Apparently the U.S. military has discovered that intuition may be a valuable tool in combat. According to Live Science, soldiers sometimes show a “battlefield sixth sense” that has saved lives in Afghanistan and Iraq. So now the military, of course, hopes to better understand this sixth sense and to train troops to tap into it.
The military has been doing its homework on this topic. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) points to sixth-sense research about how “humans can detect and act on unique patters without consciously and intentionally analyzing them. The military also pointed to studies suggesting a sixth sense can arise from ‘implicit learning’ – absorbing information without being aware of the learning process – rather than building up expertise through years of practice.”
The ONR plans to measure how both intuition and implicit learning work, then they would create a model of this type of thinking. This model would reflect individual differences among soldiers, how they adapt to new situations, and would take into account the influence of battle fatigue.
It’s terrific that the military recognizes that intuition can save lives. But can intuition be broken down into components that comprise a “working model” of intuitive thinking? Can intuition be taught? Or is it more a matter of awareness? Most of us have hunches from time to time, gut feelings, that sense of certainty that we should do or not do something. And we either act on the hunches or ignore them.
The dictionary defines intuition as: direct perception of truth, fact, etc independent of any reasoning process; immediate apprehension. In the Western world, we are taught to distrust such perceptions. The emphasis is on left-brain thinking, reason, facts, proof. And yet, in a time when everything is in flux, when institutions we took for granted are crumbling, when we are surrounded by uncertainty and have almost instantaneous access to news and information, our intuition may be our strongest ally. It enables us to make immediate decisions based on nothing more than a feeling.
We do seem to be in the midst of an emerging paradigm that is much more heart-centered and right brain than the existing worldview. And in this new paradigm, intuition and synchronicity are like conjoined twins. It’s impossible to get to know one without the other.
So it’s very likely that as the military creates its intuitive thinking model, they will come face to face with synchronicity. Perhaps Bernard Beitman’s Coincidence Studies would be of great interest to them!
I was watching the local news and the newswoman showed a pic of Iwo Jima and stated it was the anniversary on 3-14. Could be that’s the single date chosen…but still curious and compelling, as it is Einstein’s BD.
The military are probably defining intuition as subconscious processing, which is not a genuine sixth sense. I would be surprised if they weren’t! And people most certainly can develop a sixth sense. I have worked with people for many years doing just this. I have seen people with no seeming intuitive capacies become extraordinarily proficient in this area. I am one of them!
I can’t attest to how you came by your intuitive ability, Marcus, but I can certainly attest to the fact that you’ve got it in spades.
Interesting take that you have about subconscious processing as not being a genuine 6th sense. I have to say I agree!!
– Trish
More about my hero Einstein: not only is his BD, but it us also, quite synchronistically, the anniversay of Iwo Jima. Einstein intended his discoveries to be used to promote peace, not to create atom bombs. That this happened is baffling and compelling. There’s some guy (can’t remember his name) who professes to be the reincarnation of that great genius, but I don’t believe it for a minute.
Did Iwo Jima happen in just one day?? On march 14??
Many discoveries/inventions are used for the wrong purpose.
Sometimes it can be really tough to know how to direct a powerful feeling, for example about a certain situation. How can we learn to tell the difference between feelings arising from the heart/higher self/intuition and feelings arising from a troubled ego?
Somewhere, I read that the feelings of the heart are calm and feelings of the ego don’t feel good and so shouldn’t be acted upon. When intuition is well enough developed, I suppose you don’t question, you just act, instinctively.
Fascinating stuff!
Synchro: This week, my weekly Tuesday blog ‘The Voice Of… insert name of famous/wise person’ is also Einstein. I had just searched around the web for cool quotes and also didn’t realise (perhaps like you?) that it was his birthday tomorrow!
You bring up good points about intuition versus ego!
May Einstein celebrate his b-day, wherever he is!
The more you use it the stronger it is, and you can teach by making people aware, and to stop and listen.
I think the extreme levels of stress and survival mode that a solider is in allows them to operate intuitively and sense their surroundings on a whole new level. Everything is heightened because it has to be. My father was a police officer for many, many years and also went to Vietnam, he has told me many stories of how you just sometimes know when to run, where to look and when to remain quiet or what door needs to be kicked in and who might be hiding on the other side. A 6th sense and keenly aware, it becomes second nature. It is understandable that it would want to be studied. But like the others have said, it is only probably of interest to the military in hopes of controlling it. I think of the movie “Men Who Stare At Goats” and feel hopeful this sense isn’t something that can be controlled as it is unique to the individual as is the energy that carries these thoughts and sensations to those who aware of enough to pick up on them. But then again there was “The Manchurian Candidate.” Whole different story.
Love the goat movie. It would be great to think that the military’s motives are, well, good and pure, but I have the same reservations that Mike does.
I met the guy who wrote the book “The Men Who Stare at Goats”
(Jon Ronson) in Brisbane in around 2004 at the Brisbane Powerhouse Theatre.
It was quite by accident,because I didn’t know who he was before that night.
I was taking the kids (and myself.-) to see John Safran
https://www.johnsafran.com/
,who we are all big fans of,and Ronson was doing a talk with him.
Ronson works for the BBC in England and was showing us the documentary he had just made where he and Alex Jones sneak into Bohemian Grove and witness their strange rituals.
Well,Jones snuck in,Jon just walked through the front gate.
After the show Ronson was selling his book “Men who…” and I thought it looked interesting,so I bought a copy and asked him to sign it.
The book is different to the movie,which was made much later.
The book is about interviews with real life Generals like Stumblebine,who were seriously trying to kill goats by staring at them.Whereas the movie has Ewen Mac Gregor playing Jon and it is a bit more of a comedy than the book was supposed to be.
I did a post on my blog about Ronson when he was going around doing a doco on David Icke;
https://brizdazz.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/jon-ronsons-doco-on-david-icke.html
and there is a story about his book somewhere on my blog…I just can’t remember where.
Jon’s films are worth checking out too.
https://www.jonronson.com/index.html
Jon was also going around a while back doing a show about UFOs with singer Robbie Williams (who is a believer).
Syncro – Tomorrow – 3.14 is Albert Einstein’s birthday. Also Interesting coincidence that Einstein was born on 3.14 – the number of Pi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“π (sometimes written pi) is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of any Euclidean[1] circle’s circumference to its diameter. π is approximately equal to 3.14. Many formulae in mathematics, science, and engineering involve π, which makes it one of the most important mathematical constants.[2] For instance, the area of a circle is equal to π times the square of the radius of the circle.
π is an irrational number, which means that its value cannot be expressed exactly as a fraction having integers in both the numerator and denominator (unlike 22/7). Consequently, its decimal representation never ends and never repeats. π is also a transcendental number, which implies, among other things, that no finite sequence of algebraic operations on integers (powers, roots, sums, etc.) can render its value; proving this fact was a significant mathematical achievement of the 19th century.”
There’s always a big Pi day celebration of Einstein. Many shops price things at $3.14 for the day.
Also from Wikipediaa
“The town of Princeton, NJ hosts numerous events in a combined celebration of Pi Day and Albert Einstein’s birthday, which is also March 14. Einstein lived in Princeton for over twenty years while teaching at the Institute for Advanced Study. In addition to pie eating and recitation contests, there is an annual Einstein look-alike contest.”
Related to the subject of the Military now getting interested in intuition (it’s about time!) don’t you think this is related to what you posted yesterday about Uranus moving into Pisces for the next 14 years. Hey, there we have that number 14 again – also one of my favorites in the I Ching, “Possession in Great Measures” – material and spiritual wealth.
I should’ve saved the post for his birthday!
March 14th is also Michael Caine’s birthday.
He voiced the car “”Finn McMissle”” in “Cars 2”.
The number plate of the car is ‘314 FMCM’.
The studio says the numberplate is to honour Michael’s birthdate,but I also think it is using the 314 to represent Pi,since Pi is an infinite number and finn could also be short for infinite.
Sort of ties into this post syncronisticly since “”Finn McMissle” is a spy car (British military) modeled after James Bond’s car.
Great movie by the way.
I’ll have to watch it today,to honour Michael’s birthday
(it’s already March 14th in Oz).
*Lucky my computer is slow.I just realized when I hit the button to post this comment that I hadn’t ticked “that box” and I almost lost this comment.I just had time to run my cursor over the comment and copy it,before I lost it.
I was not going to re-write it…so the universe must want this comment out there .-)
This is way too weird. I just finished writing a short scene in y novel about pi- and here you talk about it.
I’ve also read where the military is now using HeartMath for teaching heart coherence. I want to believe it is to reduce stress and keep our troops healthy, but whenever the military is involved it is usually to get an edge for combat.
I haven’t heard of HeartMath. I’ll Google it.
I have reservations too regarding anything done by the military (not just the US but UK etc as well). I’m concerned it’s done for warfare, soldiers are trained to kill, it’s their purpose whether we want to accept it or not. A sixth sense could protect them but likewise it could aid them in battle (to kill).
I think that you’re right Mike.
I think Kubrick did a good job in “Full Metal Jacket”
trying to show the paradox of peace and war in the military with the Sergent Joker character wearing the peace badge on a helmet painted with the words “Born to Kill”.
Somehow the two really can never be reconciled into one.
The military will always take innocent lives,whether accidentally,or on purpose.
And that’s any military army in the world,no exceptions.
Yes,we need armies to defend us…but I seriously doubt the Generals would want soldiers to be able to intuit the truth.
That would definitely be serious trouble for the majority of the armies of the world.
to defend us against what, Daz? This has been my big question. Just who the heck are we fighting at any given time?
That is a good question.
But even Buddhist monks learned Kung-Fu,
so they could defend themselves.
Defending doesn’t mean attacking,but the military really is a double edged sword when it comes to defense…pardon the pun.
Thanks! Interesting.
I hope, while we still have a planet worth living on, that the new Paradigm can begin to change the military mind, so firmly entrenched in our worldview. The Nazis were interested in the occult, and our own military has explored remote viewing and LSD. The evolving paradigm is so clearly about the utter interconnectedness of everything……It’s ironic to me that a vast organization devoted to war is interested in consciousness studies in order to give a military “edge”….be nice if there was the possibility of a circular logic leading to peace.
Love that Campbell trailer, by the way.
I’m very left brained. When I encounter things that don’t “add up”, my mind tends to rationalize them away, and I have to force myself to turn off my brain and listen to my heart. One of the reasons I come to your blog is because it challenges my left brained nature and makes me think about things in new ways. I’m a science geek, but I’ve come to understand that there are things going on in the world that can’t be explained by science. I’ve learned that sometimes that feeling in my gut is telling me something important, even if I can’t figure out how I know. I’ve learned to trust that voice when it shouts loudly enough.
And I love the Al Einstein quote. He’s always been one of my heroes because he understood how much he didn’t know.
So true about Einstein, Jeff. I love it when science geeks listen to that inner voice!