Narrative and the Paradoxical Ethos of Contemplative Inquiry

This chapter argues that contemplative methodology in education is not a set of techniques but a narrative and aesthetic presence rooted in first-person inquiry. It contends that the dominant third-person voice of academic research creates a methodological divide, which can be reconciled through Bruner's concept of verisimilitude and Van Manen's phenomenological pedagogy. The author explores this through the lens of contemplative studies, drawing on Walsh and Bai's artful reflections on method and Ergas' spiritual research paradigm. The chapter proposes that story is central to contemplative method, demonstrated through the author's own narrative retellings.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The field of contemplative studies honours self-reflection in inquiry; and narrative and introspection, seed a symbiotic terrain. But while the land of the contemplative flourishes in the first person, its methodological discourse is complicated by the presence of the third person voice dominating academic research. How do we describe a contemplative methodology as a narrative/aesthetical presence; and one which stands apart from the discourse of method as technique associated with the dualism of researcher/subject of research informing scientific method? To begin to reconcile this methodological divide is the intent of the chapter and explored through the lens of contemplative studies in education; in particular Walsh and Bai's artful reflections upon method and Ergas’ kindred philosophical reflections upon the project of a spiritual research paradigm. The chapter ponders that while a contemplative methodology is uniquely personal and of one's own making; its seeming paradox is reconciled when examined through Bruner's notion of verisimilitude in inquiry and Van Manen's phenomenological approach to pedagogy. Extending Bruner's observation the chapter explores how story is core to the character of a contemplative method, not as technique, but as a presence; and one which is explored through the writer's own narrative retellings.