Member-only story
Your Brain is Running Two Operating Systems — And You’re Using the Wrong One
Why Your Gut Feelings Matter More Than You Think
When you were growing up (and even when you were older), your teachers and every adult told you that logic is king. They wanted you to believe that thinking rationally and methodically will get you where you want to go.
That breaking everything down into neat little boxes is the pathway to brilliance and success.
But what if I told you that’s only half the story? And a philosopher named Henri Bergson confirms this.
The Two Operating Systems of Your Mind
Henri Bergson was a brilliant French philosopher born in 1859. Yet despite his obvious brilliance, he doesn’t get enough credit for the contributions he made.
It was he who revealed insights about intuition and how our minds work. And, strangely enough, science is just starting to acknowledge it.
According to him, your mind isn’t just homogenous entity. In fact, it runs two different operating systems at once. And chances are, you’re letting the wrong one run the show.
According to Benson, one operating system is analytical and the other runs on intuition.
He described intuition in this way:
“Intuition is a simple, indivisible experience of sympathy (or empathy) through which one is moved into the inner being of an object to grasp what is unique and ineffable within it."
~Henri Benson
Not convinced that intuition is a force? Stop for a minute and think about the last time you had a breakthrough moment, a second when a truly original thought hit you, not the same old rehashed stuff that everyone spouts.
Was it while you were grinding through spreadsheets? Probably not. More likely, it entered your mind when you were scrubbing your back in the shower. Or while walking your dog. Or just as you were drifting off to sleep.
