INTUITION 



Referring to these two prerequisites Piatt and Baker say : 



" No matter how diligently you apply your conscious thought 

 to your work during office hours, if you are not really wrapped 

 up in your work sufficiently to have your mind unconsciously 

 revert to it at every opportunity, or if you have problems of so 

 much more urgency that they crowd out the scientific problems, 

 then you can expect little in the way of an intuition." 



(c) Another favourable condition is freedom from interruption 

 or even fear of interruption or any diverting influence such as 

 interesting conversation within earshot or sudden and excessively 

 loud noises. 



(d) Most people find intuitions are more likely to come during 

 a period of apparent idleness and temporary abandonment of the 

 problem following periods of intensive work. Light occupations 

 requiring no mental effort, such as walking in the country, 

 bathing, shaving, travelhng to and from work, are said by some 

 to be when intuitions most often appear, probably because under 

 these circumstances there is freedom from distraction or interrup- 

 tion and the conscious mind is not so occupied as to suppress 

 anything interesting arising in the subconscious. Others find lying 

 in bed most favourable and some people deliberately go over the 

 problem before going to sleep and others before rising in the 

 morning. Some find that music has a helpful influence but it is 

 notable that only very few consider that they get any assistance 

 from tobacco, coffee or alcohol. A hopeful attitude of mind 

 may help. 



{e) Positive stimulus to mental activity is provided by some form 

 of contact with other minds : (i) discussion with either a colleague 

 or a lay person; (ii) writing a report on the investigation, or giving 

 a talk on it ; (iii) reading scientific articles, including those giving 

 views with which one disagrees. When reading articles on topics 

 quite unrelated to the problem, the concept underlying a 

 technique or principle may be absorbed and thrown out again as 

 an intuition relating to one's own work. 



(/) Having considered the mental technicalities of deliberately 

 seeking intuitions, there remains one further important practical 

 point. It is a common experience that new ideas often vanish 

 within a minute or so of their appearance if an effort is not made 

 to capture them by focusing attention on them long enough to 



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