This dissertation uses a Zen koan as a foundation for discussing teacher training and development. It suggests that teacher training attends to issues of theory, pedagogy, and technology, and it contends that teacher training and development does not adequately attend to the intrapersonal aspect of teaching. In spite of the use of reflective techniques in teacher education, teachers are not trained in a significant way to navigate, negotiate, or manage the issues of identity, the issues of self-belief, the patterns of thought, and/or the emotional patterns, which affect their teaching and their classrooms. This work looks at research regarding the importance of the intrapersonal aspect of teaching in relation to teacher effectiveness and classroom climate; it considers current practices in pre-service and in-service teacher training; and it reviews research related to the efficacy of mindfulness and contemplative practices, such as meditation. It argues that the intrapersonal aspect of teaching is relevant to teacher effectiveness and classroom climate; that contemplative and mindfulness practices may offer systems that support and sustain teachers as they navigate, negotiate, and manage the intrapersonal aspect of teaching; and that pre-service and in-service professional development may provide vehicles to deliver this training.

This collection of poems concerns contemplative silence, uncertainty, and the relationship between reverence, and constructions of littleness and absence. / Graduate / 10000-01-01

In this thesis I explore writers and their writing practices as embodied, contingent, and affected by aesthetic environments and contemplative practices. I discuss contemplative practices as techniques for recognizing the co-dependent origination of the self/world, and as tools for disrupting the trifurcation of body, mind and word. I explore the written word’s role in the continuous production of new meaning, and as part of the continuous production of new “selves” for writers, and readers. I use narrative auto-ethnography to situate myself as a researcher, sensory ethnography and interviews to profile four practicing writers, and arts-informed Research-creation to document my own writing and contemplative practices. I also consider whether a post-pedagogy view of educational research might produce/allow space for more creative approaches to educational theorizing.

This thesis addresses a major trend (what might be termed a “post-Buddhism”) within contemporary Western Buddhist thinking, and hence practice, emphasising the epistemic, existential and ethical autonomy of self as it engages with the Asian Buddhist traditions. Aligning its enquiry with a corresponding hermeneutic of the Buddha‘s biography in his “second renunciation” (his social-psychological and praxiological relinquishment of the structures of religious authority) it focuses on the work of contemporary Western dharma teachers Stephen Batchelor, David Loy and Alan Clements. Their respective emphases of agnostic doubt, ontological groundlessness, and existential-ethical autonomy are investigated in turn, alongside a corresponding reading of the Buddha‘s praxis prior to his enlightenment. Of interest to academic Buddhist Studies, this analysis introduces potential re-theorisations of the meta-epistemic nature of Buddhist praxis and the phenomenology of self and Buddhist ‘non-self’ as it/they engage with both Buddhist and Derridean deconstructive (contemplative and intellectual) praxis. It also considers a re-contextualisation of Buddhist ethics as it is influenced by the deconstructive and ethical strategies of Derrida and Levinas, as well as a (native but under-explored) Buddhist ‘ethics of non-duality.’ (All of these themes might be seen as more or less implicit also in the work of Western Buddhist theorists such as Roger Jackson, John Makransky, José Ignacio Cabezón, Alan B. Wallace, John Pickering and so on, and their deconstructionist counterparts in John Caputo, Robert Magliola, Steven Laycock, Carl Olson and others.) The thesis concludes with a general theorisation of the newly-inflected models of Buddhist enlightenment, praxiology and ethical engagement that necessarily emerge from such a shift of emphasis: a post-secular, non-hierarchical trans-religious culture of self-determination both within and without tradition. The Buddha‘s enlightenment itself emerges as a heterogeneous culture of human freedoms rather than a form of univocal religious transcendence. Similarly, Batchelor, Loy and Clements’ concerns around authenticity can be seen as productive elements of an evolving model of Buddhism within Western culture: one that in paradoxically grounding itself in ‘groundlessness,’ returns to the meta-religious roots of Gotama Buddha‘s own socio-historic transformation of the (religious and other) conditions of his time. Such a transformation becomes characterised by a greater attention to the contingencies of the unique self and its environment, knowledge-acquisition and its constructed character, justice and ethical ambiguity, and the indeterminacy of normative religious claims.

This thesis addresses a major trend (what might be termed a “post-Buddhism”) within contemporary Western Buddhist thinking, and hence practice, emphasising the epistemic, existential and ethical autonomy of self as it engages with the Asian Buddhist traditions. Aligning its enquiry with a corresponding hermeneutic of the Buddha‘s biography in his “second renunciation” (his social-psychological and praxiological relinquishment of the structures of religious authority) it focuses on the work of contemporary Western dharma teachers Stephen Batchelor, David Loy and Alan Clements. Their respective emphases of agnostic doubt, ontological groundlessness, and existential-ethical autonomy are investigated in turn, alongside a corresponding reading of the Buddha‘s praxis prior to his enlightenment. Of interest to academic Buddhist Studies, this analysis introduces potential re-theorisations of the meta-epistemic nature of Buddhist praxis and the phenomenology of self and Buddhist ‘non-self’ as it/they engage with both Buddhist and Derridean deconstructive (contemplative and intellectual) praxis. It also considers a re-contextualisation of Buddhist ethics as it is influenced by the deconstructive and ethical strategies of Derrida and Levinas, as well as a (native but under-explored) Buddhist ‘ethics of non-duality.’ (All of these themes might be seen as more or less implicit also in the work of Western Buddhist theorists such as Roger Jackson, John Makransky, José Ignacio Cabezón, Alan B. Wallace, John Pickering and so on, and their deconstructionist counterparts in John Caputo, Robert Magliola, Steven Laycock, Carl Olson and others.) The thesis concludes with a general theorisation of the newly-inflected models of Buddhist enlightenment, praxiology and ethical engagement that necessarily emerge from such a shift of emphasis: a post-secular, non-hierarchical trans-religious culture of self-determination both within and without tradition. The Buddha‘s enlightenment itself emerges as a heterogeneous culture of human freedoms rather than a form of univocal religious transcendence. Similarly, Batchelor, Loy and Clements’ concerns around authenticity can be seen as productive elements of an evolving model of Buddhism within Western culture: one that in paradoxically grounding itself in ‘groundlessness,’ returns to the meta-religious roots of Gotama Buddha‘s own socio-historic transformation of the (religious and other) conditions of his time. Such a transformation becomes characterised by a greater attention to the contingencies of the unique self and its environment, knowledge-acquisition and its constructed character, justice and ethical ambiguity, and the indeterminacy of normative religious claims.

This study explores the similar and different developmental influences that shape the practice of beginning and advanced spiritual directors. An examination of the contemporary literature on spiritual direction finds that in the main, two developmental influences shape the practice of contemporary spiritual directors: their capacity to adopt a contemplative stance towards their directees and their ability to be aware contextually of the factors that fashion the dynamic of accompaniment. While the review highlights the presence of these two influences, the literature is deficient in understanding the similarities and differences in how these two influences shape the practice of beginning and advanced spiritual directors. To address the deficiency, this study reviews three groups of Western Australian spiritual directors, Anglican, Churches of Christ and Roman Catholic. The investigation takes a qualitative, ethnographic approach, using focus groups. An analysis and discussion of the data confirms that the similarities and differences in the influences that shape their practice revolve around two key developmental influences namely, the capacity of directors to adopt a contemplative stance to their directees, and their ability to be aware contextually of the factors that fashion the dynamic of accompaniment. While both influences shape beginning and advanced directors, the former impacts more on the practice of beginning directors and the latter more affects advanced directors. Two factors may initiate and sustain the capacity of directors to adopt a contemplative stance. First, directors grow by noticing and attending to all the dimensions of their human experience. Second, directors develop by having their experience attended to in some form of therapeutic relationship or through participation in various developmental group processes. Directors may enhance their capacity to be aware contextually of the factors that fashion the dynamic of accompaniment through understanding paradigms about spiritual direction practice and spiritual development. Their appreciation of paradigms about spiritual direction may derive from two sources. The first is by how they distinguish more effectively spiritual direction from other therapeutic practices. The second is by how they grow in understanding relevant theological, philosophical, and psychological perspectives that inform good practice. Directors may further increase their comprehension of interpretive frameworks about spiritual development by redressing the attitudinal effects of fundamentalism and incorporating a multiplicity of approaches to spirituality. Training programmes are an important means to introduce and develop directors’ abilities to be aware contextually of the factors that fashion the dynamic of accompaniment. A person’s ecclesial role may influence the context in which a director commences practice. From this discussion, this study draws conclusions and offers recommendations applicable to practice and research.

This thesis explores the relationships and experiences that young adults have with and within complicated and always changing new media environments, such as those afforded by social media platforms and mobile media applications. By analyzing the ways in which digital realms are both open and interconnected and also marketized and restricted, this thesis explores how a contemplative approach to new media literacy pedagogy could help young adults to perceive new media from multiple, contradictory viewpoints at once, thereby supporting them in creating healthy, productive, creative, and imaginative relationships with the digital and public technologies mediating their lives, at the same time mitigating the challenges associated with commercialized, habituated new media experience. This thesis takes an auto-ethnographic approach, merging personal narratives with qualitative interpretations of where philosophies of technology, theories of media literacies, and the results of focus group studies intersect.

The purpose of this study is to investigate ritual in order to establish an intimacy between architecture and its users. The lithurgy of the Roman Catholic Church is used as a point of departure, but the study is especially concerned with personal secular ritual. The intervention will function as an urban retreat. It consists of a series of contemplative spaces that facilitate a spiritual journey. The Retreat is based on ideas surrounding the traditional Roman Catholic Convent, which informed the accommodation schedule to a great extend. The study recognizes the new approach of the Roman Catholic Religion, which entails a holistic ministry that plays an increasingly critical and social role. The Retreat will therefore function as a base for religious and social organizations to work from in the inner-city of Pretoria. The retreat will also offer limited social facilities such as counselling and seminar rooms. The site is situated in the inner-city of Pretoria, in the block directly north-east of Church Square. The site consists of two properties: the northern consists of the National Library of South Africa (NLSA), with the southern being a pan-handle erf that functions as a service courtyard for commercial ventures on Church Street. The Noordvaal thoroughfare runs parallel to the site on its western edge, linking Church and Vermeulen Streets. The site exists unnoticed by pedestrians using the arcade, because of a boundary wall. Of further importance is the 2,8 m slope of the site from south to north over a distance of 140 m. The project directly addresses urban issues as well as spatial and emotional ones. The intervention is seen as part of a process of architectural proliferation. It takes the existing fabric and current conditions and rather than replacing them, creates a synthesis of elements so as to evolve a new urban condition; i.e. how to grow a piece of city rather than how you build it. Design decisions were influenced by Pallasmaa's ideas on fragile architecture: it is concerned with real sensory interaction instead of conceptual manifestations. Problems and opportunities are identified on a small scale and the response is focussed on these: it is an architecture that grows and opens up. / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Architecture / unrestricted

This paper looks at the correlation between creativity and the spiritual path by comparing contemplative practices to creative ones. By looking at sitting meditation as it’s practiced in the Buddhist lineage and paralleling it with creative writing practices, we can see how each cultivates a similar mental space. This paper explores key factors that differentiate each practice and its desired goal, while also looking at things that make them similar. Each practice uses certain parts of the brain resulting in corresponding experiences happening at varying stages. I discuss the lead into meditative states by incorporating both ancient and modern perspectives. The discussion around meditative and creative states is further contextualized with an analysis of flow states, and cultural impacts. Both practices transmute experience into something else. In creativity this takes the full scope of human emotion and experience and turns it into art. In meditation this is done through assessing and releasing karmic accretions. I also discuss the creative impulse and how it mirrors the meditator’s desire for liberation. By contextualizing both practices I argue, creativity is a spiritual process and spirituality in turn requires a certain level of creativity.

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