“Nobody can dictate my behavior,” said Diana, Princess of Wales, in her last interview before her fatal accident. “I work through instinct, and instinct is my best counselor.”
Vibes, instincts, karma, intuition, and such, guide many a person.
Where do they come from, where are they going, what happens when their guidance fails, to what degree are their methods reliable?
Some quotes to start:
“The first principle,” said Einstein’s fellow physicist, Richard Feynman, “is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.”
“I know that my intuition—an effortless, immediate, unreasoned sense of truth—sometimes errs.”
“Our gut level intuitions have helped us all avert—and sometimes enabled—misfortunes.”
“Our consciousness is biased to think that its own intentions and deliberate choices rule our lives. But consciousness overrates its own control” . psychologists John Bargh, Ph.D, and Tanya Chartrand, Ph.D.
” To our ancestors, the sun’s daily travels had at least two plausible explanations: Either the sun was circling Earth, or Earth was spinning while the sun stood still. Intuition preferred the first explanation. Galileo’s scientific observations demanded the second.”
All of the above taken from: https://www.psychologytoday.com
Here’s some thoughts from Watchman Nee in his book, “The Latent Power of the Soul.”
“Let us remember that all works done through emotion are questionable and transient.”
“Once I felt powerless…I felt rather feeble. So, I went to see an elderly spiritual sister, Margaret E. Barber. I said to her, ‘your power is great, why do I not have power?’ She looked at me and seriously asked, ‘what power do you want — what you may feel or what you cannot feel?'”
Nee goes on to forbid the use of soul-power in any form.
But:
Judges 21:25 describes such a time in Israel’s history when:
“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (ESV) (following consciousness?)
Perhaps it seems very normal to draw upon hunches, psychic guiding, feelings etc. Can we just know things?
Nee does not deny the latent and real potential in man for such things.
Greg Koukl, founder and President of “Stand to Reason” makes these statements:
“– how is it you know which body in the room is your own? How do you know that you inhabit the body you normally call yours?” It’s something I know through introspective awareness. I’m introspectively aware of the fact that I’m unified with this body.”
“It’s knowledge you start with, knowledge that’s already built in. Our founding fathers called it ‘self-evident’ truth.”
Philosopher J.P. Moreland has pointed out – if you don’t have some things in place to begin with – you can’t know anything at all. ”
Aristotle said that “some things can’t be proved, but without them you can’t prove anything.”https://www.bethinking.org
These observations are hard to deny. So what ? Let’s hear from Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:7
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”
Aha! “of God, and not of us is our power.”
“Man is not determined by self or nature”
“Since man has escaped the constraint of bondage to his environment and the rigidity of instinct, he is capable of controlling his impulses in conscious actions.” Shelsky
“Man is determined by God.”
We conclude:
- Proverbs 18:2 “Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions.” NLB
- Proverbs 16:25 “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. “
- Systems of instinct, bodily senses, gut feelings, hunch etc. must yield dramatically to the treasure — The triune God Himself in a man.
Friends, though they entice, soul-powered vibes arise from the fallen natural man, they are not to be trusted.
These stimulants, connected to will-power, may push to find expression in our frustrating moments. Pressures encourage them.
But stay, beloved,
in the secret place of the most high God, and under His wings thou shalt trust.” He, yes, Christ alone, is enough. love ya
