we first learnt to do with deliberate effort, and then, habitually through practice. Each creature, as each cell in it, acts with unerring regularity and precision by the force of habit developed through repeated experiences from an immense past. A baby throwing out its arms for self-protection, the young ones sucking their mothers as soon as born, the duckling and the turtle taking to water as soon as hatching out of the egg, are all the result of acquired intelligence or soul-memory. Reason is this faculty of the lower mind and its instrument, the physical brain. Modern science considers mind to be the product of brain activity. Theosophy shows this to be a fallacy. Mind or Manas is a spiritual principle of self-reflective consciousness (Ego), which proceeds from the World-Soul or Mahat in Sanskrit. During incarnation, only its lower aspect enters into relationship with the brain and body, in accordance with its Karma, for experience and progress, while the higher divine aspect overbroods, the mortal. It is this mystery of dual nature of mind that contains the key to all the psychological mysteries that science cannot solve and for which it offers only untenable materialistic speculations. Reason is always tinged with desire-kama, and is limited to the physical senses. It is, therefore, liable to err. This is so always, unless man learns the higher science of mastering the involuntary actions of the senses and organs and hinders at will the modifications of the brain-mind, all of which are his instruments. Man has to free himself entirely from Kama and merge his purified consciousness with the Higher Divine Ego, and attain to faultless perception of truth. Otherwise, reason proceeding from wrong premises, deluded by the hundred chords of desire, obscuring both instinct and intuition, leads man to sorrow and bewilderment. Intuition is the direct cognition of truth in all things. It is the highest spiritual faculty in man but lies dormant as long as man remains in bondage to the senses and the mind. True Self of man is the Higher Manas in union with Buddhi and Atma. When Manas escapes from the Kama-Manasic trappings and takes a firm inner stand in the Divine Self and pays heed to its promptings, it is progressively purified and merges with Atma-Buddhi, and acquires omniscience of Spirit. This is Intuition by which truth in everything and truth in the abstract, are directly cognized. It soars far above reason as the vision of the highflying eagle soars far above that of the ant crawling on earth. How did the three, Instinct-Reason-Intuition, come to be? There was one race of purely physical creatures, another purely spiritual....The union of these two races produced a third—the Adamite race. Sharing the natures of both its parents, it is equally adapted to an existence in the material and spiritual worlds. Allied to the physical half of mans nature is reason, which enables him to maintain his supremacy over the lower animals, and to subjugate nature to his uses. Allied to his spiritual part is his conscience, which will serve as his unerring guide through the besetments of the senses; for conscience is that instantaneous perception between right and wrong, which can only be exercised by the spirit, which, being a portion of the Divine Wisdom and Purity, is absolutely pure and wise. Its promptings are independent of reason, and it can only manifest itself clearly, when unhampered by the baser attractions of our dual nature. (Isis, I, 305) Hence human knowledge has three ascending steps, according to Plotinus, the disciple of the great Ammonius Saccas: opinion, science, and illumination. He expalins it by saying that the means or instrument of opinion is sense, or perception; of science, dialectics; of illumination, intuition (or divine instinct). To the last, reason is subordinate; it is absolute knowledge founded on the identification of the mind with the object known (Ibid, I, 434). Hence, instinct, reason and intuition are the three stages of evolution of the Jivas, beginning as sparks of the Supreme and culminating, in its arduous path of physical, intellectual and moral evolution, into self-analyzing consciusness in full possession of Paramartha—Divinity. How can we develop Intuition? We can develop it by exercising the spiritual faculty latent in us—rousing it from dormancy into activity. It can only be accomplished by, first, acquiring right knowledge, and then by right reasoning and right living. Mr. Judge writes: The power to know does not come from book-study, nor from mere philosophy, but mostly from the actual practice of altruism in deed, word and thought; for that practice purifies the covers of the soul and permits that light [of Spirit] to shine down into the brain-mind. As the brain-mind is the receiver in the waking state, it has to be purified from sense-perception, and the truest way to do this is by combining philosophy with the highest outward and inward virtue. (Vernal Blooms, p. 190) One mans justice is anothers injustice; one mans beauty, anothers ugliness; one mans wisdom, anothers folly; as one beholds the same objects from a higher point. One man thinks justice consists in paying debts, and has no measure in his abhorrence of another who is very remiss in this duty, and makes the creditor wait tediously. But that second man has his own way of looking at things; asks himself which debt must I pay first, the debt to the rich or the debt to the poor? the debt of money, or the debt of thought to mankind, of genius to nature? For you, O broker! there is no other principle but arithmetic. For me, commerce is of trivial import; love, faith, truth of character, the aspiration of man, these are sacred; nor can I detach one duty, like you, from all other duties, and concentrate my forces mechanically on the payment of moneys. Let me live onward; you shall find that, though slower, the progress of my character will liquidate all these debts without injustice to higher claims. If a man should dedicate himself to the payment of notes, would not this be injustice? Does he owe no debt but money? And are all claims on him to be postponed to a lanlords or a bankers? —Ralph Waldo Emerson
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 08:33:51 +0000
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