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To analyse causal connection, which belongs to the world of time, thought and logic,
we use reason, thinking. Acausal connection, by contrast, is apprehended through
the intuition. In our western culture, we have come to contrast reason with irrationality,
science with superstition. In so doing, we came close to denying the validity of
any insight arising from the subjective nature of intuition, claiming that only
validation by repeatable experiment could provide authentic credentials for any
proposition about the nature of reality. Although the tide is already receding from
this extreme position, we still need, it seems to me, both to clarify what we mean
by intuitive apprehension, and to justify its claim to be able to enrich our knowledge
of ourselves and the world, just as do the findings of scientific researchers.
We take reason to be the cornerstone of ‘the scientific method’. The Scientist is
one of the priests or gurus of contemporary society. He (she at a pinch) embodies
the disinterested, dispassionate search for truth. In fact, even the famous ‘scientific
method’ turns out to be a modern myth. Accounts of it do not include any consideration
of where theories come from. The scientist, in effect, begins from a puzzle, mystery
or surprising event and then hunts for an explanation – like a young child, perhaps.
The difference between the scientist and the
artist, between reasoning and intuiting,
may be no more than a matter of character type. The scientist has a penchant for
thought, sensation and the outer world, whilst the artist leans towards emotion,
intuition and the inner world. Science has been particularly interested in the material
world out there, in attempting to quantify the elements of its composition, and
in discovering the laws governing its behaviour. This endeavour has created a society
where the technologies resulting from the Scientific Project produce a kind of permanent
revolution in our lives. From the petrol engine to the atom bomb and the computer,
the matrix of our existence is formed and continually modified, re-formed by the
products of science.
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The Standby: half of the card called The Bystander, which was the very last reject
from the final pack
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The Bystander: twinned with The Standby
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