I’m reading a book called ‘Gut Feelings’ at the moment. An enjoyable read by Gerd Gigerenzer. I find it interesting that in my first couple of chapters there is no mention of the body. There is lots of mention of a certain organ in the body; that is, the brain. So, how does he define ‘gut feelings’? He uses ‘gut feeling,’ ‘intuition’ and ‘hunch’ interchangeably (p.16) “to refer to a judgment

  1. that appears quickly in consciousness,
  2. whose underlying reasons we are not fully aware of, and
  3. is strong enough to act upon.”

This is pretty good, and there are lots of good cognitive psych stories in the book, good experiments, supporting the theory that much that is important about us and our decision-making goes on out of sight. However, I thought, “Can this be, that he doesn’t know about Gendlin’s ‘felt sense’ and that he doesn’t include the body below the neck in this ‘intuition’ field?” I’ll read on and let you know, but when I go to the index, there is no entry for ‘body.’ (And no mention of Gendlin anywhere.)

This is strange to me, especially when in other places I’ve read of the discovery of ‘brain’ cells in the heart and in the stomach; in other words, in the gut. But most of all, because mindfulness of the body produces a direct realisation of the role of the body below the neck in intuitive life.