Training Philosophy
8. Thirteen Senses
Our senses are capacities of our being, capacities that are constantly active within us and capable of considerable development to make them more active. It would be of great significance for mankind if we really took our senses as our teachers
from THE TWELVE SENSES, Albert Soesman, Hawthorn Press
We often speak of there being five senses - and it was one of the bonuses of training at drama school that I spent a whole term of acting classes exploring each of these (seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting) in considerable depth. Perhaps that is where my interest in the senses as organs of cognition springs from.
We also commonly use the term 'sixth sense' to mean something known by intuition or instinct (ie by means beyond the realm of our five senses).
But about 20 years ago I came across Rudolf Steiner's work on the 12 senses and have been really intrigued by this expansion in understanding of our sensory capacities ever since. For him (and for many who have explored these ideas since) the twelve senses are the following:
| Sense | My Description / Interpretation | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Touch | Understanding boundaries between 'self' and 'other' | PHYSICAL SENSES |
| Life | Vitality, growth, well-being, decay | |
| Movement | Impulse to change position, direction, shape | |
| Balance | Standing, navigating in relation to surroundings | |
| Smell | Discernment eg between 'good' and 'bad' | SOUL SENSES |
| Taste | A gateway to what enters the body | |
| Sight | Seeing and interpreting images | |
| Temperature | 'Hot' and 'cold' in emotional as well as physical terms | |
| Hearing | Internalising sounds from outside | SPIRIT SENSES |
| Language | Giving expression to what is within | |
| Thought | Interpreting and articulating what is 'true' | |
| Self / Ego | Who one is - individual uniqueness |
An understanding of the 12 senses can add new depths to training approaches - even if only in the trainer's awareness of their own and their trainees' latent capacity. Some of the exercises and techniques I use in training have undoubtedly evolved out of my interest in cultivating more 'rounded' capacities in those I am working with - in which the senses play a very significant part.
Beyond these 12 senses, however, I believe there is a 13th sense. I would describe this as a sense of 'knowing' - rather more that the 'sixth sense' referred to above and closer to a form of clairvoyance. Anyone who has experienced this sense of knowing will understand what I mean even if I find it hard to explain.
The actual word 'sense' has a range of meanings. Chambers Dictionary defines the word 'sense' as: faculty of receiving sensation; consciousness; inward feeling; mental attitude; understanding; feeling for what is appropriate; soundness of judgement; that which is reasonable ... and more. The use of the word to mean both something that is 'sensory' and something that is 'sensible' is an interesting one.
9. Seven Guiding Principles for Trainers:
- Questions are more important than answers (focus on finding and articulating the underlying questions)
- Hearing is more important than listening (try and also hear what is not being said)
- Reflection is more important than action (give yourself and others time find the 'still place' from where new ideas / imagination / vision / clarity will emerge)
- Believe that the seeds of the solution are always present in the situation (build on what is there not on what you assume ought to be there or what you believe ought to happen next)
- Things change constantly - yesterday's 'truth' is tomorrow's assumption (whatever you think you know is only likely to be true at the moment you think you know it)
- The only power you ever have is the power you are willing to give away in order to empower others
- Real success is when no one notices what you have done - plan to walk through your work without leaving footprints