Intellectual vs Visceral

Yesterday, I had a most engaging connection with Houston's November More To Life Weekend (MTLW) team, led by Kathy Davis and Valerie Burson.

At the team meeting, what struck me was their intentional inclusion of so many other leaders – Linda Sonier, Robyn Williams, Sherry Merritt, Regina Chien, Ed Nutter, Karen Cassidy, Susan Schweizerhof and Karen DeShazo … Linda, who did the MTLW in 1982, and Susan, who did the MTLW in June, 2012.

Valerie Burson has been talking to me about the concept of inclusion for several years. I was in total agreement with her about making it easy for new students of the MTL program to be involved in any way that made sense to them and to the program. What I noticed yesterday was that the "concept" of inclusion was actually translated into reality. 

Another point of fascination for me was Kathy Davis's sharing of her vision of 100+ (which she calls the Fortunate 100+) participants in the November MTLW. What made her share so compelling was her visceral conviction of her vision for those 100+ participants.

My admiration of both of these women and what they stand for in their lives started me thinking about the difference between an intellectual understanding and a visceral understanding of a concept.

I know from my own life that when my understanding of an issue (eg., I'm alone, I'm always alone) is
intellectual, it doesn't necessarily move that issue forward. I get good at recognizing it, but not effecting change – repeating behavior I want to stop, or conversely, not doing what I commit to do.

When my understanding shifts further down into my gut, change seems to happen miraculously. That transition from head to gut, from intellectual to visceral, engages a 'stand' that has resolve that is embodied, and not just a head nod.