Recently I was listening to a CD course on my way to work in which the lecturer brought up St. Augustine’s concept of needing to believe first, before being able to understand. In other words: having your heart set right first, so that your mind can follow.
This is so true, but yet so counter intuitive. Just as in science, I wanted to see the facts first to make sure that that my believes would not betray me. I mean, who wants to be caught being wrong?
But isn’t that the potential problem in that if you keep using the same logical approaches, won’t you keep getting same or similar results at best?
Full disclosure: I want my car to turn on when I push the ignition button so that I can get to work. Now, should there be a way to optimize it by using means such as driverless car … I’m all for it!
However, how do I know that I am commuting faster to the right job?
I mean, if I have a desire for more or a deeper sense of purpose or however else you call that something in your life, which is simply not working … is doing what I am doing now more frequently or efficiently going to get me there?
That is why St Augustine’s words ring so true to me. There has to be a belief that something better exists or you will find yourself climbing a latter all right … but against the entirely wrong wall!
Enter intuition. While there is a small group of people that seem to naturally ease into their zone of genius, for vast majority of us, it is everything but …
In fact, typically it is a constant struggle of:
- Tuning out the outer, as well as inner, critic shouts long enough to hear the whisper of your inner voice.
- Being patient with results and believing that the setbacks of today will make the joy of tomorrow be that much more exquisite.
- Taking the steps of faith, in spite of failures, knowing that it is all working in your favor … just like it did for the countless innovators before you.
The hard part is that it will not make much logical sense until one day when it makes perfect sense.
What are your beliefs? Are they all 100% logical? What is the one small step you are willing to take to test your low-logic value beliefs?
Marek- this is great stuff. Keep it up.