intuition

Hmm-- I was just listening to a doctor talking about diagnosing heart disease; reference was made to '$2000 worth of blood work'... and I got to thinking about the Asian diagnostic modalities that I've been exploring for the last couple of years-- pulse diagnosis; tongue diagnosis; face diagnosis. All of them use the natural sensory equipment -- in very sophisticated ways-- that we all have, even if we don't have the education of a skilled practitioner. And they all seem to result [at best, in the case of a master of the art] in seeing such a very large picture that it seems like magic. That's the way we usually talk about intuition-- like it's a kind of inexplicable magic.

Except that it is possible to be trained in these arts-- the art of where to place attention, how to notice all the tiny things, putting all the details together, being enlightened by the big picture. It's not really other than a particular kind of meditation...

This is why I think Shinzen Young and Reggie Ray are on to something. Not to mention all the master physicians of yesterday and today.

I think it is definitely possible to cultivate sensory intuition like you say here. It's the art of noticing patterns, what performance studies scholars call "chunking". This is recognizing not single data points serially, but a host of them simulatenously. Chess masters develop this skill in analyzing a the position of chess pieces and so do stock traders in watching trades go off. However, I also think there is an even more powerful intuition that is based on non-sensory awareness. This is a paranormal phenomenon. I read a book once called The Way of Warrior-Trader[i/] in which the author Richard McCall tells of traders with whom he works who sense the activity of the market when they are away from the market itself. As far as I know, these traders have A LOT of experience trading. This type of intuition can be accessed and enhanced through meditation.