Gut Decisions

"Can you relate a decision that you have recently had to make that was done completely on core-intuition? How did a 'gut-feeling' influence your decision and what if you had been more rational? Would the outcome of your decision been different? "

Thinking with your gut instead of your head can lead to trouble. Literally. If you've seen Star Wars Return of the Jedi you might remember the scene in which Chewbacca spots some dead animal on the forest moon of Endor and heads right for it, thinking with his stomach rather than his brain. As a result, Chewie and his friends get caught in a trap.

What is an example of a decision we face every day? How about what to wear. Obviously, this should be a rational decision, based on the weather outside, and perhaps the current political climate (e.g. you wouldn't walk around a city in Saudi Arabia with a shirt bearing an American flag). These decisions should be made rationally. But say you are going on a vacation, somewhere far away. Let's say it's someplace warm and sunny by reputation. But let's also say that you have had a history of vacations with bad weather. Rationally, you should wear shorts and a short-sleeved shirt to this tropical destination--after all, the weatherman says it'll be clear skies all week. But your gut tells you that your bad luck might persist, and you wear a rain coat and jeans. That's a gut decision. It's not based on reason, but rather superstition and what you feel is going to happen. But what you wear has no effect upon the weather, and in this case the meteorologist was right. And you're stuck in Hawaii with rain gear...

OK it's just an example but you get my point.

Here's another example, something that happened to me. I was at the train station, waiting for my train home. In the mean-time I thought I'd grab a snack from the vending machine. I approached the machine, already trying to decide what I wanted. Their were two options I found appealing: A Kit-Kat Chunky White (Limited Edition!) bar or a Belgian Waffle. Both were mouth watering choices... equally attractive options. They were both the same price. So how would I decide? Here's the thing, I have much difficulty making decisions between two equally attractive options. The problem is, you can't really employ reason in this instance: both are just as unhealthy, more or less; same price; I don't really enjoy one more than the other. It's just deciding what I want to eat; it bears little real importance. So I had to make a decision based on how I felt at the time. I went for the Kit-Kat bar. I put in the coins, pressed the code. Now, every time I use a vending machine, I am slightly paranoid that the machine will glitch: either it'll steal my cash or the goods'll get stuck in the machine. There's always a small part of me expecting the worse in the back of my mind. And guess what? The spiral of metal inched the Kit-Kat forward, then it stopped. The candy bar got stuck in stupid contraption! If I believed in such a thing as jinxes, I would have kicked myself for thinking it'd get stuck. I cast a furtive glance at the security camera trained on my back--better not risk shaking the machine to get my prize, though I admit to being sorely tempted to do so. Now I had another choice to make! Fortunately I had more money on me. I could buy another Kit-Kat bar, pushing forth the first one and bringing me a second one. OR, I could buy the Belgian waffle, which was rather conveniently situated directly in line with the Kit-Kat slot, a couple of rows below the waffles. I could more or less be guaranteed two candy bars if I went for the Kit-Kat option. But if I went for the waffle, there was a good chance it'd free the Kit-Kat on its way down. Of course, it might not have hit it, and I would have lost money. But I had this gut feeling that it would. So I put in my coins, pressed the code, and watched with bated breath as my waffle slipped free and freed the candy bar on its journey to the bottom. So in the end I didn't lose any money, and I had a waffle I could enjoy at some later time. Could enjoy, being the keyword there. I ate them both. What? I was hungry. I had to feed my gut to make more gut decisions in the future, right?

So in the end it really depends on the situation, whether you use your intuition or reason.
What about a game of chess? Let's say you are about to make a move, to a place on the board where your enemy can easily slaughter your piece. But doing so will leave him wide open for a vicious counter attack. The opponent might accept the collateral damage, and violently cast aside your piece when given the soonest chance. Or he might have great plans for that "collateral damage," and play it smart. You cannot know what your opponent will do. You can only try to anticipate what they will do. You can try to use reason: you might know that your opponent is a timid person. But he could surprise you and attack your piece with a violent outburst ("HA HA HA!! I KILLED YOUR ROOK, POND SCUM!!!"). Not likely, but no one can know what someone's actions are going to be. Instead, a warrior must use their intuition to anticipate the enemy's actions.

E M O T I O N

Is emotion a way of knowing or an obstacle of knowing?

http://changingminds.org/explanations/emotions/basic%20emotions.htm
This site provides several lists of basic emotions, each list by a different theorist or theorists. I will list three of note:

Izard:
Anger, contempt, disgust, distress, fear, guilt, interest, joy, shame, surprise

Weiner and Graham had a simpler view on basic emotions:
Happiness, sadness

Similar to that was the one by Mowrer:
Pain, pleasure

Here's another example:
Love, Hatred

Interestingly, hate was only listed twice at that site I mentioned. Anyway, on to how these feelings can sway our knowledge, or enhance it.

First, let's try to make the question clearer. I emotion a way/obstacle of knowing... what exactly? It really depends on what you want to know. If you want to know which television you should buy when you are at a shop, emotion can be an obstacle. Greed might push you into purchasing something you can't afford. In this case, and in any case that is of a practical matter such as this, emotion can be an obstacle.
But what about love? How do you know if you are in love with someone or not? Certainly not by cold, pure logic. In this case I believe pure emotion to be the only way of knowing. However we must be careful of just what emotion we are following. On the website I listed, if one were to scroll down, they would see the basic emotions categorised, complete with what feelings each primary emotion entails. The first one listed is love. Here it includes Affection, Lust, and Longing. In order to know if we are truly in love with someone, it might be wise to look to these. Personally, I don't think lust should fall under love; rather it should be a category unto its own. True love is selfless, and does not care about physical attraction. A relationship based on these feelings of lust alone is bound to fail in the long term. This emotion of lust can indeed be an obstacle. The emotion of love, as long as it isn't misconceived as lust, will never be an obstacle.
But what exactly is the question referring to when it says knowing? Knowing what? Knowledge in general?
Anger, hatred, irritation, these can all be obstacles. What if a student is angry at a particular teacher, because they believe to have been treated unfairly? What if a student is irritated because they had to get up early in the morning to get to class? These are natural emotions to feel, especially in these instances, but do they really help us any? A student may take his feelings out on the teacher, by causing disruption, or not paying attention. What is the result? The student certainly won't learn a thing! Those actions are only adversely affecting him/herself, and possibly the whole class. Anger makes us hold grudges, and keeps us from being forgiving, ultimately ruining us, as we are never free of these dark thoughts. Anger is certainly an obstacle.
Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate, to the DARK SIDE, young padawan... OK, sorry, just couldn't resist quoting Star Wars... yes I am going to discuss Fear next. I believe that fear can be an obstacle to knowing, just as much as it can be a way of knowing. A fear of heights, while potentially irrational, can be a good thing. It's there for a reason: We humans are not birds; we cannot survive a fall of over 30 meters, and that's if you know how to land right. Even then you'll be in bad shape. How do we know this? Someone might go their whole life without seeing someone fall, or hearing about it happen. What happens if they go to the edge of a high cliff? I think that they will have an instinct of fear, and that they will back away, even if they don't know the outcome of the fall. That's my theory anyway. What about the fear of death? Or a fear of darkness. These fears can be grouped into the same fear: Fear of the Unknown. So is fear an obstacle in this instance? Well, it will never become unknown if they don't face their fear. In the case of death, it's best not to kill one's self to make it unknown, as death is unavoidable and will occur sooner or later. And a fear of darkness could be handy, after all, you could stumble and break your neck. But a fear of darkness itself is only an obstacle. What about entirely irrational fears? A fear of needles for instance. Oops, I forgot I am talking about irrational fears, not entirely rational ones. What about a fear of bees? I am terrified of bees. Why? I'm not allergic, as far as I know, so it's not like I'll die from a sting. And at any rate, I'm not afraid of death. Sure, a bee's sting hurts, but it's not that bad. And I know that if you leave the creatures alone, they probably won't sting you. Still, with all this in mind, I cannot control the emotion of fear I feel when a bee buzzes nearby. Is this an obstacle? It might prevent me from enjoying myself at a picnic. What does this really have to do with knowing? I don't know, I kinda got sidetracked. But as long the fear is not irrational, but rather a basic instinct, it will be a way of knowing.
So I have discussed Love, Anger, and Fear. What about Joy, Sadness, and Surprise? Sadness can be an obstacle. Example: You receive some rather bad news. Naturally, you feel sad. Their it actually a positive side to the news, but you fail to see it because you are depressed. This is why sadness can be an obstacle. What about Joy and Surprise? I can't really think of much, but with a word count of over 900 words, I think I have enough. I think they can be both, like fear, depending on the circumstances. The main thing is when you allow the emotion to distract you, or blind you to other facts, then it is an obstacle. In general, positive emotions (love, happiness) are ways of knowing, and negative ones (anger, hate, lust) are obstacles.