“Intuition” and “Enlightenment” are bedfellows
Posted on: July 31, 2008Both of these are very interesting words indeed, because they lay down, together, at the rare crossroads between logic and spirituality: on the left, we have hard-coded fact, and on the right, what gets called magic.
I like how “Enlightenment” belongs rightfully to many people: the Age of Reason is commonly known as part of the Enlightenment era, and yet, there are many enlightening experiences tied to religion which might be considered quite unreasonable by scientific means.
Similarly, “Intuition”, as defined, speaks of the truth without a “reasoning process”; not necessarily sans “reason” per se, but a quicker way to get from A to B without explaining how. Enlightenment, of course, falls into that same camp many a time: metaphorically, if there’s a light shining on your face, I don’t need to repeatedly remind you how bright it is. It is.
User interfaces, good ones at least, are often referred to as being intuitive: a shortcut for saying,
“I found it easy to use and things work the way I expect.”
One might have an enlightening experience as a result of such a well-designed UI, and intriguingly, while we may call the steps leading up to the final product a well-thought-out one, the architects did the thinking so the user didn’t have to — which doesn’t necessarily denote stupidity, but rather, less wasted brainpower.
I love both words dearly, and care even more about using them effectively.
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August 1st, 2008 at 7:37 AM PDT
…and then there is "Faith".
August 1st, 2008 at 10:35 AM PDT
What do you think are the differences between something being "illuminating" versus being "enlightening"? "Enlightening" seems broader and more spiritual - to fill a mind with the light of a new perspective or a new reality. "Illuminating" seems more like a narrow beam that allows one to understand more clearly the details of an idea.
I rarely see "illuminate" used in any form and wonder why. It, like "enlighten", is a wonderful word.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:49 AM PDT
I am really enjoying Torley's wonderful inspirations … when I got to Arilynn's comment here, I thought, hmmm, I agree … the difference between Illuminating and Enlightening is perhaps that Illuminating means that something is Visable, and Enlightening would indicate that it can be Realized …
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:03 AM PDT
@Luke: That word always makes me think of the Enterprise theme song.
@Arilynn: Makes me think of "Illuminati".
I think because of historical usage, "Enlightening" is closer linked with logical and spiritual idea-sharing, whereas "illuminating" is taken more literally, e.g., to *actually* shine a light on something. Both are beautiful words, I agree!
@Revella: Thanks for sharing your thoughts!