Emotions, Logic, Intuition, Knowledge, and the Science of Reading Andrew P. Johnson, Ph.D. Minnesota State University www.teaching-reading.com This is an excerpt from my book, Johnson, A. (2022). The human dimension in Education: Essential Learning theories and their impact on teaching and learning. Rowman and Littlefield. It’s an emotional response, make no mistake about that. The decision to abandon good reading instruction and move to what the SoR zealots call structured literacy. Let me explain … To know is to be cognizant or aware of a specific piece of information. How then do we know? How do we come to know the world? How does the picture of reality get painted inside the cave of our head? How do we discern what is and is not and come to understand the true nature of reality both external and internal? How do we use this then to make good decisions? KNOWING We come to know reality in four ways: through (a) sense perception, (b) logic and reasoning, (c) emotions or emotional intelligence, and (e) intuition or spiritual intelligence. However, using only one or two of these areas extensively to the detriment of others creates imbalance and a false impression of reality. Traditionally our public schools, colleges, and universities in Western society have done just this. They have declared that only the first two of these are legitimate ways of knowing (sense perception and logic). Thus is created a false sense of reality, the grand façade that you see before you today (Grof, 2006). Sense Perception The first way we come to know what we perceive to be reality is through our senses. Bits of sense data from our sense organs dance along our nervous system and up into our brain to create a picture of reality. But we never experience the world directly. We only experience the picture that is created in our brain. That is, our brain is locked away inside the casket of our head. It encounters only indirectly the bits of data upon which images are created. This is very much like the captain of a submarine who never experiences the ocean directly but relies on the picture of the ocean created by sonar data. It is by understanding the limitations of our sense data that we are able to move beyond them to see a greater whole. Logical Reasoning The second way we come to know reality is through our own logical reasoning. The logical part of our brain operates in binary mode very much like a computer which sees the world in 0 and 1 configurations. Everything is either this or that, it is or it is not. If/then, when/then logic is used. If ‘A’ then ‘B’. When ‘C’ then ‘D’. Everything must fit into a category. This is the world of theories built upon sense data. This is logical positivism which perceives the world and all beyond only in terms of cause and effect. For every cause, there is an effect. For every action, there is a reaction. And the whole of reality can be understood, quantified, and wrapped in a package by breaking it down into its component parts. Logic is a gift given to humanity, but like all gifts, must be seen in its proper perspective. Logic limits itself to that which can be seen, heard, weighed, and measured. Logic will suit one fine if one exists only in a finite world and acknowledges no other. To acknowledge another realm, another dimension, is to go beyond logic towards the intuitive and the window to the spiritual realm. If we pray to God, we are acknowledging this other realm. We are also recognizing the power of that realm to affect change, either physical or spiritual, in this one. Emotions Our emotions can also be used to help us understand the world and to solve problems. They can be used to analyze or evaluate logic and sense data. We can use them as a barometer to test our logical reasoning and evaluate the sense data before us. In this way they can enhance our rational ways of knowing. Here you ask questions like, “How does this decision feel? How am I reacting emotionally to this data or situation?” However, in our Western predominately male-dominated culture, emotional decisions have come to be viewed as something to be avoided. The phrase, “It’s just an emotional decision” is often said derisively as if this were a bad thing. However, as stated above, any decision that relies overly much on one or two areas is out of balance. We cannot know fully unless we utilize all four ways of knowing. Intuition Like emotions, intuition also enhances rational knowing. Intuition is a sudden knowing apart from logic or knowledge (Bruner, 1960). It is the ability to make the leap from the known or predictable to something completely different. It enables you to realign known information or sense data in new ways. There are three levels of intuition. Rational intuition is thinking that realigns known information. This is the “aha” experience that happens in the creative process or the type of thinking that occurs when you suddenly see the solution to the problem. In our Western culture and educational systems we are fairly comfortable with this type of intuition. Predictive intuition is thinking that utilizes known information to form new patterns, sequence, idea, or plan. Information is used here to create a hunch, guess, or hypothesis. You perceive the whole based only on the part. Predictive intuition enables us to connect sense data with other types of data stored in LTM in order to create the unfinished picture of reality. Gestalt is a German word that refers to completing a pattern or configuration based on partial data. Gestalt can be thought of as a perceptual dot-to-dot picture, meaning that you perceive incomplete data but your brain automatically organizes it into meaningful patterns. In our Western culture and educational systems, we are also comfortable with this type of intuition. It is the next type of intuition that causes professors and “rational” people to beginning to move toward the door when it is brought up in conversation. Transformational intuition is a type of thinking that uses a different kind of sensing to pick up information. It defies scientific explanation and the laws of repeatability as information seems to come from some outside source. Another name for transformational intuition is spiritual intelligence. Sisk and Torrance (2001) describe Spiritual Intelligence as the ability to use a multi-sensory approach to problem-solving and the ability to listen to your inner voice. Vaughan (2003) portrays spiritual intelligence to be a different way of knowing, a part of self that is concerned with the life of the mind and spirit and its relationship to being in the world. Spiritual intelligence, as I will define it here involves access to multiple dimensions of the self that puts one in touch with experiences that transcend the self (Tart 2008). It is access to the most complete range or states of consciousness. It includes altered states that transcend the usual senses, and most importantly, includes the capacity to see the seamless connection between self, others, and the universe. WELL-BALANCED DECISION MAKING Developing the capacity to know in all four of these areas will enable you to know more and to know more widely. You will sense the world in greater depth and dimension. It is only by using all four ways of knowing that you ultimately know reality and fully perceive the world around you. Using all four ways of knowing will also enhance your ability to solve problem and make better decisions (see Figure 2). Again, we are out of balance if any one predominates in our decision-making. This is well-balanced decision-making: • Emotions and intuition are used to evaluate the appropriateness of logic and knowledge-based decisions. • Logic and background knowledge are used to evaluate emotional and intuitive decisions or reactions. a. knowledge can be used to put our strong emotional reactions in context. • Intuition (and imagination) and logic are both used to generate ideas and to evaluate knowledge-based and logic-based decisions. • Knowledge and emotion are both used to test ideas. Four ways of knowing. Emotion What feelings does it generate? Knowledge What knowledge do you have? Logic What can you logically deduce or infer from the data? Intuition What does your gut feeling tell you?   REFERENCES Bruner, J. (1960) The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Goleman, D. (1994). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books. Grof, S. (2006). When the impossible happens: Adventures in non-ordinary realities. Boulder, CO: Sounds True Inc. Pfeiffer, S. (2000). Emotional intelligence: Popular but elusive construct. Roeper Review, 23, 138-142. Sisk, D., & Torrance, E. (2001). Spiritual intelligence: Developing higher consciousness. Buffalo, NY: Creative Education Foundation Press. Tart, C.T. (2008). Accessing state-specific transpersonal knowledge: Inducing altered states. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 40, 137-154.