THE CYCLE OF ENGAGEMENT

THE CYCLE OF ENGAGEMENT
by David Boulton 1987

Learning is a process of integrating new experiences. The integration process occurs in the field of attention (not necessarily the same as concentration or even conscious awareness). As meanings are experienced they resonate or co-implicate with the inner reservoir of past experiences. This process of relevancy (the active re-lifting of memories in to the stream of consciousness) is the departure point for new learning. As the senses and cognitive processes provide foreground input to the stream of consciousness they also implicate into the flow (according to bio-energetic as well as cognitive associative processes) relevant memories. This inner emergence of memories is the background flow which provides the context learning occurs in. The foreground and background processes (both concurring in real time and within attention) move through a cyclic process of coherence, dissonance, co-implication or confluence and, closing, coherence. Between the flowing stream of meanings emerging from the foreground and the stream of background meanings arising in wake-like response, new learning occurs.

The critical aspect of this inner relationship among meaning processes, is that attention must span and provide the field this cycle takes place in. If the span of attention is inadequate for the stretch between foreground and background, the learner disengages. Disengagement from learning is inevitable when the foreground stretches to far or long away from relevancy. However disengagement is artifactual and theoretically avoidable when it is caused by incompatibilities introduced by the form, structure or pacing of information intended to be facilitative (i.e., vocabulary, sensory bias, language, cognitive explication style, complexity level, pace etc...).

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