Reflections on the heuristic power of Contemplative Art in teaching and research

Authors

Patricia Morgan, University of New South Wales (UNSW)Follow

Publication Date

5-1-2023

Abstract

In this article I discuss the heuristic power of combining contemplative and creative practices using different stages of my research into learning through contemplation. This began with a realisation I had, in my first meditation retreat, about the similarities between creative and contemplative consciousness. It initiated twenty-three years of applied and theoretical research that started with contemplative art workshops I ran in rehabilitation centres. In PhD research that followed I tested a hypothesis of learning through contemplation founded on the concept of an elemental ground of learning that contained an integrating force I termed the feeling nexus. In later research examining the egress of meaning where practitioners return from contemplation, I discovered that art-making can act as a bridge between pre-conceptual knowing and cognitive assimilation of that knowledge. Recently I created the Meditative Process Art (MPA) method that engages the heuristic power of combining creative and contemplative practices.

Recommended Citation

Morgan, Patricia (2023) "Reflections on the heuristic power of Contemplative Art in teaching and research," Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education: Vol. 1: Iss. 2, Article 2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25035/jche.01.02.02
Available at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/jche/vol1/iss2/2