The Place of Practice in Contemplative Pedagogy and Writing

Contemplative pedagogy, part of the broader field of Contemplative Studies, is characterized by practice commitment, critical subjectivity, and character development. This paper applies these three characteristics to describe and define a 'contemplative course' and 'contemplative writing,' using the author's general education course 'Curiosity, Playfulness, Creativity' as an example. The author discusses how these characteristics shaped the course's design and students' writing assignments. The paper suggests that educators across disciplines can use these principles to create contemplative courses that harness the transformative potential of contemplative traditions.

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Abstract

Contemplative pedagogy is part of the larger emerging field of Contemplative Studies. Louis Komjathy (2018) has observed three characteristics shared by various aspects of Contemplative Studies: practice commitment, critical subjectivity, and character development. This paper uses these three characteristics to describe and define a “contemplative course” and “contemplative writing.” First, this paper describes a contemplative approach to the development of the General Education course “Curiosity, Playfulness, Creativity” in terms of the author’s practice commitment, critical subjectivity, and character development. Second, the paper discusses these three characteristics as they apply to students’ contemplative writing experiences and assignments in that course. These notes on theory and practice may provide inspiration for educators across disciplines to craft contextinformed contemplative courses and experiences that tap into the radical, transformative power of contemplative traditions.