James D. Watson |
Lesson of Intuition |
Collective Evolution |
On Intuition When James D. Watson came to Cornell for a talk on campus, I wondered whether he could offer more insight on the greatest discovery of molecular biology. Walking up to the podium after his lecture I asked him whether the role of intuition played a part in his discovery of the Watson-Crick DNA double-helix structure. He struggled his shoulders, raising his palms and eyebrows together in a quizzical look: "Intuition? What's intuition? Woman's intuition? I don't know any?" Disappointed at his reply, I probed more deeply into books of creative geniuses who dropped hints here and there on how to attain direct knowledge without rational thought or inference. Mozart composed an entire symphony in the flash of a moment while walking in the woods. Newton gathered pebbles and seashells by the ocean. Einstein contemplated for an entire night in a meadow gazing at the stars. Buddha was enlightened in the forest under the Bodhi Tree, while Christ fasted for forty days in the desert. It seemed that they were all alone stilling their mind in the quietude and grandeur of Mother Nature. Yet calling the intuitive muse to inspire my work remained elusive till one day while writing the word Intuition as Intuitiveness, it broke up as INTO-IT-NESS. At once I realized that intuition comes when we enter into the depth of the object or subject of inquiry. By going into ourselves we find the inner light that shines into all things. Peter Y. Chou Palo Alto, 8-23-1987 |
Watson & Crick (1953) double-helix discovery Mozart (1756-1791) composition method Newton (1642-1726) gathering seashells Einstein (1879-1955) on intuition Buddha (563-483 BC) under Bodhi Tree Christ (4 BC-33 AD) in the desert |