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Rational Intuition



I have quoted Star Wars before in some of my posts and I seem to be reaching back to one line that you hear a variation of in  each and every movie.
It's not so much the doom and gloom of the quote, (since every time someone says that, of course there is some imminent crisis to thwart),  but the intuitive nature of each of the characters that say it.  They know something is wrong---whether they have dropped into a trash compactor or are in the stomach of a space slug, each of them gets this "gut" feeling that something is not right.
It's about intuition. 
Faced with doubt about the likelihood of their undertaking, each character faces or braces for the bad feeling to turn into a bad thing.
Nobody runs away.
If you feel.....if you really deep down in your core...all internal voices saying, "THIS IS A BAD IDEA"....and we have the choice (ie to fly out of the slug's belly before it starts to digest you), why don't we follow our inner voice, our Inner Wisdom, our "gut" and get the hell out of there?
Why don't we pay attention to our intuition?
Are we conditioned to ignore our "gut" and plow on through when we know things will go badly because otherwise we would be a quitter? Weak?  Failure?
When Princess Leia gets a bad feeling about being in the belly of a space slug.  Why didn't everyone just pack it up and leave? 
Yep.  Bad feeling.  Back on board let's get the hell out of here!
Instead they mock her worries and only leave when the threat becomes obvious to everyone.

As a plot device I get it.  The daring escape adds to the tension and solidifies Han's skill as an expert pilot and savior.  (Even though if they had left when Leia suggested they would have gotten out just fine and it was his delay that put them at risk.)
Han's message to her is
Gut feeling? That is just silly.  You are overacting.  Use your head.  I know better.
In other instances where this phrase appears, it is used for different effect.
In two cases, characters are  trapped in bad situations (a garbage disposal and tied up in an arena about to be attacked by vicious beasts, etc.) and are acknowledging that things are not likely to go well.
I am not sure these are intuition as much as they are statements of the obvious. 
There is fear.  But they are forced to face their fear and overcome.  As the audience, we get to watch how their already bad situation, gets worse and see how they overcome it.   
Their intuitive self thinks fear, and is correct. This was not a situation of choice however, each character must battle through it to succeed.
In another example, the characters know that what they are about to undertake is a bad idea but they push on, against their better judgement, the hope of a positive outcome outweighing the risk (when first attending a talk on the Trade Federation ship in episode I or when C3-PO is about to enter Jabba's hideout as part of the plan to rescue Han Solo in Episode 5).
Here, the head rules the heart or gut.  You know this is a bad idea and will likely result in a negative outcome....but you continue anyway because it is your job.  The outcome is the goal. 
What is the cost of not listening to your intuitive self when the outcome of your endeavors is the goal?  Is the outcome worth the price?  When?
(Of course, there is argument there that if any of them had any real intuition they would be able to figure out the chancellor and the emperor are the same person, but ....)
Intuition has been on my mind lately as I work through the Reiki levels.  I used to be a very intuitive kid.  I had visions, I saw things, I knew things.  Then, as life happens --and you have school and boys and friends and work ---your mind gets so crowded with all the shouting and demanding of your attention, you can no longer hear your intuition.
Facts rule.  Proof and evidence and statistics.  Our intuition is pushed aside with everyone else shouting.  And eventually, the intuitive voice is too soft to hear.
Only when my sister lay dying in the ICU did I reconnect with my intuition in a strong way.  I held her hand.  I absolutely knew she would be ok.  And she recovered (after a looonnngggg hospital stay and various other surgeries). 
People were telling me I was in denial---but I knew.  I had no fear.  It just was.
So as I work through my IMG reform school and take my Reiki levels, I feel like someone has handed me an oilcan and set me to work on my intuition tin man.  It will take time.  The limbs are stiff with disuse.  My Inner Wisdom is what I know.  My intuition is what I feel. 
I will need both of them to make strides in moving forward into 2014.

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