The Use of Iteration

Through the development of Emergent Knowledge, David began to notice a structure to the language clients used as they ran his processes. Asking a simple question repeatedly, provided some very interesting results. David observed clients in the USA, UK and in France and found that even across cultures the structures proved to be common.

The questions used were:

• “What do you know?” and then
• “And what else do you know?” five times and finally
• “And what do you know now?”

1. The client on the first question will ‘Proclaim’ their problem.

1. The second iteration the client usually ‘Explains’ what was said in (1) Proclaim, this time it will most likely include their personal experience, the narrative of the problem.

1. With the third iteration, the client will ‘Reinforce’, just like the explanation in (2), although now they are moving to the global nature of the problem, they are ‘Expanding’ and ‘Reinforcing’. We also get a hint from them that this is enough, “Look, I’ve told you my problem 3 times now, it really is a problem!”.
2. The fourth iteration has the reinforcement of (3) at the beginning, but then we get ‘The Wobble’. There is a pause and then doubt enters in, (the facilitator should wait for the doubt), it will usually be the opposite commentary to what we have just heard.
3. Getting onto the fifth iteration really lets the client heat up on the inside, their world is shifting, how can they be stating two binary opposite statements in the same answer at (4)? The structure of their issue is collapsing. For intellectual processing the issue deconstructs; for physiological processing the client literally heats up, there is an exothermic reaction within the body. We are at a critical time here and the heat needs to be kept on.
4. Now we pass over into the sixth iteration, the edifice has collapsed, the structures that held the issue together are no more, these fell away at (5). What happens could be considered to be like the ‘Phoenix’ for out of the ashes comes new knowledge, reconstructed cognition, new awareness.
5. The ‘Pause’ or moment to consolidate – this is the 7th or Zero point.