“In Acem Meditation, intuition is a dynamic part of meditating with a free mental attitude,” writes initiator Monika Wirkkala.
What is intuition? It has been said that intuition is seeing with the soul, that it is a guide of the mind. In intuition, we capture a glimpse of the experience and knowledge that we carry with us at deeper levels of ourselves. Intuition is the bridge between the conscious and the unconscious and connects what we know and what we sense is true. Intuition, when cultivated, can help us embrace our lives more wholly and meaningfully.
Release of thoughts and impressions
In Acem Meditation, intuition is a dynamic part of meditating with a free mental attitude. It expresses itself unnoticed and contributes to our changing the direction of our inner action, as an internal choice in the moment that simply just happens. The freedom and sensitivity with which we repeat the meditation sound – with a free mental attitude – creates an opening in which intuition is given a place and a voice. The wandering of the mind, and the spontaneous flow that this elicits, is essential in this process.
In an open and free mind, our intuition is given room to play and emerge spontaneously as an inkling, a “voice” or perhaps a vague mood. At the same time, intuition can also become obscured by ‘noise’ in the mind. We can be led astray if the voice of intuition becomes too distorted by a subjective perspective. If we give ourselves time to try out the intuitive feeling, allowing it to be among our other thoughts and feelings, we can gradually sense that it resonates in us and helps us to distinguish the noise from what is a quiet inner voice or sense of direction. Projections and defense mechanisms can easily be mistaken for intuition. Therefore, it is important that we give ourselves time to test what is ‘noise’ and what is an intuitive feeling so that we do not act blindly. Intuition is often something that is vague, while what appears to be very clear is often more needs-driven and an expression of our psychological makeup.
Inner conflicts in meditation
The mind tenses up when tension is in the process of becoming released. Restlessness, anxiety, or other moods and feelings can then dominate and we may experience that there is room for few other thoughts in our minds. We repeat the meditation sound with a free mental attitude, we think, but the restlessness continues, and self-criticism and a sense of failure add themselves to the restlessness. We end up in an internal, psychological conflict. Perhaps we try to solve the situation in a manner as we ”usually do”, maybe by trying even harder or by giving up.
It is important to distinguish between impulsivity and intuition. Impulsively, we may want to push away the restlessness. From an intuitive and searching perspective, however, it may be more fruitful to embrace the restlessness, let it be, and ‘sense’ what lies in or beneath it. If we embrace restlessness, the feelings that lie underneath may also gradually emerge. With a free and open attitude, eventually, there comes a point where something changes. It may not be obvious how or in what way, but we are able to achieve a slightly greater opening and acceptance of what is, and the tension is then gradually released.
Intuition plays a role in this process. We somehow manage to open the mind a little bit more and find a freer way to act in relation to the stream of thoughts – we do something slightly different. Here intuition contributes to our finding a new direction, without our perhaps noticing precisely how it happens.
Longer and deeper meditations
Longer meditations are important. They enable us to look at our actions with slightly new eyes. Therefore, it is good occasionally to set aside time for long meditations and retreats. The inner contact that occurs during retreats is enriching and gives fullness to life, something that may be described as an existential “satiation”. We come to rest, feel a contentment that runs deep, and embrace a greater totality of ourselves. Intuitively and spontaneously, a kind of existential experience is reinforced in us, with an intuitive anchoring of what it means to exist. We gain a “knowledge” about ourselves that we did not know that we had. Perhaps it is the expression of a collective wisdom. In any event, this is not something that we can call forth at will. Still, with each such experience, something in us deepens and gains a new foothold.
Intuition is a resource
Intuition gives us access to something in itself, a kind of insight or wisdom, which in one way or another knows more about us than we are aware of in the present moment. Intuition is part of the spontaneous mind and does not come in a vacuum but as part of a stream of thoughts, desires, and prejudices that can also distort or obscure the content of intuition. The release of thoughts is a prerequisite for the intuitive to emerge and move more freely. Long meditations in particular give us opportunities to become more familiar with our intuition and to test it out. Intuition is there as a possible guide and contributes over time to increased self-awareness and greater security in finding an inner direction.
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Translated by Eirik Jensen