A few months ago I read Robert Richardson’s :
The intellectual life of man consists almost wholly in his substituting a conceptual order for the perceptual order in which his experience originally comes.
The profound meaning of this quote for me is rooted in the fact that my work hinges upon the unique ability of experiential learning to expand both our self-awareness and our behavioral repertoire, and (by extension) upon the inability of conventional modes of instruction to achieve the same results. Richardson continues:
Plato…argues…that knowledge is always proportionate to the realm from which it is
gained. In other words, if one derives their account of something
experientially, because the world of sense is in flux, the views
therein attained will be mere opinions. And opinions are characterized
by a lack of necessity and stability. On the other hand, if one derives
their account of something by way of the non-sensible forms, because
these forms are unchanging, so too is the account derived from them.But that model is much less useful in a field where there are few (if any) universal truths, which is the case in my areas of expertise: executive coaching, leadership development and group facilitation. I can’t tell anyone anything and have confidence that real learning will occur. I can disclose my own sense-impressions, but the choice to view them as relevant and meaningful remains in the hands of the learner. Ultimately all I can do as an instructor is act on hunches, ask questions, and make observations, and hope they register with the learner as lasting sense-impressions and that the learner infuses them with meaning. And that meaning must be created out of their own, personal experiences as a leader or in a group.
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