They don’t really work properly (Elder Sophrony of Essex)

If we trust our intuition on things of the utmost importance, then any and every mistake can be a threat and can even lead to our perdition. So it’s in this sense that you should be obedient to the experience of the ancient ascetics, which prevents us from relying on our intuition to such an extent. And what we should certainly do is overcome our self-confidence with a hard psychological and intellectual struggle. Our intuition would, indeed, be absolutely correct, if only we were saints. But if we haven’t attained to that sanctity, then our intuition won’t work properly, any more than our reason will.