In touch with intuition

A simple word game helps one keep her senses and win against machines.

I am a ‘Wordle’ buff. In fact, it has become as indispensable and compulsory as my morning cup of hot coffee. It wakes me up and keeps me ticking and ready for the day’s challenges. For those who don’t know what ‘wordle’ means, a few explanatory sentences will be in order.

It is a web-based word game created by software engineer Josh Wardle and taken over by the New York Times. It has captivated thousands around the globe, converting them into avid addicts. You are required to guess the intended word, which is a valid 5-letter word, in six tries. The colours of the tiles will change to show how close your guess is to the answer. A green tile is when the letter is in the correct place. If the letter is in the wrong spot, it will turn yellow. If the letter has not been used at all, it will turn black. The alphabet is also visible, and its tiles will also reflect the same colours, helping you get closer to the answer. A dictionary can help, but the fun lies in using your skills and falling back on the five-letter words stored in your mind.

There is a new puzzle that awaits you each morning, and yet this is not all; the best is yet to come. If, after your best efforts, you fail to solve the puzzle, just put everything out of your mind. In good time, the mind will work it out. To paraphrase the poet Wordsworth, ‘it will flash upon the inward eye, which is the bliss of solitude.’

What has happened is that you have been in touch with your intuition, the wonder saviour of those who suffer from forgetfulness.

In these days of artificial intelligence and algorithms, this is indeed good news. Who wants to be captive to robots or external forces? Your intuition can keep you in touch with something greater than yourself, keep you connected with strong but benign forces, and leave humaneness, the mark of a true human being, intact. This is what we need in these uncertain and nerve-racking times.

According to reports, those who own the data about us own the future. Internet giants are doing just that. They lure us by providing free information, services, and entertainment. They accumulate immense amounts of data about us and finally succeed in owning us. With knowledge about us in hand, the data giants can even re-engineer organic life and create inorganic life forms. Humans and machines can merge so completely that humans will not be able to survive at all, much less think about God and why and how we were created. Perhaps this is a true example of ‘less being more’. It’s better to wonder and intuit rather than submit and suffer!