The intuitive intellect, common to all people from the age of reason, is the true canvas on which the details of reality can be analyzed. Aquinas called the blueprint of reality that the intuitive intellect grasps the natural law, C.S. Lewis called it the Tao. All people have access to it from the age of reason.

In premodern times, many details of life were taken for granted via the intuitive intellect. In our day the opposite is true – we ignore this vital basic understanding of the world and analyze the details of life from a blank slate, and empty canvas, with a Cartesian-like rationalism. This inevitably leads to self-centered conclusions normalizing disordered desires.

In order to properly understand life, its details must be analyzed and judged within the framework, backdrop, or ‘canvas’ of the intuitive intellect – a vital part of our humanity that today is tragically ignored.