i found this interesting quote today in Autobiography of a Yogi:
“The poet is intimate with truth, while the scientist approaches awkwardly.”
the scientist who said this also said, “How admirable is the Western method of submitting all theory to scrupulous experimental verification! That empirical procedure has gone hand in hand with the gift for introspection which is my Eastern heritage. Together they have enabled me to sunder the silences of natural realms long uncommunicative.”
to me, scrupulous experimental verification is similar to reflecting upon and examining the process, recognizing the many details and the possibilities and potential that arise from their interactions with one another. practicing this along with the gift for introspection makes me think about the article on trusting intuition that chris corrigan shared. one of the many points that the author makes is that “Constant analysis of your thinking is the only way to winnow genuine intuitive grain from emotional chaff.”
sounds like applying the western realm of empirical procedure to the eastern realm of introspection to me.