II Versus AI
Photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash
It’s April 2026, and AI has gone mainstream. It’s not anything new; it’s been running in the background for well over 40 years but only at our fingertips for the past two.
I’m diving in. In the past six months, I’ve taken:
a six-week AI course
an introduction to AI for creatives
a how-to program on the business benefits of having an AI bot
I still feel rather clueless but I’m leaning into change nonetheless, rather than resisting what’s already here.
A few weeks back, I wrote a two-part piece on resistance, and the energy drain it creates within us. We may not like what life serves up but it’s here at our table.
The mantra: “just this, just here, just as it is” supports us in navigating uncertainty, undesirable and unasked-for situations. AI is at our table now. We can either:
figure it out
decide how it can be skillfully supportive in our day to day
or resist, push it away, become fearful of it and drain our life energy
What it comes down to is discriminating awareness and choice. We always have a choice. And our life is a result of all the choices we’ve made.
Another Type of Intelligence
Now let’s consider another type of intelligence, one that each and every one of us is equipped with. Intuitive Intelligence(II). Yep, we all have it. It may be rusting and dusting in the attics of our being, but it’s still there.
Consider the accomplishments of those who came before us:
navigating the seas by the stars
healing with plant medicine
building pyramids, stone circles, and shrines to the seasons
All without AI ( or computer programs, calculators, and how-to YouTube videos). They relied on their II and a deep connection to something greater than themselves. We stand on their shoulders and yet there’s often resistance to learning and training our own intuitive intelligence.
Three Brains
We are equipped with three brains, but we tend to listen to only one.
1. The Brain-brain
The intellect. The problem solver. (And sometimes the problem maker.) This is the brain we fill with knowledge; stored and later regurgitated. We revere this brain in our culture. Equipped with 86–100 billion neurons, it’s also called the encephalic brain. Impressive? Absolutely. The star of the show? Not quite.
2. The Heart-brain
Known as the cardiac brain, or the “little brain.” Did you know that during a heart transplant all nerves surrounding the heart are severed and they are not reattached in the recipient. Yet the heart continues to function independently. It does not rely on the brain for its signaling. Could it be relying on a higher form of intelligence? The Little Brain has a mere 40,000 or so neurons, structurally like brain neurons, smaller in number but not in significance.
3. The Gut-brain
This is the enteric brain. The gut-brain axis is well documented. the gut is home to more microbes than we have cells. When we feed these gut bugs with healthy food we not only make the bugs very happy but they in turn make our brain’s very happy too. A win-win! Who’s running the show now? This region is home to 500 million + neurons all similar to brain-brain neurons.
We tend to believe the brain runs the whole show but as you can see that’s not entirely true. The heart and gut send more messages to the brain than the brain sends to them. Pretty incredible! Who’s in charge again?
Listen to the language we use referencing our two other brains:
Gut:
“I have a gut feeling.”
“I’ve got to trust my gut.”
“That doesn’t sit right.”
Heart:
“I’m going to follow my heart.”
“That resonates.”
“There was a pull at my heartstrings.”
“I had a heartfelt knowing.”
I’ve never heard anyone say:
“I have a brain feeling.”
“I trust my brain.”
“There was a pull at my brainstrings”
Gut and Heart Brain messages don’t arrive as words. They arrive as, sensing, feeling, knowing, that still, small, voice within. All spoken in a wordless intelligent field.
We don’t identify ourselves or others through brain referenced language either. We don’t say, “They have a big brain” or “They are very brain-centered.” We may say, “They have a big ego” or “They are so ego-centric”. To see how true this is, stop reading right now and point to yourself. Notice where you are pointing. I’ll bet it is NOT your head – the brain-brain location. I suspect you are pointing right at your heart-brain, or close. That is intuitive knowing. You know who you really are - heart-centered, not brain-centered.
So why aren’t we more interested in developing this intuitive part of our nature? It’s already pre-installed; it belongs to us and we to it. We need to dust it off and use it.
We’re quick to outsource someone else’s opinion, trust what’s outside of us, question what’s within us. That’s sad and it doesn’t have to be that way. Another choice point.
As AI advances (and it will), we will need to simultaneously advance our intuitive intelligence (II).
AI cannot read a room, feel timing, interpret a tear, sense when to move forward or step back. But we can. And if we learned to developed this capacity with the same intensity we bring to learning AI…Well we might one day be able to steer the seas of our lives by the stars.
I’m embracing AI. I’ve used it to:
translate medical notes
merge multiple email lists into one clean document
gather travel recommendations
refine grammar, spelling, and sentence structure
At the same time, I’m training my intuition through:
downtime
puttering
creativity
meditation
prayer
yoga
breathwork
quieting the mental chatter
And learning to listen for the still, quiet voice within.
My intention? To trust my intuitive intelligence before artificial intelligence.
AI is amazing, technologically advanced and also soulless. My intuitive intelligence is source-centered, gifted from the same life force that germinates seeds and rotates the earth.
A Moment of Inquiry
I’ll leave you with a contemplative question, a moment of personal inquiry:
1. When it comes to AI (Artificial Intelligence), why are we more inclined to:
Embrace
Learn about
Trust it
2. And when it comes to II (Intuitive Intelligence), why do we tend to:
Poo-poo as “woo-woo”
Resist training or learning it
Turn away from our own inner resources
In-joy your intuitive intelligence,
Debbie