Gendlin's "Thinking Beyond Patterns: Body, Language and Situations" Reading Group

Gendlin's
Thinking Beyond Patterns: Body, Language and Situations
with Evelyn Fendler-Lee
- Reading & Exercises -

Part 1 of 2

10 Weekly meetings on Wednesdays
October 8 - December 17, 2025
(No class November 26)

11:00am - 1:00pm New York time
convert to your time zone here
 

• Open to all. Focusing experience is recommended but not required. Knowledge of philosophy is not needed.

• There will be about 15-25 minutes of pure reading time per session. This allows enough time for reflections, exercises, and questions. Reading the text before the sessions is recommended but not required. 

• Recording Note: Recordings of the weekly meetings with Evelyn will be available to all registrants as soon as possible after each session whether or not you attend live.
  
• All registrants will receive access to a Resource Page where the recordings and other information will be available. The Resource Page will be accessible for three months afterwards.
   
• This course is divided into two parts, each with 10 two-hour sessions. [Part 2 will be January 7 - March 11, 2026 and will have a separate registration page].
   
• Eugene T. Gendlin presented Thinking Beyond Patterns: Body, Language and Situations at the International Conference on the Foundations of Knowledge Science in 1991. You can buy the reprint of the paper from the TIFI Store (https://store.focusing.org/products/thinking-beyond-patterns-body-language-and-situations) or read it from the Gendlin Online Library (https://focusing.org/gendlin/docs/gol_2159.html). 

We hope you can register by the 1st session but if you miss it, we have registration open until October 24 -- you'll just need to catch up on the recordings.

OVERVIEW

The article Thinking Beyond Patterns: Body, Language, and Situations is a philosophical and practical exploration of how to allow the unformed, bodily-situational source of meaning to actively engage in thinking, language, and action—so that patterns stay alive, adaptable, and able to generate new understanding.

Gendlin argues that forms never work alone; they operate within a richer, bodily-situational intricacy that gives them meaning, “talks back” to them, and can change them. 

In Section A, Gendlin frames his project as an attempt “to think—about and with— that which exceeds pattern.” The challenge is finding language that allows this intricacy to function both in thinking and in talking about thinking. He contends that human experience is inherently intricate and cannot be fully captured by formalized patterns, and he criticizes the assumption in historical philosophy that order must be externally imposed.

With a story of poetry, Gendlin explores how language functions within implicit intricacy, resulting in thought-ways and concepts that carry the implicit intricacy along. The concepts are expanded by stories from psychotherapy, where he shows how bodily-felt situations can generate fresh, realistic steps and adjustments. 

Section B explains how patterns work and how they always work-in more. The developed framework expands into perception, science, and broader applications.

Thinking Beyond Patterns is one of my favorite books. It's an excellent introduction to Gendlin's philosophy: relatively short, non-technical and easy to read; and yet it delves deeply into a major aspect of the philosophy of the implicit, with interesting insights into how Gendlin saw himself in the context of history and the philosophical tradition. 

~ Rob Parker

FORMAT

Evelyn will guide the group through the entire text of Thinking Beyond Patterns: Body, Language, and Situations. The course is divided into two parts, each with 10 two-hour sessions. In the first part, we will focus mostly on Section A. The second part will cover the rest of Chapter A-4, the entire Chapter A-5, and Section B. The detailed reading schedule is provided below. 

There will be about 15-25 minutes of pure reading time per session. This allows enough time for reflections, exercises, and questions. Reading the text before the sessions is recommended but not required. 

This series will be conducted via Zoom, where participants can see both the facilitator and other participants. You will need a computer or mobile device. Calling in by phone is optional but not preferred. Sessions will be recorded, and recordings will be shared with all registrants shortly after each session. Breakout rooms, if used, will not be recorded. 

MORE INFORMATION

• Eugene T. Gendlin presented Thinking Beyond Patterns: Body, Language and Situations at the International Conference on the Foundations of Knowledge Science in 1991. You can buy the reprint of the paper from the TIFI Store (https://store.focusing.org/products/thinking-beyond-patterns-body-language-and-situations) or read it from the Gendlin Online Library (https://focusing.org/gendlin/docs/gol_2159.html). 
   
• Suggested prerequisites:
  Focusing experience is recommended but not required. Knowledge of philosophy is not needed. Open to all.
   
• What if I can't attend live because of my schedule or where I live?
  It's okay because the recording is posted shortly after each week's session. Many registrants cannot attend live because of the time zone they live in. The recordings remain available for three months afterwards. 
   

Dr. Evelyn Fendler-Lee
Evelyn is a self-employed organizational psychologist, certified counselor and Focusing trainer. As a coordinator in training she offers the program "Deep Thinking to Move Life and Thought Forward". As a coach, trainer and team facilitator for professional and personal growth, she encourages deep and interactive thinking for original creation, profound change and sustainable solutions.
She is a pioneer in the application of Thinking at the Edge (TAE) to innovation, teamwork, and leadership. She introduced Focusing to students teaching self-management and social skills and taught TAE courses at universities and 4x4 day TAE programs at the DAF, Würzburg. In 2020, she founded Thetaland®-Academy to bring Gendlin's philosophical principles and practices to a broader audience, using Thetaland®-The Game of Inquiry, which she co-developed in 2018. She teaches TAE in a 3-person format, offers practice-oriented philosophy classes, and presents at international conferences.
Contact: [email protected]   www.thetaland-academy.com

Registration Policies

Pricing Part 1 Sessions 1-10: Regular price $395  Modified price $275  Lowest price $135
Note: Part 2 will have a separate registration page opened later.

Three tier pricing. We welcome you to select the level right for you, while reminding you that if you have a reliable means of support and live in a country with a strong economy, we ask that you pay the regular price. By choosing the highest amount you are capable of paying you help make the sliding scale possible. Thank you! 

Note: If the lowest price is not affordable, please email [email protected] to check on scholarship funds.

DEI Scholarship. There are DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) Scholarship funds available for anyone in a group under-represented in TIFI's programs, including people aged 30 or younger, those in the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) community and others.  For more about our DEI scholarship, please see focusing.org/board. To apply, email [email protected]. Please write DEI scholarship in the subject line.

Refunds A full refund minus a $25 administrative fee for cancellations 14 days before the start date. Cancellations less than 14 days before the start date are nonrefundable. The International Focusing Institute (TIFI) reserves the right to alter the program, cancel or re-schedule for insufficient enrollment or for other unanticipated reasons. In such cases you will be given a choice of applying your tuition to future programs, or having the full enrollment fee returned to you.

The opinions offered by presenters and participants are their own and do not necessarily represent the opinions of TIFI. Participants authorize TIFI to use their name, statements and likeness without charge, for promotional purposes in publications, advertising, video, web, new media, or other formats.

By registering for this course with the Institute, and in consideration of the right and opportunity to participate in and contribute to the Institute’s classes, for the purposes of its control of all video and/or audio recordings thereof pertaining to uses serving our purposes and goals, in enrolling in this session you acknowledge and agree to the Institute’s ownership of all rights in such classes, including all rights under copyright therein.  In no circumstance shall any portion or clip posted or displayed exceed 3 minutes in duration.  If you plan to use, post or display any portion or clips of these recordings, including posting these to a website or to a social media platform or portal, you agree that you will seek and obtain the prior approval of the Institute. We ask that participants not take screen shots to share on social media. TIFI may opt to take an official screenshot where participants will be given the option to be included or not.

For more information:

Contact Elizabeth at [email protected] or (845) 480-5111.

September 24: Note: Visa and Mastercard payments are currently not working.  If possible for you, please use Paypal or American Express. Otherwise, please try your registration in a few days. Our payment company is working on the issue.