Intuition as a survival tool

Instinct and intuition keep us alive. What is the difference between instinct and intuition?

Though this is a good question I'm not sure quite how to answer it.

Instinct is what makes us nurse at our mother's breast when we are born and makes us drink water and breathe and everything else. So, intuition is an extension of that as we learn more about our lives.

I look at intuition as interfacing knowledge and instinct into a useful whole.

The problem is many folks, kids and situations often try to separate us (one way or another) from   our instincts.

So, for me, intuition is instinct combined with real life experience, religious influences, spirituality, scientific method.

So, for me, intuition is a way to combine all aspects of life into a way to navigate through life without believing the lies and misconceptions many people try to foist upon you directly or indirectly.

So, for me, intuition is how I "See through" all or most bullshit flying around me in life and why I'm still alive and sane even here at 67 years of age.

You  just can't  believe everything people tell you even if they fully believe it and are completely sincere.

Sincere doesn't keep you alive and sane. Rational processing of all facts, instinctual, spiritual, religious and scientific keeps you alive.

I love all sincere people a lot but that doesn't mean I have to trust them implicitly too.

Many of the most sincere people I ever met died young because they just were not practical enough to survive past 20 or 30.

So, this is why during my 20s I had to move past idealism into what I call compassionate pragmatism.

Being both compassionate and pragmatic tends to keep you and your children and your families alive as long as possible including yourselves.