"Many creative people act on hunches and insight rather than analytic assessment. For example, R.H. Davis writes on Einstein's intuition in a 1995 issue of The Skeptical Inquirer: 'Einstein's fundamental insights of space/matter relations came out of philosophical musings about the nature of the universe, not from rational analysis of observational data -- the logical analysis, prediction, and testing coming only after the formation of the creative hypotheses.'"
Clifford A. Pickover
gleam. it was but half a glimmer at the bottom of my bag, a black canvas tote i carry my books, a basic assortment of trinkets: pens, lotion, journals, pastilles, electronic translator and dictionary—and various papers and articles i'll probably never get to reading, but will carry about interminably anyway.
glim-gleam. i dug in, my hand knowing, knowing it was an undeniable shine reaching out from the keys i was searching for. and sure enough, the sheen of one was the sign of all the others, eight or nine of them in all.
it occurred to me then that it is likewise possible to assess people in the very same way. most of us don't, because we are not in tune with our intuition or are just too afraid to use it. those that do seem to be able to work magic, despite all their failed attempts.
sometimes all you need is a sparkle of a stranger's personality to know the basis of their persona, and thus the viability of meaningful intimacy. a glow can grow into a star for one, but only if you allow her twinkle to take you there.
the tenable intimacy you intuit is not necessarily just libidinal affection, but the instant predilection that lets one feel comfortable digging in—confirming, appreciating, adoring, daring, and i dare say—loving—the core of anyone, who at the point of minimal acquaintance, most others would see only as a stranger.
sometimes there's just something about them or him or her. most of us are compelled go through all the motions of rational reasoning, a purely cognitive traditional and contemporary dance of "getting to know you"—practically requiring a birth certificate— before we allow the rest of our senses to know another.
the lucky sum of us are prone to use all of our natural abilities to take inventory. first and foremost, we employ intuition, that existential sense which summarily taps into years of cumulated experience, one which ultimately tells us that the glimmer is a glean, and not just a gleam. it is that mysterious sense inside of you that keeps saying, "i know this ray of light leads to radiance."
and yes, sometimes we guess wrong, for we innocently open a door and quite accidentally catch someone glaring, baring all that we don't care to see. it is then at that moment that we know that all we can do is stare for a second too long and step back saying "oops, sorry, wrong person"—and then quietly walk, if not run, away.
however, on the rare occasions when you hazard a guess and end up undressing someone you will inevitably love, the turbulence of all the trial and error, the exhausting effort of opening and closing all those doors, makes all the trouble worth while.
"This is the test and triumph of originality, not to show us what has never been, and what we may therefore very easily never have dreamt of, but to point out to us what is before our eyes and under our feet, though we have had no suspicion of its existence, for want of sufficient strength of intuition, or determined grasp of mind to seize and retain it." ~ William Hazlitt
the list
l.m