Abstract
Personal Spiritual Inquiry (PSI) in a post-traumatic existence creates a dialectical complexity between the past and the present – living in the moment while reliving the past. However, the ability to recover the past in trauma is paradoxically entwined with the inability to gain access. In order to access trauma memory, a process of PSI, rooted in Buddhist thinking, creates contact with these memories while focusing deeply on what Joseph Goldstein calls, “wise investigations.” The intersection of these paradigms that organize my research’s PSI resides in meditative practice, digital media production, and a post-traumatic existence with the illness, Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). French philosopher Gaston Bachelard’s theoretical thinking influences this investigation by mapping a connection between phenomenology and architecture. In the seminal text, The Poetics of Space, Bachelard claimed the house to be “the greatest power of integration for the thoughts, memories and dreams of mankind.” Through the lens of Bachelard’s thinking, illness experience becomes represented by the image of the house as a signifier of decay, and the house as a signifier of a cocoon. The PSI framework of this research recalls trauma memory while creatively assigning metaphorical thinking to the emotional and spiritual journey of illness experience. As a conduit for spiritual growth, the creative rendering of this research is an experimental documentary entitled, The Structure of Illness Space, which achieves new knowledge involving Personal Spiritual Inquiry practice while simultaneously performing as artistic expression in healing from illness trauma.
Presenters
Nicholas Quin SerenatiAssistant Professor / Director of Television, Communication, School of Creative Arts & Letters, Flagler College, Florida, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Personal Spiritual Inquiry, Wise Investigation, Post-Traumatic, Illness Experience, House
Digital Media
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