Morgan, Patricia (University of New South Wales, Australia)
The “feeling nexus”: an internal mechanism of change in contemplative education
This presentation examines a proposed internal mechanism of transformation that is engaged through contemplative practices such as mindfulness. I developed this model in my recently completed PhD and titled it the “feeling nexus”. It arises, I believe, in an inner space mediated by a witness consciousness where the somatic, affective, cognitive and transcendent modes of being can merge. The feeling nexus is “felt” in mindful contemplative states when these aspects combine simultaneously, though the measure of each varies from experience to experience. Until recently, the subjective contemplative state, in which the feeling nexus can be experienced, has been absent from mainstream theories of learning. This is currently being revised in the emerging field of contemplative education, though pedagogues and theorists in this area generally focus on physical or psychological outcomes. However, some do engage with realms beyond the physical, often employing phenomenology as I did, but none that I am aware of have developed theoretical propositions for underlying systemic mechanisms of transformation such as the feeling nexus. My intention in this presentation is to provide an overview of this model of change, which I believe is an important addition to ontologies of consciousness in contemplative education theory.
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The “feeling nexus”: an internal mechanism of change in contemplative education
This presentation examines a proposed internal mechanism of transformation that is engaged through contemplative practices such as mindfulness. I developed this model in my recently completed PhD and titled it the “feeling nexus”. It arises, I believe, in an inner space mediated by a witness consciousness where the somatic, affective, cognitive and transcendent modes of being can merge. The feeling nexus is “felt” in mindful contemplative states when these aspects combine simultaneously, though the measure of each varies from experience to experience. Until recently, the subjective contemplative state, in which the feeling nexus can be experienced, has been absent from mainstream theories of learning. This is currently being revised in the emerging field of contemplative education, though pedagogues and theorists in this area generally focus on physical or psychological outcomes. However, some do engage with realms beyond the physical, often employing phenomenology as I did, but none that I am aware of have developed theoretical propositions for underlying systemic mechanisms of transformation such as the feeling nexus. My intention in this presentation is to provide an overview of this model of change, which I believe is an important addition to ontologies of consciousness in contemplative education theory.
Download Presentation