There is more to the art of storytelling and filmmaking than meets the eye. It’s not just a creative process. It’s the call you make when you listen to your intuition over your conscience. Yes, there is a difference between the two, and the veteran Hollywood filmmaker, beloved director, the man behind ‘Jaws’, ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘Indiana Jones’, ‘ET’ and others has highlighted the difference between intuition and consciousness. He said: “I want to be clear that your intuition is different from your conscience. They work great, but here’s the difference: Your conscience shouts, ‘here’s what you must do,’ while your intuition whispers, ‘here’s what you can do.'”
“I want to be clear that your intuition is different from your conscience. They work together, but here’s the distinction: Your conscience shouts, ‘here’s what you must do,’ while your intuition whispers, ‘here’s what you can do.'”‘Disclosure Day’ filmmaker, Steven Spielbergshared these words of wisdom while speaking to the Harvard Alumni Association and members of the Class of 2016 during his commencement address. He emphasized that listening to your inner voice, trusting your intuition, is the most important thing you can do.
While encouraging the young minds, he shared an anecdote from his life and said, “Parents and teachers fill our heads with wisdom and information, and then businessmen and mentors take their place and explain how this world really works. And usually these authoritative voices make sense, but sometimes, doubts start to creep into our minds and our hearts.” “And even when we think ‘It’s not how I see the world’, it’s easier to nod yes and move on, and for a while, I let that define my character. Because I was repressing my point of view, like in that Nilsson song, ‘Everybody talkin’ to me, so I couldn’t’,” he added to himself. Telling how things changed for her, what was the decision that made all the difference, she said: “In the beginning, the inner voice I needed to listen to was barely audible, barely noticeable – just like me in high school. But then I started to pay more attention, and my intuition turned on.’Then he further explained: “And I want to be clear that your intuition is different from your conscience. They work great, but here’s the difference: Your conscience shouts, ‘here’s what you must do’, while your intuition whispers, ‘here’s what you can do’. Listen to that voice that tells you what you can do. Nothing will define your character more than that.”This helped Steven become the filmmaker he is today. As he admitted, “once I tapped into my intuition and tuned in, some projects started to gravitate toward them, and I drifted away from others.”
When Steven said, “I want to be clear that your intuition is different from your consciousness,” he was clarifying himself. Our consciousness is governed by our mind. It puts everything into a moral and emotional compass and judges what is right and wrong. On the one hand, it is very important to know what your conscience tells you; on the other hand, it is more essential to hear what your inner voice is telling you.He clarified, “They work in tandem,” which means they operate in coordination, one behind another, “but here’s the distinction: Your conscience shouts, ‘here’s what you should do,’ while your intuition whispers, ‘here’s what you could do.'” Your intuition sets you free; it gives you the wings to act on your potential and sometimes allows you to go beyond. This is what ultimately defines your character.
About Steven Spielberg
Believe it or not, it was just the beginning, as what followed made him an international superstar among directors. He then explores the uncharted territory of UFO stories and, in 1977, created “Encounters of the Third Kind”. The upcoming release is also about extraterrestrial life, called ‘Disclosure Day’. The film starring Emily Blunt will be released on June 12, 2026.
