#31: Defining The Final Chapter

It’s been lovely to have these past few weeks to reflect, take a tutorial, work on some reflective exercises and do some research. I feel like I’ve managed to get a good amount of perspective on the work I’ve done over the summer.

Triangulation

My tutorial with Liz provided me with some useful techniques for reflection. I started by creating a sprawling mind map of all the elements that have emerged as being most important for me in the project.

I capitalised and highlighted all the key terms that seemed crucial. Then using Liz’s technique of triangulation I researched three definitions of the word before settling on my own definition. I did this for 13 words, here are a few of them.

This exercise was really eye opening for me, by looking in to the background of the meaning of each word I opened up many interesting perspectives. For example I realised that a definition of the word ‘magic’ is “The power to influence” this helped me to make an interesting connection between magic and art, I can now think of the two words as being synonymous. The more I did this the more I found ideas and connections that resonated, these many little discoveries deepened my understanding of my subject matter and strengthened my convictions about the work I am doing.

My research into the professional contexts for each word brought up new and interesting writers such as Gabor Mate who brought new depths to some of my terms. I was also able to make an interesting re-discovery of the concept of Eudaimonia, which strengthened my understanding of what I mean when I use the word ‘wellbeing’.

Once I had triangulated all of the key terms I managed to make a simplified mind map of the project, it also works as a rough description of the process that I am looking to take people through:

The last question

I am aware that it is now important for me to settle upon a research question to frame the final stages of my project. To this end I keep coming back to the concept of ‘The Sacred’. Influenced by the ideas of Mircea Eliade, Robert Moore and Jamie Wheal, I define the sacred as the feeling that one is meaningfully connected to the present moment, in which they are witnessing a space or an idea that can act as a ‘centre’ which reinforces their values regarding who they are. From this ‘centre’ or ‘sacred space’ they are then able to orientate themselves in the world, to act in alignment with their values and in accordance with the person they wish to be.

“[The sacred is] not a belief in God, but belief in some kind of regenerative power that could be tapped into for personal and social regeneration” – Robert Moore

It seems to me that this experience of sacred space was an important feature present in our evolution as a species but it is something we have lost as our species entered modernity and continues to move away from traditional religious traditions. I believe this diminishment of the sacred in society is fuelling the current ‘crisis of meaning’ and contributing to the mental health pandemic present across the western world. I would like my work to explore how I can provide an opportunity for people to experience the sacred within a secular context. This is the current draft for my final research question:

How can I help people to foster a sense of the sacred in order to improve their wellbeing?

Next Steps

There are a few things I would like to work on over the next few weeks:

• Conduct a Meaning-Making Print Workshop – To be held with a group of young carers, this will be a chance to work more closely with people who may be in need of a meaningful experience. We will use print making to explore the power of symbols.
• Final StoryChapel intervention – I would like to stage one more intervention in order to test the concept of ‘Meaningful Storytelling’. I would also like to gather some more focussed feedback on the StoryChapel from professional stakeholders.
• Stakeholder interview – I will contact Pete Target, an expert stakeholder who specialises in strategy and fundraising for the arts, and organise a meeting to talk about a plan on how to fund and develop the project into 2023.
• Write an Arts Council funding application for next year