"My great religion is a belief in the blood, the flesh, as being wiser than the intellect. We can go wrong in our minds. But what our blood feels and believes and says, is always true. The intellect is only a bit and a bridle"

D.H. Lawrence, in his bold affirmation of the wisdom of the blood and flesh over the intellect, champions the primal, instinctual side of human nature. He suggests that the core truths of human existence reside not in the mind, with its capacity for doubt and rationalization, but in the deep-seated urges, reactions, and intuitions that arise from our bodies. Lawrence articulates a suspicion of intellectualism, seeing the mind as capable of distortion, delusion, or evasion of those realities that are felt bodily and emotionally. Where the mind can convince itself of almost anything through rationalization, the blood, in his view, remains pure, honest, and unerring, providing a direct insight into authentic being.

This perspective reflects a longstanding tension in Western thought between reason and emotion, mind and body. While many traditions place reason at the summit of human faculties, Lawrence places his faith in the "blood": our passions, desires, and visceral responses. He presents the intellect as limited, "only a bit and a bridle", a tool designed to guide or control the far more potent force of bodily wisdom but never able to supplant it. The bit and bridle metaphor evokes the image of intellect as a mere apparatus for steering the living power of our physical and emotional being.

Lawrence's philosophy asks us to trust our gut feelings and emotional responses, to listen to what our bodies say about love, truth, pleasure, and even morality. He distrusts the mind’s tendency to abstract, analyze, or self-deceive, suggesting that such processes alienate us from the primary realities of life. By heralding the flesh as wiser than the mind, he advocates for a more instinctual, embodied existence, one rooted in the immediacy of experience rather than the abstractions of thought. This stance can be seen as a call to authenticity, to living in accordance with our most immediate and unfiltered sensations, emotions, and desires.