Reflection

There are a number of mind tools available to help us to reflect and to reflect theologically. Probably the most influential is educational, but has been adapted for theological reflection: the Kolb cycle.

For a good introduction to the Kolb learning cycle this page seems fairly helpful. It starts with a brief contextual section and then goes on to explore the tool and includes this diagram.

There is also a section on learning styles followed by a critique of Kolb’s work. One of the interesting ones is that it doesn’t uncover the process of reflection itself, and I would relate that to Laurie Green’s further epicycle on the reflection part of the pastoral cycle which makes more explicit the kinds of things involved in what would be the forming abstract concepts aspect of the above diagram but in the pastoral cycle the equivalent position is given over to the reflection stage where one links theological and biblical themes to the analysis. One of the other criticisms that applies somewhat to the pastoral cycle is that this is an ideal type and that the reality of thinking through is messier than the stages would seem to suggest. Certainly, in using the pastoral cycle it is not uncommon to find that there is a going back and forth between analysis and reflection and even planning as things mutually interilluminate and comment back on previous thinking.

It may be interesting to note, therefore Jarvis’ adaptation based on work with adult learners and modifying Kolb’s model.

It’s worth looking at the mutual feedback loops on the left hand side of the diagramme in the light of comments above.

An intereactive experience (including a self-test) on the Kolb cycle can be found here. It’s brief and the menu at the side gives an interactive chance to see how the Kolb cycle works with different learning situations (painting, hair cutting, for example).

This site reviews how the cycle can help in learning and diagnosing common difficulties in learning, including where we might typically get stuck. The insights would apply to the pastoral cycle also. One of the useful things it brings to our attention is this: “it can be even more effective to join with a group of other people and make the commitment to going through it together. This is because, as individuals, we have a tendency to favour one particular phase of the cycle, often to the extent of getting stuck there.”

It is important to note the social dimension and I would want to re-emphasise the importance for Christian learning of social learning for the theological reason of honouring the body of Christ and diversity of gifts, but also in linking those reasons with the insights of educational research about social aspects of good learning (see my blog entry on a piece of recent research as a way into that)

Turning more explicitly to the pastoral cycle, A brief intro can be found here. It offers a brief description of what each stage is about and as such is a good overview.

Even briefer but with this diagramme:

is this page that also offers a further model

There’s an interesting variation by the Jesuit Bernard Lonergan which reflects Ignatian spirituality by focussing more fully on praxis, decision and ‘consolation’. This is how it is outlined by Father James L. Connor, S.J., director of the Woodstock Theological Center, talking about the Center’s project on “theological reflection.”

Lonergan starts off by asking us to reflect on ourselves and see if it is not true that we invariably move in a pattern that can be described as four phases unfolding dynamically. In the first phase we are presented with data. Data comes to us most obviously through sensation (sight, taste, touch, hearing, smell). For instance, we smell something. Then, and this is the second phase, we ask ourselves, “What is that?” We seek to understand, we seek intelligibility. We try on different hypotheses for size. For instance, we ask, “Is it coming from outdoors or is it indoors? Is it cauliflower or is it mushrooms? Or is it something else?” We marshall evidence, weigh hypotheses against the known data, until we can say, “I’ve got it! It is mushrooms cooking in the kitchen!” That is an “insight,” according to Lonergan. But no sooner have we said it to ourselves than we invariably ask, “Is that really so?” To be really sure and be peaceful about it, we feel the need to check it out. It is the requirement that we put our mind on the line by giving affirmation in a considered judgment. That is the third phase in this process, namely, judgment. But no sooner have we said, “Yes, it really is mushrooms,” than we are moved to consider what, if anything, we should do about that fact. (Notice that the data has by reason of our judgment become a fact: it has been affirmed as reality having “objective” existence in its own right.) “What shall I do? Go eat some or not? Eat with others or alone?” And so on. A whole series of optional responses occurs to us, among which some choice must be made, if only the choice to do nothing at all. We are being drawn to choose this or that option according as we find this value (for instance, eating the mushrooms alone) more attractive than that value (for instance, continuing my study and waiting for dinner). As the various values inherent in the different options parade before me, I deliberate and then decide what to do. It is in the doing that this fourth and final stage (of discerning, deliberating, deciding, and doing) reaches culmination and completion. Until we actually do what we decided, we really haven’t decided, and the values on which the decision was reached, are not yet real values for us.

For me this variability indicates that what is happening with all these models is that the reality of how reflection takes place is being captured in different ways; picking out different elements according to the theological interests and best judgements about the most important aspects of the process. The aim is really to help us to be systematic about our reflection in order to maximise and optmise, our learning, even to cycle through it faster.

Another model of reflection which some prefer because it appears to be more biblical is the Lifeshapes model of the circle (the page has a video embedded in it to introduce the concept). It uses the biblical language of metanoia and the phases (half circles) of repent and believe. While this uses biblical terminology, it is basically still a reflection on learning which has been enhanced by theological reflection bringing to bear some theological words and concepts on the basic insights about how we learn. As such it picks out and foregrounds a slightly different mix of stages from the total possible list of significant aspects of reflection and experiential learning. Rather like the Jesuit model mentioned above it has a pragmatic focus on change in discipleship terms.

The life shapes learning circle has two halves: the repent half consists of observing, reflecting and discussing, the believe half of planning, accounting and acting. Its positive aspects are that it explicitly includes corporate elements in reflecting (and in terms of spiritual growth, also in accountability) . It is notable that the observe, reflect plan and act stages pretty much echo the Kolb/pastoral cycle. Another helpful aspect is the good use made of the idea of Kairos moments which has some congruence with the idea of ‘critical incident’ in critical incident analysis/reflection. A down side of it is, for me, that I’m not fully convinced that the ‘repent and believe’ typology is actually really biblical in the way that it is used/developed in this model: it has more the feel of a couple of labels which evoke biblical concepts but actually use them to ‘baptise’ concepts that are drawn from elsewhere. However, since I think that these concepts -the stages- are useful and actually true to experience and the way things are it is only the apparent authority that the labels give that I’m cautious of. I also, as mentioned before, think the explicit inclusion of corporate dimensions is important.

Some may have come across “See, judge, act” as a model for reflection. This has been used a lot in Catholic theological reflection and, as this article shows (about three-quarters of the way down the page), has a lot in common in practice with the pastoral cycle.

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