Intuition and Instinct

Intuition is knowing. ( Me )
Sometimes referred to as a sixth sense or second sight.
Intuition is the act by which the mind perceives the agreement or disagreement of two ideas. When using only intuition, the truth of the proposition is immediately known right then, the moment it is presented. This is without the intervention of other ideas or deductive reasoning. ( Wikipedia )

Full Buck Moon and Jupiter 7/18/08
This evening as I was starting to write about instinct and intuition, I went out on my balcony to meditate and collect my thoughts. When I saw the moon, I knew if I took a picture, I would be glad later. At the same time, I knew the picture I was seeing in my mind would not be taken until 4:00 in the morning. My intuition told me I would wake up around 4 and go out on the balcony to take a moon picture. Could it have been instinct that woke me at the right time?

Full Buck Moon 7/18/08

During a sunset in May, I looked to the east and saw Mt. Lassen glowing in the last rays of the suns direct light and took this picture by holding the binocular eyepiece against the lens on my camera. It was hard to keep the image in the viewfinder because the tiniest shake would put the lenses out of alignment.

Mount Lassen through one side of binoculars

I am still looking for a good way to attach my binoculars to the camera. A piece of rubber tubing would work, but so far all I have found was expensive radiator hose. One day I will see just what I need and I will intuitively know it will be perfect.

Instinct is doing without knowing. ( Me )
Sometimes referred to as a natural tendency or compulsion.
Instinct is the inherent disposition of a living organism toward a particular behavior. Instinctual actions have no learning curve, they are hard-wired and ready to use without learning. Instincts are inherited fixed action responses or reactions to certain kinds of stimuli. ( Wikipedia )

Sometimes people will say, "Trust your instincts", when in fact they are referring to your intuition. To trust requires the use of a higher brain function and instinct operates without thought. So you would actually be trusting your intuition to know that the stimuli for an instinctive behavior is imminent and the result will be benificial.

Intuition is more of a perception than a behavioral action. Instinct is more like automatic behavior, but not necessarily a reflex. A reflex would be sneezing or other involuntary acts.

Intuition tells me I should explain the Buck Moon, for those who haven't read some of my earlier posts. The Algonquins and other tribes had names for the moon related to events that would annually occur during a particular month. In July, a buck's antlers would begin to show as they pushed out from the deers forehead. This moon is also called the Thunder Moon for the many thunderstorms that would occur each July. It is sometimes called the Hay Moon. Instinct is me wanting to lie down and sleep now.