gut feelings

When we have a gut feeling (for the guys) or an intuition (for the gals), we may be tapping into a phenomenon called "the collective unconscious". This is not some woo-woo New Age hype, rather, it has been demonstrated through experimentation along with (of course) endless anecdotal evidence. The guy who is doing the cutting-edge research and is public about it, is Rupert Sheldrake, a British scientist. He has come up with some fascinating experiments and he is just HATED by conventional science. This is always the case when a totally new concept comes to light. In another fifty years, it will become common knowledge, but now it is ridiculed.
The use of intuition can be developed like any skill. I am a big believer in it and I try to sharpen my sensitivity. There are probably numerous How-To books on the subject and I am sure they are more-or less on target. Probably the first step is to get over the ingrained belief that we are stunted mental dwarfs and are incapable of more than blindly following the manipulations of culture, society and political henchmen.
Now, I will admitt I fall on the paranoid end of the skeptics scale. I don't wear a tin-foil hat, at least not in public, yet. I believe that there will come a time when we will need to develope our intuitional abilities just to survive in this increasingly controlled scociety. I use the word "survive" in reference to personal freedom, the freedom to think, believe and speak what we want and to live how we want (ethically, of course). These are not just human rights, they are survival needs and rank just behind air, sustenance and shelter in importance.
To becontinued------