Intuitive Consciousness
“In many temperaments of the unstable or artistic type, the intuitional consciousness of the Absolute becomes ungovernable: it constantly breaks through, obtaining forcible possession of the mental field and expressing itself in the ‘psychic’ phenomena of ecstasy and rapture. In others, less mobile, it wells up into an impassioned apprehension, a ‘flame of love’ in which the self seems to ‘meet God in the ground of the soul.’ This is ‘pure contemplation’: that state of deep orison in which the subject seems to be seeing, feeling, and thinking alll at once. By this spontaneous exercise of all his powers under the dominion of love, the mystic attains that ‘vision of the heart’ which, ‘more interior perhaps than the visions of dreams or ecstasy,’ stretches to the full those very faculties which it seems to be holding in suspense; as a top ‘sleeps’ when it is in a fast spin. … This act of contemplation, this glad surrender to an overwhelming consciousness of the Presence of God, leaves no sharp image on the mind: only a knowledge that we have all been lifted up, to a veritable gazing upon that which eye hath not seen.” ~Evelyn Underhill
Artistic Types
I would first like to disagree with Ms. Underhill in lumping together the artistic and unstable types. While it is true that some great artists have been mentally unstable, I think they are a minority. Most artistic types are perfectly sane. But they do tend to be more sensitive than the average person, and they may well be what makes them artists. Maybe she meant autistic types and the book has a typo. In any case, she is correct in saying that the intuitive power generally comes to people in one of two ways, and affects each type differently.
Ungoverned Intuitive Consciousness
When intuitive consciousness breaks through to one without being sought, or without being understood, it may do it in a forceful and undesirable way. It may cause unexplained joy and ecstasy, or it may cause fear of something for no known reason. In more extreme cases, it may cause such psychic phenomena as a type of speaking in tongues where the person suddenly starts speaking in a language they do not know. Or it may cause a person to levitate, or glow with an inner light. Many think such phenomena is desirable, but it is rarely useful when uncontrolled.
In the case of unexplained fears, it may be useful but isn’t always. We have all heard the stories of people who suddenly felt that they should skip a flight they were scheduled to take, or a cruise they were supposed to go on, and later the plane crashed or the ship had an emergency at sea. That is all great. It is a good thing those people get that warning. But what you never hear of is the people who suddenly became fearful and canceled their flight or their cruise, and nothing happened. While I haven’t done a scientific study on it, I bet such people outnumber those who got a reap premonition by at least ten to one. So this type of intuitive consciousness is unreliable when not developed with discipline.
Governed Intuitive Consciousness
When Intuitive consciousness is developed and controlled intentionally, it can be much more useful. As Underhill says, hen the Mystic practices this, he attains a ‘vision of the heart,’ meaning that he is guiding his spiritual faculties in a specific direction: towards unity with God (or the All). These mystics and spiritual adepts still get those occasional flashes and warnings that happen with those who have strong, but ungoverned intuitive consciousness, but when they do, it is more reliable because of the disciplines they practice. What’s more, is that those flashes are often presented in images that are not easily understood by the untrained. The trained adept, on the other hand, knows spiritual symbology and is better able to interpret those flashes accurately.
The mystic can direct his intuitive consciousness into the sun when practicing spiritual sun-gazing. This permits the spiritual sun to link that person with higher dimensions, spiritual dimensions. The spiritual sun acts as a portal between the physical realm and the spiritual, but only if you know how to access it.
Awakening Intuitive Consciousness
You might be thinking at this point that this is all great for intuitive people, but what about those who don’t have those intuitive flashes? The answer is that if you are at all spiritually sensitive—and you probably are if you read this blog—you can awaken your spiritual faculties and develop intuitive consciousness and even higher levels of consciousness. It does take time and dedication. But now that we have the Sun of Righteousness shining down on us, it is easier than in the pasts several centuries. The exact methods for awakening the dormant spiritual faculties cannot be revealed in a public document, but it involves practicing spiritual sun gazing with an attitude toward spiritual growth for benevolent purposes. Just looking at the sun as some sun-gazers are doing isn’t enough. Snakes and turtles do that and never achieve intuitive consciousness or a real spiritual awakening. You have to do it in the proper way and with the proper attitude for good results.
