by Sonia Choquette: Browsing through my favorite bookstore last week, in the self improvement section as always as it is my favorite, I couldn’t help but appreciate…

the many books on the shelf addressing our need for expanding our intelligence beyond just the intellect if we are to be fully informed and creatively effective in today’s’ modern world.

I saw numerous books on emotional intelligence, (the ability to read and understand emotional signals both from within and from others,) as well as social intelligence, (the ability to accurately perceive and interpret social signals and clues from others in a social situation,) both of which are arguably essential skills if we are to live the brilliantly unlimited lives we desire to live.

Yet, I was also struck by the absence of what I consider to be the most essential intelligence of all for ensuring the healthy, powerful, creative, grounded, protected, loving and loved fulfilling lives we all desire to experience; intuitive intelligence, (the ability to perceive and respond in a timely fashion to subtle energetic fields around us, including but not limited to those coming from others both near and far (telepathy) those coming from beyond linear time and space, (clairvoyance- or in other words clear viewing), and  most importantly that which emanates from our Creator-our Source Intelligence (Divine Guidance.)

All three realms, which together comprise intuition, represent our highest level of Human intelligence. It endows us with the ability to negotiate the rough and tumble confusion and chaos of life with grace and precision. Intuition is the deciding intelligence that helps us catch the waves of life before they arrive, instead of miss them, and ride them like champions, rather than be pummeled and tossed about by them, especially the ones we don’t see coming, like a hapless victims.

Without intuition to inform us, we are left drowning in the dark of our own misinformed and confused perceptions, floundering to rise above our ravaging and fearful emotions, panting from the severe stress rendered upon our nervous systems, and grasping desperately for lifesavers as we try to “figure life out” before it kills us.

To be without our intuitive intelligence is to navigate the oceans of life in the dark, without a light. We get misled by half-truths, false perceptions, fears and projections, manipulated by appearances, and crushed by unexpected disappointments. We become reduced to survival, forced into “dog-eat-dog” consciousness, and view life as a threat, not the exhilarating adventure it is. If we are not intuitively informed, we become a menace to ourselves, and others, as we feel unsafe and unsure, trusting little to relive our internal anxiety.

Intelligence limited to the five senses informs us in a highly limited and biased way, focusing exclusively on personal survival, manufacturing a “me against them” viewpoint, and causes one to perceive the entire world as a potential enemy that could do harm. A person operating with a mere five-senses defining questions are, “How am I different from others? What do they have that I don’t, or vice versa? How do they judge me? How do I judge them? How can I control them so I feel safe?”

The six sensory intuitive viewpoint, on the other hand, shifts the perception and questions in life entirely. It illuminates the less than obvious truth that we are indeed, at our core, not different in any way from one another, by virtue of the fact that as we share the same breath. We see and know we are deeply connected with all human life. We are family, in fact. The intuitively informed questioner wonders not, “How are we different, “ but rather, “How are we alike? How are we similar? What do we share in common? And most importantly “What can we create together for the good of both of us and all the world?”

These are the most intelligent questions we can ever ask ourselves today, and are the only ones that can lead us out of the fear and struggle that consumes us and into the experience of tranquility and confidence we long for. An intuitively illuminated life is therefore not a threatened one, but rather a peaceful, powerful one. With our perceptions broadened by our intuitive lens, we see past confusion, past reaction, past appearances, past our fears, past seeming obstacles, and limitations, and are guided toward hidden solutions, and means to positive connections and loving and creative outcomes. Intuition is the brilliant and bonding intelligence that removes the veil of illusion cast upon us by our limiting egos and illuminates the good in all, and for all. This is the only intelligence that will lead to global survival. This is greatest improvement to our lives we can commit to right now.