We’re all familiar with the expression, ‘a gut feeling’, meaning an intuitive or instinctive feeling about something which is not, at that moment, supported by logical rationale. It’s a personal feeling almost amounting to conviction about something which may go against current opinion. It’s hard to justify and equally difficult to explain.
We who seek the answers to Johann Bessler’s wheel must, by definition, be following our gut instincts and therefore justification is hard to provide and our case goes against the commonly held view.
Sometimes our gut feeling leads us up the garden path with nowhere to go, but there is something special about some ‘gut feelings’, which you just ‘know’ are legitimate. These are few and far between but they could put you on the road to success. I’ve experienced that magical gut feeling a few times and I’ve had some ‘light bulb’ moments too, which are related to ‘gut reactions’, but not exactly same, but the instant euphoria is similar and both are incredibly encouraging in this difficult path we tread.
The lightbulb moment is that sudden revelation of the answer to a puzzle which has been hovering at the back of your mind. Gut feeling can sometimes reveal a truth which was previously unknown and it should not be ignored, and in my experience it never is.
‘Intuition’ is another name for ‘gut feeling’ it literally means ‘learning from within’, which seems a pretty good alternative. Intuition is currently understood to be the ‘subconscious processing of information that is too complex for rational thought’, but the word ‘complex’ doesn’t really cover it for me. The subconscious information being processed is disorganised and apparently random. So the organising, refining and clarifying of each particle of data takes place beyond the conscious mind, and in my opinion it is directed by another part of the subconscious which, in seeking an answer to a problem, is analysing all information being received, looking for anything which might have potential relation to one particular puzzle.
The exciting tingling that happens in your brain when a gut feeling makes itself felt seems a strange connection - so how is this possible? It seems that that feeling in your gut also stems from the same cause as ‘butterflies’ in your stomach when you’re nervous.
It has been suggested that when you’re nervous, you’re likely getting signals from an unexpected source: your second brain. Hidden in the walls of the digestive system, this “brain in your gut” is revolutionising medicine’s understanding of the links between digestion, mood, health and even the way you think.
(https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/the-brain-gut-connection)
“Scientists call this little brain the enteric nervous system (ENS). And it’s not so little. The ENS is two thin layers of more than 100 million nerve cells (200-600 million nerve cells in another paper) lining your gastrointestinal tract from esophagus to rectum, which measures about 9 meters (almost 30 feet) that’s more than in either the spinal cord or the peripheral nervous system.
Unlike the big brain in your skull, the ENS can’t balance your checkbook or compose a love note. “Its main role is controlling digestion, from swallowing to the release of enzymes that break down food to the control of blood flow that helps with nutrient absorption to elimination,” explains Jay Pasricha, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Neurogastroenterology, whose research on the enteric nervous system has garnered international attention. “The enteric nervous system doesn’t seem capable of thought as we know it, but it communicates back and forth with our big brain—with profound results.”
This ‘gut-brain’ alliance has raised consciousness and is a contributor to subconscious processing of all data.
In my humble opinion, the gut feeling is induced by the brain’s subconscious, trying to make contact with the conscious. The subconscious is the part of the mind of which one is not fully aware but which influences one's actions and feelings. We should be aware of rumblings, butterflies and other gut actions in case they are our subconscious trying to grab our attention!
“The concept that the gut and the brain are closely connected, and that this interaction plays an important part not only in gastrointestinal function but also in certain feeling states and in intuitive decision making, is deeply rooted in our language.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3845678/?_escaped_fragment_=po=2.13415
And here also, fascinating!
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gut-second-brain/
JC 🤔
The best Gut feeling or, insight, I've had regarding Bessler's wheel is; that if the pendulums swung in on the up side and, or out on the down side the wheel would turn.
ReplyDeleteI'm absolutely convinced of this fact, however it's seams imposable to convince anyone else of it----------------Sam
I agree with you Sam, in general terms. I have a design I believe will work, but without a workshop I can’t even begin to build it. Frustrating, but without a working model I’m in the same place as everyone else.
DeleteJC
John, I remember you left a larger house for a smaller one, but why did you leave that one? If you don't mined me asking---------------------------Sam
ReplyDeleteIt’s a fair question Sam. The house we just left was great, but both of us are thinking about the future and avoiding stairs seems like a pretty good idea, so we’re looking for a one story, no stairs, bungalow kind of place. Most of them are lived in by old folk (like us!) and they only become available when their occupants pass on. But we can wait I guess, but no too long!
DeleteJC
I see what you mean. Yes, stairs, I'm already struggling with them. Did Amy ever try a rubber band to hold her fingers straight? I really think it would help her a lot.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, back to the wheel. I finally found a way to flip the pendulums. FWEIW, filliping them in on the up side is better than out on the down side. In the past I had hoped to do both. I've learned, that it's better if they don't do nothing on the down side. Just flip in on the up side------------------------------Sam
"Gut" feelings are like knee-jerk feel good reactions and have no basis in science method. For proof see Trevor's posts over at www.bw.com.
ReplyDeleteThink of a design, do the math, prove the gain, then do the build.
AA 19:50, You could be right' maybe that's why scientist can't figure out how to do it-------------------Sam
DeleteIt took Edison 10,000 tries before succeeding with the light bulb. So we make a few poultry attempts at cardboard cutouts or plywood wheels and we declare "it can't be done". How awesome would it be to see failed proofs showing physical and sustained efforts rather than drawings based on feelings or hunches.
Delete