TAE in 14 Steps
with Eugene T. Gendlin Ph.D.
In this two-part DVD we are presenting a new practice called "Thinking at the Edge".
2 DVDs or VHS PAL 235 min.
"You need to stand again in your own experiencing … in your own felt ongoingness, which is that intricate complexity inside of life … to put into the world what hasn't been said yet that you are carrying from your particular experience."
"We
are playing with words, we are serious about the Felt Sense - if the Felt
Sense is violated, we have to change the words…."
These two DVDs have been directed and edited to illustrate each of the fourteen steps, in order. There are several illustrations of steps in chronological order. One example is followed through all fourteen steps. DVDs are narrated by Mary Hendricks, Ph.D., director of The Focusing Institute.
Viewing this DVDs, even stopping it on each step and going over the illustrations several times should help people actually do the steps themselves. Each step is written on the screen and there are other visual aids to help viewers keep track of which step they are seeing. We recommend this set of two DVDs as an accessible introduction to TAE. (see other resources)
TAE is the second practice developed out of Gendlin's Philosophy of the Implicit. The first one is Focusing and familiarity with Focusing is assumed for TAE. Thinking at the Edge consists of 14 Steps that help people think from their felt sense of implicit knowing and generate fresh language and fresh concepts.
TAE is a way of articulating, of finding new language to say something that you have long known and have not been able to say or communicate. The steps help break what might be called the "public language barrier" so that the source of one's own thinking can be found.
People, even most intellectuals, believe that they cannot think from experience! They are trained to find what fits the public discourse. They remain numb about what arises from themselves in response to the world. There is the deep significance in showing people that THEY COULD THINK out of their own experience.
Theory begins in a little nucleus. Put something that you have experienced
in the centre, instead of starting with a concept and you will see that
we can build a theory infinitely more exciting. When terms articulate
a felt sense and also acquire logical connections, this duality enables
us to move in two ways from any statement. Logic generates powerful inferences
which could be found in no other way. And, by pursuing implicit meanings,
one can arrive where logic would never lead. The statements can go wrong
in many ways, but the felt sense which a TAE theory attempts to articulate
is at least something possible, since it happened.
The first DVD will take you from steps 1-9 and you will see them
demonstrated with a variety of people. The second DVD will pick
up at steps 10 - 14 with the Theory building steps. You will see them
demonstrated with several people.