Writing, Inner Speech, and Meditation
James Moffett
College English March 1, 1982 DOI: 10.2307/377011 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Education |
| Key points | Argues that writing, meditation, and inner speech are interrelated, and that writing in its highest sense is authentic authoring: working up a final revision, for an audience and purpose, of thought forms that have surfaced to the realm of inner speech. Proposes that this three-way relationship can illuminate old educational goals and identify new ones. |
Abstract
Writing and meditating are naturally allied activities. Both are important for their own sake, and through each people can practice the other. Relating the two by means of a bridging concept, that of inner speech, brings out aspects of all three that can illuminate old educational goals and identify new ones. To work with this three-way interrelationship, we must construe writing in its highest sensebeyond copying and transcribing, paraphrasing and plagiarizing-as authentic authoring, because inner speech and meditation concern forms of thought, the composing of mind that constitutes the real art and worth of writing. Authoring is working up a final revision, for an audience and a purpose, of those thought forms that have surfaced to the realm of inner speech.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 2
- Writing Yogis: Breathing Our Way to Mindfulness and Balance in Embodied Writing Pedagogy Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning 2012
- ‘The Most Peaceful I Ever Felt Writing’: A Contemplative Approach to Essay Revision Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning 2017