Corrie van Wijk
05-06-2008, 11:52 AM
Penny Tompkins and James Lawley say in their article "Clean Space: Modeling Human Perception through Emergence" (2003):
"Whenever we see something, we see it somewhere; whenever we hear a sound, it's coming from somewhere; and whenever we touch something, we feel it somewhere.
Likewise, whenever we create an image in our mind, we see it somewhere; whenever we hear a sound internally, we hear it coming from somewhere; and whenever we feel a feeling inside, we feel it somewhere.
Neuroscientists tell us there are no actual images, sounds or feelings in the brain, but subjectively it seems like there are. In other words, our representations are metaphors that exist in a mindspace &emdash; a stage in the theatre of our mind where the play of consciousness is enacted. […]
In Clean Space, each position is located by the client and its attributes are defined by the client. The whole process emerges out of the client's innate ability to, as Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner put it, "conceptually blend" their perception of metaphorical space with their perception of physical space.[…]
I think James and Penny try to understand here something new in terms of something they are familiar with, which is symbolic modelling.
(J&P): "Clean Space […] requires a […] kind of facilitation […] that supports the client to […] to construct a model of the organization of their mindbody perceptions. The aim of the process is for the client to model a network of relationships between the spaces, rather than to just develop the information contained within the spaces.[…]
We'll leave the last word to one of our clients: "I couldn't see how standing on another piece of carpet could make any difference, and yet when I did, I instantly had access to new knowledge, and that opened up a completely new perspective."
My guess however is that clean space is not about space: modelling space or modelling network(s) of spaces is a different proces than clean space:
(J&P) "David Grove says, ‘your aim is for the client to establish a network of relationships between the spaces.’ "
Watching him do this many times, my interpretation is that not the spatial layout is important, but they way it is organised.
(J&P):"Clean Space relies on the client's natural ability to utilize emergence. Change happens organically as a result of the client's system becoming more aware of its own organization. As Milton Erickson said, "Therapy results from an inner resynthesis of the patient's behavior achieved by the patient himself" (quoted by Ernest Rossi)."
‘Achieved by the patient himself’ doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a conscious process. Different spaces trigger different perceptions and emotions because of different sensory combinations. By moving around intuitively the client is likely to find spaces that he or she is attracted to and avoid spaces he or she is afraid of. By establishing a B beforehand the brain gets an assignment from A and starts looking for information that has something to do with that, through association. The network between the ‘spaces’ (that the clients ‘feels’ to have relevant information to the problem or goal) represents the pattern of connections between them. If a clients moves from space U to space V, but never from space U to space W, you know there is no relevant connection between U and W. Similarly space W may be connected to space X but not to Z, etc.
So this limits the amount of possible connections.
(J&P)"[…] Once this configuration is established, the client's natural ability to detect patterns and make meaning, coupled with their desire to change, results in the system learning from itself."
I think that "the client's natural ability to detect patterns and make meaning" results from the emergence process, the system learning from itself and not from detecting patterns and making meaning: "Ah-ha!" is only the conscious realisation of what just, amazingly, happened and how different it feels.
"Whenever we see something, we see it somewhere; whenever we hear a sound, it's coming from somewhere; and whenever we touch something, we feel it somewhere.
Likewise, whenever we create an image in our mind, we see it somewhere; whenever we hear a sound internally, we hear it coming from somewhere; and whenever we feel a feeling inside, we feel it somewhere.
Neuroscientists tell us there are no actual images, sounds or feelings in the brain, but subjectively it seems like there are. In other words, our representations are metaphors that exist in a mindspace &emdash; a stage in the theatre of our mind where the play of consciousness is enacted. […]
In Clean Space, each position is located by the client and its attributes are defined by the client. The whole process emerges out of the client's innate ability to, as Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner put it, "conceptually blend" their perception of metaphorical space with their perception of physical space.[…]
I think James and Penny try to understand here something new in terms of something they are familiar with, which is symbolic modelling.
(J&P): "Clean Space […] requires a […] kind of facilitation […] that supports the client to […] to construct a model of the organization of their mindbody perceptions. The aim of the process is for the client to model a network of relationships between the spaces, rather than to just develop the information contained within the spaces.[…]
We'll leave the last word to one of our clients: "I couldn't see how standing on another piece of carpet could make any difference, and yet when I did, I instantly had access to new knowledge, and that opened up a completely new perspective."
My guess however is that clean space is not about space: modelling space or modelling network(s) of spaces is a different proces than clean space:
(J&P) "David Grove says, ‘your aim is for the client to establish a network of relationships between the spaces.’ "
Watching him do this many times, my interpretation is that not the spatial layout is important, but they way it is organised.
(J&P):"Clean Space relies on the client's natural ability to utilize emergence. Change happens organically as a result of the client's system becoming more aware of its own organization. As Milton Erickson said, "Therapy results from an inner resynthesis of the patient's behavior achieved by the patient himself" (quoted by Ernest Rossi)."
‘Achieved by the patient himself’ doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a conscious process. Different spaces trigger different perceptions and emotions because of different sensory combinations. By moving around intuitively the client is likely to find spaces that he or she is attracted to and avoid spaces he or she is afraid of. By establishing a B beforehand the brain gets an assignment from A and starts looking for information that has something to do with that, through association. The network between the ‘spaces’ (that the clients ‘feels’ to have relevant information to the problem or goal) represents the pattern of connections between them. If a clients moves from space U to space V, but never from space U to space W, you know there is no relevant connection between U and W. Similarly space W may be connected to space X but not to Z, etc.
So this limits the amount of possible connections.
(J&P)"[…] Once this configuration is established, the client's natural ability to detect patterns and make meaning, coupled with their desire to change, results in the system learning from itself."
I think that "the client's natural ability to detect patterns and make meaning" results from the emergence process, the system learning from itself and not from detecting patterns and making meaning: "Ah-ha!" is only the conscious realisation of what just, amazingly, happened and how different it feels.