Intuition: The Third, Underappreciated Force of Cognition

Abstract

The author reflects on intuition as the third force of human cognition, alongside reason and experience. Drawing on neurobiological, cognitive, psychological, philosophical, and spiritual perspectives, the article argues that intuition represents one of the pathways through which understanding matures. Rather than being an innate or mysterious ability, intuition is presented as the outcome of a long-term process of learning, correcting errors, confronting one's own limitations, and gradually integrating experience.

The author suggests that, both in science and in human inner life, genuine understanding often emerges only after periods of uncertainty, wandering, impasse, and repeated unsuccessful attempts, before the pieces finally fall into place. Particular attention is devoted to the roles of attentiveness, mystical experience, and the phenomenological notion of being on a journey as a space in which authentic encounters with oneself, with another person, and with the world become possible.