Sep 2, 2019

The Paradox of Dominant Intuition

"No time but now."
"There is no 'now.' More precisely, there is nothing but 'now,' so no need to divide 'now' and 'not-now.'"
"This is it. There is nothing but this. Can you prove otherwise?"
"This has no purpose, no function, no essence. It just is."

Paradoxical or not, introspection-prone dominant intuition types, especially those with extraverted intuition (damn, I miss those symbols!), often come to an understanding of reality that seems to deny the very essence of their leading function.

Perhaps the best expression of this can be found in the world of non-duality. I find the male extraverted intuiter teachers to be most radical in their expression of non-duality, and most satisfying to me personally.

Specifically, Jim Newman and Fred Davis (both IEE, I believe). Take a look at them if curious. Some refer to this type of teaching as "Neo-Advaita" or "Radical Advaita." Among past teachers in the East, perhaps the most uncompromising was Nisargadatta Maharaj (ILE, I believe).

There are, of course, plenty of non-ILE/IEE non-dual teachers, such as Adyashanti (some rational type, maybe LSE), Rupert Spira (LII?), Mooji (SEI?), Eckhart Tolle (probably IEI) and countless others.

But also look at music. Dominant intuition types often gravitate to improvisation, and some of the best-known improvisers are extraverted intuiters like John McLaughlin (IEE) or Frank Zappa (IEE or ILE -- update 02.2021: I now think Zappa's type is EIE).

From a certain perspective, radical improvisation could be said to be a rejection of time: "I will consider nothing but the present moment. There will be absolutely no plan whatsoever, no consideration of how the music is supposed to unfold, no comparison to the way I might think it should be."

I also find a preponderance of extraverted intuiters in contact improvisation, which is the same as radical musical improvisation, but in the realm of dance and bodily interaction.

In the realm of language learning, I myself developed an approach which rejects the idea of preparation and looking towards a future time when you will have more knowledge than you currently do. You take whatever you know now and apply it in practice in the moment, while learning in the moment. Nothing needs to be learned other than what comes up in practice. This radical approach resonates with a small minority of language learners, but produces stellar results.

(Needless to say, I myself strongly gravitate to all these approaches, and always in their most radical forms which are unpalatable to most people. Apparently I am a radical kind of person. Not all intuitive types are by any stretch.)

Is this a rejection of intuition, a pull towards the suggestive function, or the maximal expression of intuition? Or something else?