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.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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