Willing the Body

Ken Robinson was a phenomenal communicator. He talked about the disconnect between the world of practice and the world of theories. Lamenting how academics can sit in universities, detach themselves and look at how the world should work from an ethical perspective, or values perspective, or a meta “how are we thinking about thinking” perspective. They can go really deep to the edge of human understanding. They don’t always have a lifeline back to where people are actually living. 

We have a wealth of knowledge that is hidden because we are not good at communicating with each other. When we are living separately from the world. We have people who are so busy, they don’t have time to think deeply. They are trying to be constructive, and so don’t have time to deconstruct. There is no time for finding holes, dangers, and unintended consequences. 

He talks of academics being disembodied, and seeing their body as a device that gets their head from meeting to meeting. The East has a more healthy relationship with the body. Yoga, for me, has also been about exploring embodied learning. At a later stage, I also started doing Five Rhythms dancing, which is part of a growing movement culture. An exploration of where knowledge sits at the subconscious level. 

In “The Happiness Hypothesis”, Jonathan Haidt uses the metaphor of an elephant and a rider. The real strength sits in the habits, scripts, loops, and behaviours that go on without thinking. Our rider may pull the strings, but the elephant must be willing. That requires a mind and body that talk.