In my fiction novel, “Mind Masters,” the world becomes telepathic overnight from viral nanotech. It’s just science fiction, right? Yes. But does telepathy really exist?
To start, let’s first look at how scientists define telepathy: as a distant feeling or perception. “Tele” in telepathy (from the Greek τῆλε, tele) means “distant” and “pathy” (from Greek πάθος/-πάθεια, pathos or -patheia) means feeling, perception, passion, or experience. It is the transmission of information from one person to another without using any “known” human sensory channels or physical interaction. This is similar to the definition of intuition, which is the gut feeling to instinct to a higher sense or inner insight. Others say it is the ability to acquire knowledge without conscious reasoning or the understanding of how the knowledge was acquired. The word intuition comes from the Latin verb intueri translated as “consider” or from the late middle English word intuit, “to contemplate”. However, others suggest that there isn’t much contemplation with intuition—you just know. Like a moment to moment innate knowing.
Could telepathy be just a form of intuition? Perhaps. But for simplicity’s sake and to broaden the conversation to something more than just person to person communication, I use the terms interchangeably in this article. Some people are uncomfortable with the word “telepathy,” but fine with the concept of “intuition.” I never could understand why information from another person is odd or paranormal but when something is intuited from source, God, or the universe, that seems more acceptable. Any unconsciously acquired knowledge or information is fascinating and should be open to consideration and scientific examination. It may not be a voice in your head telling you that mom’s calling on the phone, but does it really matter either way? Telepathy or intuition, the bottom line is that information is flowing into our consciousness that is not from our everyday sense organs of sight and sound.
Although it seems there is no perfect definition of telepathy or intuition, we know–-based on lots of research and our own personal experience–-that it is a natural phenomenon. Fortunately, we don’t always need the rational thinking mind to define something we just experience and know.
Where Does Intuition or Telepathy Come From?
Answering this question also has scientists and experts perplexed. We know everyone can have a telepathic or intuitive experience, but how?
In a literature review of intuition, Gerard Hodgkinson of Leeds University in England concludes that “intuiting” is a complex set of interrelated cognitive, affective, and somatic processes in which there is no apparent intrusion of deliberate, rational thought. Forbes magazine dedicated an article stating: “Intuition Is The Highest Form of Intelligence.”
From a philosophical or religious point of view, most major philosophies attribute intuition as being in touch with spirit, God, Brahman, or the universal mind. Some Islam religions even find those with intuition as having a “prophetic capability.” However, in the West, we find one of the earliest mentions of intuition from Plato where he states in Phaedo that intuition is a pre-existing knowledge residing in the “soul of eternity.” For the non-religious, science proves that many people who do not believe in a set religion can also have strong intuition—they just experience it in different forms such as dreams, gut feelings, a creative insight, or an aha! moment.
One thing we do know is that intuition must not be confused with instinct, which is an inborn complex pattern of behavior, perhaps gained through epigenetics. For example, newly hatched sea turtles on the beach will always automatically move to the ocean. Unlike intuition that can be erratic and spontaneous, instinct is an automatic behavior that always occurs in a species, typically triggered by age or environment.
Some have suggested that when you tap into your intuition, are you tapping into your “unconscious cognition.” According to Forbes Magazine, they suggest it comes from the “processing of all the brain’s data subconsciously.” They add that if you have a small “database,” you will have much less valuable intuition. This idea probably goes back to Carl Jung, who defined intuition as “perception via the unconscious.”
Perhaps this explanation is partly true for the type of intuition that requires domain knowledge in a specific field—such as picking the right stock for financial gain. However, if you are getting a sense of something that has not yet happened, such as a feeling of who is calling you on the phone or a sense to not drive down a certain street that prevented you from having an accident, your subconscious mind could not be giving you that information: from what we know, the subconscious is merely a depository, a database, of all information from the past–-not the future.
If it is not the subconscious, could intuition come from the primitive brain? This is the part of the brain that contains the structures of the brain stem (the medulla, pons, cerebellum, mesencephalon, etc). Some have suggested that intuition is an artifact of the early days of man when the brain’s ability to detect hidden dangers ensured our survival. They hypothesized that we use this capability so little that we don’t know how to listen to it properly.
As experts debate whether intuition is from the brain stem, the cerebral cortex, or somewhere in our subconscious, we can consider other organs in our bodies that could be a contributing factor to our intuition. Just consider how other body parts—the heart and gut—have their own intelligence and how they could be giving us that extra “intelligence” we need when making decisions.
The Heart-Brain: Neurocardiology
Could intuition come from the heart? The idea that intuition is “heart intelligence?” Everyone is familiar with such expressions as “put your heart into it,” “learn it by heart” and “speak from your heart.” These sayings imply that the heart is more than a physical pump that sustains life. Such expressions reflect the idea of an intuitive heart.
Perhaps these sayings were not wrong. Scientists have now revealed that the heart does not merely respond to the brain’s commands; instead, the brain and heart have ongoing, dynamic, two-way dialogue through nerve impulses, hormones, and even electromagnetic field interactions. Based on years of research by John and Beatrice Lacey, they found that the heart seems to follow its own logic—and can even send meaningful messages to the brain that the brain not only understands, but obeys!
Today we know that this communication pathway is through the vagus nerve and we also know that the heart-brain is similar to the cranial brain in that it has its own complex ganglia, neurotransmitters, proteins, and support cells. That means the heart can learn, remember, make decisions, and even feel and sense by itself—all completely independent of central neuronal command!! We also know–based on the ascending fibers in the vagus nerve to the brain–that the heart sends more information to the brain than the brain sends to the heart, and that the heart sends more messages to the brain than any other organ in the body. Clearly, the neural interactions between the heart and brain are more complex than previously thought.
What is most astonishing is research done by HeartMath LLC. Participants watched 30 randomly selected, peaceful and arousal images in front of a screen. Each image was followed by six seconds of blank screen intervals. What they found is that heart rate dropped significantly five seconds before an arousal image appeared. The researchers concluded that the heart could identify the image of pain and suffering before the image appeared on the screen!
Does this research prove that intuition is from the heart? It’s quite convincing, especially since the research has been duplicated. Either way, we can’t deny the intuitive aspects of the heart and we should honor the heart-brain connection when considering how to expand our own intuition. For more information on this, check out the documentary on Gaia called The Power of the Heart.
The Second Brain: Your Gut
The next popular organ that could explain intuition is the gut. Similar to the heart, it too can function completely independent of the enteric nervous system—it’s why many call it “the second brain.” Of course, we have all heard the expression, “I just had a gut feeling” or we are told to “trust our gut instinct.” Similar to the heart, the gut also has an extensive network of neurons and a highway of chemicals that directly connect to our brain.
This information superhighway is called the brain-gut axis and is why you get a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you find out a loved one is deathly ill. You are worried, and your gut knows it. What is surprising is why the gut needs such a complex network of neurons just for digestion. This continues to puzzle scientists.
But we know one thing: the gut sends many signals to the brain, influencing our mood and mental state. Is the gut the source of intuition? Again, we are not entirely sure. However, since intuition involves emotion, and we know that a healthy gut can curb inflammation, cortisol levels, lower stress, improve memory, and reduce anxiety—we need to pay attention.
In summary, no one yet can definitively say whether intuition is from the brain stem or the cerebral cortex, the heart, the gut, or all the above. More importantly, we still have no explanation as to how someone can know what is about to occur from an organ inside our body—especially when the information is from an outside source. We just know it happens.
For example, In a Salk Institute study, participants were asked to play a card game where they pulled cards from two different decks. The participants didn’t know that the decks were rigged so that one would “win” more often than the other—but they eventually figured it out after picking about 50 cards. However, what was really interesting was that it only took about 10 cards for their palms to start sweating slightly every time they reached for a card from the “losing” deck. It was about that same time that they started subconsciously favoring the “winning” deck. And this is just one of many, many studies proving this phenomenon.
Perhaps the study of magnetic fields to quantum physics will give us some explanation—from the understanding of dark matter to entanglement—causing some to suggest that the current materialist scientific model is incomplete. That perhaps the mind (or organs) cannot be confined to the inside of the head (or body).
Quantum physics tells us that there is virtually instantaneous communication of information between particles in the subatomic world—even when separated by vast regions of space. We also know that this “nonlocal communication” seemingly exists outside the confines of space and time as we currently understand them. And then there is the theory that matter itself could have a form of intelligence.
Maybe what our body is tapping into is what biochemist and Harvard scholar Rubert Sheldrake called “The Morphic Field.” The morphic field is an energy field created and added to by resonance. All consciousness has a form and every form creates an energy vibration within and around it. What he is basically suggesting is that our minds could extend through vibratory fields beyond our bodies, linking us to every other vibratory field—from a person, place, or thing–around us. Just as magnetic fields are not confined to the inside of the magnet, nor gravitational fields confined to inside a planet, our thoughts and intentions could also extend out, explaining why you know who is calling you. Taking this one step further, if you can sense the energy field of a card, this may explain why participants in the card study could sense if the card they were pulling was a winning card or why the participants’ hearts knew when a horrifying image was about to be displayed on the screen.
Perhaps science will slowly put all the pieces together and we will find that intuition comes from a combination of instinct, reason, subconscious memory, organs, quantum entanglement, energetic fields, and a phenomenon that has yet to be discovered. Maybe we will see that the brain sets an intention to the heart—that then taps into the energetic field needed to give us the information we desire, such as the winning card, and then the brain sends a signal to the rest of the body to react so you have the sweaty palms and gut feeling about a decision you need to make. Either way, you want to pay attention!
Luckily, we don’t need to wait for science to catch up since we know intuition happens all the time, and to leaders around the world, it is touted as important. In fact, Steve Jobs called intuition “more powerful than intellect.” Albert Einstein said, “the only real valuable thing is intuition.” And we have all heard of “a woman’s intuition.” Perhaps women have not questioned its power over the decades. Even Marilyn Monroe said, “A woman knows by intuition, or instinct, what is best for her.” But men get it too as Steve Jobs sums it up best:
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” Steve Jobs
To conclude, we know intuition has been contemplated for decades and that its complexity still marvels scientists. We also know it is massively important and must not be ignored. How do you expand your intuition? The answer to this question is what I dedicated this website for with tips, tricks, exercises, and more. In short, intuition is like a muscle: the more you use and trust it, the stronger it becomes. Next time that idea comes, act on it right away, and see where it leads you! For more techniques, check out our list of 50 ways to grow your intuition…
