The Complement of Rational Thinking and Learning

Some may think that the complement of Rational Thinking is Irrational Thinking. Then this post is especially for you. There is so much more than that. For example, there is (among other!) Embodied Learning.


Have you ever met a person that right from the first moment you met him/her, you felt that "something has to be wrong" about that person?  Or that something just "doesn't add up" to a story without being able to clearly identify what is exactly what made you think this way?

source:https://kosmoactions.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/intuition/

Can this be rational thinking, if you feel something is wrong, but there is no apparent reason? I don't think so. This is "knowing without reasoning and transcends the cognitive" (Merriam & Bierema, 2014, pp. 130).

"We access intuitive knowledge through dreams, symbols, artwork, dance, yoga, meditation, contemplation, and immersion in nature. Most of these processes call upon embodied knowing" (Lawrence, 2012, p. 5-6). 

source:http://www.work-stress-solutions.com/body-language.html

"Our bodies reflect our emotions" (Merriam & Bierema, 2014, p. 132) and there is so much we can learn about us just by paying attention to our "Body Language". Embodied Learning is "seeing our body as an instrument of learning"  (Merriam & Bierema, 2014, p. 132).


So why limit our learning to Rational Thinking?  "Why would anyone play a one-string guitar when there are five other strings" (Virginia Griffin, 2001, p. 131)

source:https://kosmoactions.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/intuition.jpg

References:

Griffin V. (2001). Holistic learning. In T. Barer-Stein & M. Kompf (Eds.), The craft of teaching adults (3rd ed.) (pp. 107-36). Toronto: Irwin/Culture Concepts.

Lawrence, R. L. (Ed.). (2012).  Bodies of knowledge: embodied learning in adult education. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, No. 134. San Franciso, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Merriam, S., & Bierema, L. (2014). Experience and Learning. In Adult learning: Linking theory and practice (1st ed.). San Franciso, CA: Jossey-Bass.