Process begins in the unconscious, according to writers Behn and Twichell as
they quote others. It is intuitive. Research into accomplished
creative people also shows that intuition is not magic (although
it seems so more often than not); rather, it is a quality of
mind and imagination largely influenced by how we educate it.
Therefore, noticing is a
foundation for the development of intuition.
As part of the course, we
will learn to observe. Observation by the intellect is active
as it notes, catalogs, and analyzes. However, the
poet's and artist's observation, while not exactly passive, is
active in a very different way than the intellect's. Because art blends intellect and affect (the
part of thought process that is intuitive and "affected"
by emotion), it relies on intuitive understanding.
Above, we have proposed
that intuition can be educated, and we do that, in part, through
an observation that absorbs, reflects, empathizes and experiences,
and finally expresses. Such experiential
observation begins with the senses: what we see, hear, taste,
smell, touch--with what makes us feel alive.
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