(54) Intuition & Reason

"The experience of the subtle world depends on
intuitive insight...It is important to remember,
however, that in these investigations we do not
discard our reason. The method is to open
ourselves through intuition to these deeper
insights and then to try to understand them,
to relate them and appropriately to systematise
them through the reason. Reason and intutition
always have to be used together."
[Bede Griffiths, OSB (Cam), A NEW VISION OF
REALITY: WESTERN SCIENCE, EASTERN
MYSTICISM AND CHRISTIAN FAITH, Templegate,
1989, p. 266.]

Comment: The late Bede Griffiths was a great
Benedictine soul, who spent many years in
monastic dialogue with Hindu thought. He
was steeped in contemplative experience, oft
based not only on meditation but also
intuition.

Sometimes I wonder about our sense of intuition
when it comes towards our trying to understand
the Godhead. Probably if I really investigated
this as a project, I would encounter countless
paths--some familiar, most unfamiliar (at least
for me).

However, Fr. Bede blends the intuitive with our
capacity for reason. And that saves the day for
me. I'm not one to go off the deep end, so to speak.

On the other hand, reason can be too much of a
stern master--if we allow it. In the past, even
today, there was occasionally those who demanded
that Reason was the one and only! It was our new
toy, in that we had thrown our other capacities
aside.

But, happily, we have tired playing just with this
one new toy. We have returned to our other
toys, and are even discovering yet newer toys!

Okay--the "toys" are an analogy for our human
capabilities, wrapped in all sorts of potential.
And I do believe the spiritual milieu provides
a platform in which to play, play creatively!