Shona's Response to "Three Assertions"

[Anonymous]

#688

One of the concepts that really struck me in this article was rhythm; rhythm of living, of cognition and felt sense. This makes me recall our look at the rhythm of patience in Perl’s Chapter 3 discussion of the “pregnant pause”, as a gateway into fresh thought development. In this week’s reading, Gendlin explains a process of listening to the information proposed by one’s body. Through felt sense, rhythmic chords strummed along a certain, seemingly unmistakable rhythm of being might become known.
This is something I am keenly aware of in my own bodily felt sense of cognition, whether somatically or academically. I tend to carry an underlying awareness of the rhythm of my self, whether expressed in the whispers of my breath, the pressure of feet upon the ground in my gate, or the taps of my finger tips on the keyboard when I write. Rhythm seems an apt vehicle through which to gain access to the knowledge offered within one’s own bodily existence, since the body flows in and out of an ongoing rhythm in generated by its physiological function. The pulses of energy which perpetuate life force within the organism as a whole must therefore also permeate processes of the mind and brain as facets of one’s whole being.
Gendlin poses this rhythm of being which acts to “carry forward” the creative process in his explanation of the poet’s patience to let new words and lines arrive through felt sense, and the rhythm of then a new ….. which then carries forward the expression of fresh components of expression (29).
The idea that “all that comes into our more intricate bodies is not just recorded there; it is lived further!” (29) may be amplified in the notion of a rhythm of being, characterized by repetition. Rather than insignificant, recursiveness and the circling back we discussed earlier, returns with fresh thought when one has the opportunity to attune with the felt sense of what is at hand. The fruits of repetition are a wealth in one’s thoughts.
As Gendlin says, “The living body always implies its next right step” (31). Whether in continuing to function or to break down, components in the proccesual nature of living repeat their presentation. The spectrum of being aligns with a certain rhythm of repetition which may become obscured or occluded to us and may be recovered again when one listens to a felt sense. The pulses of cognition which permeate the body, brain and mind bring forth a new felt sense of what is meaningful and the rhythm of repetition in creation seems interminable.

[Sondra Perl]

#703

Yes, a lovely reiteration of Gene’s points…especially in regard to rhythm.

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