The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
~ Albert Einstein, "What Life Means to Einstein"
I love this quote and everything it says.
So many problems are solved by letting go of rational thought and allowing intuition to step in and offer different answers.
It's the rational mind part of me that gets so frustrated and tangled and wants to wrestle with things that aren't right or that I don't know.
The intuitive, imaginative part of me relaxes and then soars as all the mind-churning stops, I reside in the moment, and then what I need to know just seems to pop into my thoughts like iridescent bubbles.
Not sure why this popped into mind for today, but since it did, here it is. A reminder.
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
15 comments:
Part of the gift of being an artist is the knowing intuitively to work out of intuition - :}.
There is nothing like having a young one around the household to make everyone feel younger and more alert....
LOL, Deborah - exactly!
Thanks for the reminder Billie. Perfect thought for today. :)
My favorite Einstein quote is something along the lines of "if you can't explain something to a child - you don't really understand it yourself..."
That's a good one - thanks!
Great quote, great post.
I've really got to remember to let my rational mind go on vacation once in a while. Thanks for pointing this out.
Arlene, we get so much external reinforcement for rationality, it's hard to remember the intuitive side sometimes.
Lovely and very true!
Glad you can comment again, Matthew...!
Billie, Love the new look of the blog. I follow you on Google Reader so don't always get by to comment. Thanks for the always thought-provoking posts!
i have never read this entire quote - usually one sees the last three lines only, which is such a loss! this is one i'm going to copy and hang up somewhere i can see it every day!
intuition is a gift - it is something that feels both liberating and somehow 'at home' when i put my intuition on autopilot and allow myself to be guided naturally from that place.
and, since i relate everything to horses ;-) it is the one thing i try to impress upon students (and myself in those tense, frustrated riding moments)- sure, there is a place for all the rational, physical 'facts' of riding, but there is no more beautiful moment than the one in which you can let them all go and ride solely on intuition...
I totally agree, j. It's important to have a plan when riding, and goals, and tools, and a method. But all that can keep us from finding moments of pure joy when things simply meld together and suddenly both horse and rider are floating, together.
This is great and a wonderful reminder.
I recall the first meditation group I sat with and the teacher was known guru Jon Kabat Zin.
He told us that "we cannot think our way out of a paper bag".
...yet I for one still insist on trying!
Wow, Maddy - I have several of his books! It's curious why we try so hard even when we know it doesn't work, at least not in a "total" way. So good to see you here!
Intuition and “following your gut” – I heard Oprah say more than once, that “intuition is the voice of God speaking to you.” I’ve always been a little suspicious of anyone trying to tell me about God – but I kind’a like this notion of intuition and “The Universe” speaking in an unspeakable language to me, to us. Interesting how one has to often “re-learn to be still” to “really hear” one’s own intuition, children, and animals, especially, to me, horses.
Putting “things” into words has always been tough for me – there are things that I just know that I struggle to articulate. This personal struggle for “words” led me in my life, in my reading, to collecting quotes; quotes that spoke to me, quotes that spoke for me.
I’ve been collecting quotes for some 30 years – I hadn’t yet come across this one of Einstein’s.
NOW, of course, I can get inundated; overwhelmed by an immense and wonderful smorgasbord of great quotes by a few simple clicks of the “mouse”.
But where is the fun in that?
This one is going in my book. Thank you , billie, for sharing !!
“The road to ENLIGHTENMENT is long and difficult . . . bring snacks and a magazine.”
(seen on a tee shirt, in a catalog – many, many, many years ago)
Beth and Cookie,
In Virginia
Glad you liked it! I love coming across quotes in an unplanned way, just when I need them.
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