Intuition operates at multiple levels. Body, soul and spirit. It’s a subconscious, rapid process that draws on an accumulation of knowledge and experiences. And from a Jungian perspective, that knowledge might also be drawn from the collective unconscious.

But.

You can’t always count on your intuition. While your intuition is valuable, but it’s not infallible, according to Professor Joel Pearson.¹ Intuition is not always be correct. Intuition can be influenced by cognitive biases, which lead to errors in judgment. For example, confirmation bias might cause you to selectively notice information that supports your intuition, meanwhile you ignore contradictory evidence.

Strong emotions can cloud your intuition. When making decisions under the influence of intense emotions like fear or anger, intuition may not align with rational thinking. Let’s say your intuition is telling you that a colleague is out to sabotage you, but this intuition came to you while your emotions were heightened due to a simple misunderstanding between both of you. Once you’re calm again, you may have a different response.

Intuition appears to rely on patterns and personal experiences. In situations where you lack relevant experience or information, your intuition may be based on incomplete or inaccurate data. For instance, your intuition about the stock market may lead to poor investment decisions if you lack expertise in finance.

In addition to intuition faltering due to cognitive biases, emotional interference, and a lack of complete information, there are other factors that might cause your intuition to fail.

1. Overestimating the accuracy of one’s intuition can lead to unwarranted confidence in decisions.
2. Intuitive judgments based on stereotypes can result in biased or unfair conclusions about individuals or groups.
3. Being overly influenced by initial information or experiences can lead to intuitive errors, as new information may not be adequately considered.
4. Hindsight bias can be a factor. After an event occurs, individuals may wrongly believe that their intuitive prediction was more accurate than it actually was.
5. Availability heuristic, that is relying on readily available information in memory can lead to biased intuitive judgments, as easily recalled information may not represent the broader picture.
6. Then there is the risk of getting trapped in groupthink, where intuitive decisions within a group can be influenced by conformity and a desire for consensus, which unchecked, can lead to poor judgments.

While intuition is a valuable tool, it should be complemented by critical thinking, data analysis, and a check for potential biases, so that you can make more informed decisions. Especially since intuition appears to be a holistic experience that encompasses your body, soul, and spirit.

At the physical level, intuition can manifest as gut feelings or somatic responses. Your body may react to a situation or person before your conscious mind fully comprehends it. These bodily sensations can include a racing heart, uneasiness, or on the other hand, a sense of comfort and ease. These sensations communicate with your brain and can influence intuitive responses.

Jung tied intuition to the emotional and psychological aspects of the soul. This involves the recognition of patterns and connections that resonate with your personal experiences and emotions. When you have a strong emotional response to a situation or person, it can be an intuitive signal. This is because intuition often draws on your emotional memory, your inner wisdom, and collective archetypal wisdom in the deeper layers of your consciousness.

On a spiritual level, intuition can be seen as a connection to a higher, transcendent knowledge or universal wisdom. Like I mentioned before, some describe it as a connection to the collective unconscious, a concept developed by Carl Jung, which represents a shared reservoir of human experiences and archetypal knowledge. From a spiritual perspective, intuition often involves a sense of interconnectedness and a perception of deeper truths beyond the material world.

At a bodily level, intuition involves physiological responses. At the soul level, it appears to draw on emotional and psychological experiences. At the spiritual level, it seems to connect to a broader, transcendent understanding of the world. When these elements interact harmoniously, they provide a holistic and profound intuitive experience that can guide your decision-making and provide ideas and insights into problem solving.

Intuition operates by recognising patterns and subtle cues that may not be immediately evident to conscious reasoning. This gut feeling or hunch is a result of the brain’s ability to process vast amounts of information rapidly and make quick judgments. Intuition can guide you through decision-making. It can provide insights and responses based on your internal database of experiences, emotions, and knowledge.

Intuition is a powerful tool. It allows you to perceive your world in a holistic, intuitive manner when it is complemented by healthy scepticism, while keeping in mind potential biases, so that you can make more informed decisions.

1. Joel Pearson is a National Health and Medical Research Council fellow and Prof. of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia. ↩︎