Following Contemplative Education Students’ Transformation Through Their “Ground-of-Being” Experiences

Abstract

This article examines a recurring phenomenon in students' experience of contemplation in contemplative and transformative education. This ground-of-being phenomenon, which has been reported by students in higher and adult education settings, is a formative aspect of the positive changes they reported. It is examined here to highlight the ways in which the depth of felt or precognitive meaning that can occur in contemplative education impacts these changes. The subtlety and range of contemplative experience is described through the ground-of-being experience as a means to support the call from contemplative and transformative education theorists for pedagogies that include the subjective and contemplative.

A Contemplative Approach to Graduate Writing Development: Reflections from Thai Writing Classrooms

“…The increasing trendiness of contemplation in the field of education has not only been motivated by efforts toward a more socially just and caring society, it is also driven by research that suggests benefits for university teaching, learning, and scholarship (Barbezat & Bush, 2014). For example, evidence suggests that contemplative approaches have positive effects on students' metacognitive development, effective communication, deep learning and critical reflection of the subject studied, and inner growth (Borker, 2013;Morgan, 2012;Nuangchalerm & Prachagool, 2010 There has been growing interest in applying contemplative principles to the teaching and learning of student writing, as evidenced by recent calls for papers in scholarly journals (Miller & Bhattacharya, 2017), the formation of special interest groups (NCTE, 2017), and the growing number of published books, blog posts, and articles (Barbezat & Bush, 2014;Burton, 2016;Davis, 2004;Jones, 2016;Simmer-Brown, 2016;Wenger, 2015). This interest had been taken up in popular books on writing such as Anne Lamott's (1995) Bird by Bird and Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones which both engage its spiritual dimensions.…”

Contemplative Education

“…With presencing, there is an openness and ambiguity to the present moment for a group that can lead to creative insight. Morgan (2012) refers to Gunnlaugson's work in her paper on ground-of-being experiences. Morgan conducted a study of student contemplative experiences, where students ''experienced a place' they could inhabit, which gave them a sense of stability or grounding'' (p.43).…”

“…Morgan (2012) in her study of ground-of-being experiences used phenomenology and yogic understanding as her primary methodologies. She writes that phenomenology as the study of first-person experiences is ''particularly useful in this examination of subjective contemplative experience in education.…”

Transference and the Gateless Barrier: A Relational Approach to Contemplative Education

“…Since the turn of the millennium, contemplative traditions have vigorously reengaged with discourses and practices of transformative education (Duerr, Zajonc, & Dana, 2003; Morgan, 2015). Mindfulness meditation and yoga, among other contemplative practices, are seen to resonate with the basic tenets of transformative pedagogies as they emphasize the educational role of experiences that alter the perception of reality—how we know and give meaning to our existence (Byrnes, 2012; Morgan, 2012). In particular, contemplative approaches have resonated with the holistic view of understanding transformative experiences in learning.…”

“…Whereas transformative learning in the Mezirowian view takes place when one’s “frame of reference”—attitudes, thoughts—is changed through critical self-reflection (Mezirow, 1997), holistic approaches accentuate the emotional and extrarational processes of personal transformation (see, e.g., Dirkx, 1997; Taylor, 2000). It is often stated that contemplative training changes not only one’s own habits of mind and points of view but also nurtures deep empathy and existential fulfilment (Morgan, 2012).…”