Thinking At the Edge with Kye Nelson NEW YORK     FEBRUARY 6-8 and 13-15  SEATTLE         FEBRUARY 27-29 BERKELEY     MARCH 5-7 and 12-14  BOSTON         MAY 14-16 and 22-24

Thinking At the Edge (TAE) is a way to articulate what lies deep below words.  It is a second practice developed from Eugene Gendlin’s Philosophy of the Implicit.  (The first practice is Focusing, which gives direct access to the felt sense.)   TAE lets us use language (written and spoken) as a tool to explore, express, and think with the subtle details of what we know implicitly, underneath the mesh of cultural assumptions which language usually traps us within.  TAE enhances our capacity to engage in original thinking, as we identify and clarify what we know implicitly in such a way that we can communicate it to others without being misunderstood.  The process is both creative and rigorous. We are facing painfully difficult issues in the world today, and we need new ways forward which are grounded in our tacit wisdom instead of our shared assumptions.  TAE can help here.  With it we can move beyond old conceptual structures and make a new kind of theory and practice grounded in our deep body knowing: a living logic.     Who is it for? TAE is for people who need to think with what they know implicitly and want to communicate without being misunderstood.  Those who can benefit include: Social activists who are engaged in new social movements and practices and who want to evaluate and communicate the subtleties, complexities, and implicit theories embedded in their work to a wider community, either through writing or teaching,   Those writing chapters or papers based on years of practice, who need to form a theoretical structure where existing concepts in the field leave out some key factor,   Graduate students working on theses and dissertations who want to clarify the unclear edges of their thinking, find patterns, and build a framework from their before-words sense of the territory,    Supervising faculty who would like their students to have a way to do the above,   Educators (teachers, professors, social workers) who want to engage their target communities in a process of thinking from what they know implicitly, to find creative responses to tasks or issues they face,      Writers who would like to work from the "feel" of a current book or other project to find the deep structure in rich but still-unstructured material,   Presenters at conferences and other public events who wish to formulate what they really want to say, Social entrepreneurs who have innovated new ways to respond to the needs of people, and who need to safeguard what is important but not obvious in what they do, so that others have access to that knowing as they carry on the work or found new programs,   Executives and board members who need to clarify an emerging sense of what an organization could stand for and could do, better than any other in its field,   Key people in organizations who sense not-well-defined factors which have contributed to past success and which should not be lost in a restructuring,     Those who work in fields where a central part of what master practitioners know has always been primarily bodily-held, and where there has never been a vocabulary which can convey this knowledge with depth and precision in some key spot: for instance, geological exploration, horticulture, nursing, bodywork, dance,  visual arts, music, etc., Those who already know Focusing who would like to learn how to use logic and felt sense together.  When and where? WORKSHOPS:   NEW YORK     Level 1: FEBRUARY 6-8,  Level 2: FEBRUARY 13-15  SEATTLE         Level 1: FEBRUARY 27-29 BERKELEY     Level 1: MARCH 5-7, Level 2: MARCH 12-14  BOSTON         Level 1: MAY 14-16, Level 2: MAY 22-24   TAE Level I Friday afternoon and evening -- Thinking In Context: starting TAE from a strong position  Saturday and Sunday - Thinking At the Edge (TAE) steps 1-9  TAE Level II Friday afternoon and evening -- 2 optional work sessions* Saturday and Sunday, choose one of 2 tracks; either can come first:   --Embodying: for those who want to apply what they have previously explicated with TAE, in order to make a difference in their life, in their work, in the world... and to continue to refine their knowing as they consciously apply it, or    --TAE steps 10-14: for those who want to build formal theory  *to re-open a TAE project with a partner as well as working independently... also to ask questions to deepen understanding of first 9 steps of TAE. Those who would like to facilitate an ongoing local TAE group receive special mentoring for that purpose. No extra charge for the Friday sessions.   Hours for all events:   Friday 1:00pm to 4:00pm and 6:00pm to 9:00pm Saturday and Sunday 9:00am to 12:00pm and 2:00pm - 5:00pm   Why TAE? It allows us to access what we know before words, and to make language work freshly to say what we sense that is new, or new in the world of language.   It sensitizes us to the assumptions carried in the words and phrases we usually use. It creates new ways of working in our field: new practices, and  new modes of teaching.  It makes it possible to think further, explore further, and make finer distinctions.  It makes it possible to build formal theory using language and concepts that have our experiencing built into them: to form concepts beginning from the inside rather than concepts which turn us into objects seen from the outside. TAE is a new kind of theory-building which begins with the person. It offers a way to create theories with “magnetism” which, as they attract other people, can restructure thinking so that over time a whole field or culture might shift in subtle but important ways. How does it happen? TAE is a process of entering the implicit, evoking our experiencing with language that “brings” someone here, abstracting patterns from the intricacy, deriving a core structure, and developing implications.   It moves in a "zigzag" between felt sense and logic so that the logical structures being formed stay closely connected to experiencing.   A TAE workshop or retreat includes an overview of the process, guided experiential exercises, work in partnerships or triads, and group dialogue.  Each participant, from beginner to experienced practitioner, is met at their current "edge" in learning TAE, and is helped to shape the process to fit their situation.   Participants have the opportunity, when attending a TAE workshop with Kye, to experience and help shape the leading edge of TAE as the process continues to develop.   But above all, a workshop with Kye is an opportunity to play, to draw word pictures of what is luminous in our hearts, for a world that sorely needs it. Facilitator? Kye Nelson has collaborated with Eugene Gendlin in formalizing the practice of TAE, which stems from his theory-construction classes at the University of Chicago.  In addition to teaching TAE, she is deeply involved with further development of the process.  She travels extensively, presenting TAE and other practices which support emergent thinking and embodied action, in the U.S., Canada, the UK and Europe.  She also consults with individuals and  organizations.  She is the founder of antheosophia which provides cross-disciplinary support for deep listening, emergent thinking, and embodied action through online resources and discussion; workshops, retreats, and other public offerings; the building of local communities of practice; a magazine published annually which offers support and a forum for emergent thinking on a variety of topics; and a training program for mentors and facilitators.   Cost? $295.  The full fee is due one week in advance of the event.  A 15% discount is offered for payment-in-full 90 days in advance, 10% for 45 days in advance, and 5% for 30 days in advance. To register Print out and complete the registration form at www.antheosophia.org/documents/register.htm  and mail it to antheosophia at the address below, together with your payment.   For overseas registrations, you may register and pay by email, using Paypal.  Contact us for more information if you are out-of-country and need this option.

In-house workshops Much thinking happens collaboratively.  If you would like to have a workshop specifically designed to meet the particular needs of your organization or group, please contact us.

antheosophia    7307 Broadway, #3      San Antonio, TX  78209     telephone: (210)829-5177   email: info@antheosophia.org   ©2003 Kye Nelson.  All rights reserved.