Resourcing Metanoia

I figured our my thesis question, made a preliminary bibliography and created an outline.

I hope this is the right direction to take. I really like being in school and learning new things. As I make decisions about what to focus on I have to let go of other ideas and some sadness follows. It is as if I will never have the opportunity to see the other ideas through to and end. I am not sure if that is true but I am aware of being closer to my own death each day.

It is part of my consciousness.

There is part of me that wishes I would do a thesis on the Ceiba tree, alas, here is what I came up with.

Resourcing Metanoia

Édmond Glissant, Martin Buber, Bill Bowen, and Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen engage us the threshold between self and other. What invitation do the authors share and what can the Western Oxidant foster by answering the call?

A caterpillar in its chrysalis, an island surrounded by sea and the Ceiba tree moving through seasons hold us at a similar threshold. They beautifully suspend us at a moment of resolution and surrender; a passing through, a transfiguration, while miraculously remaining whole.

The embodied artist, poet, writer and ethnographer is resourced and fluid at this threshold. They are willing to stand on the edge of their own unknowing to receive unimagined answers. They consent to being moved, changed, impacted and informed by their creative process; mind and body eager, receptive, porous, extending outward. They are not concerned with loss or death. Those standing on the edge of their own unknowing manage to remain open through discomfort and vulnerability, so a new truth can emerge.

This thesis points to a new way or perhaps a remembered way of having an undefended resourced conversation with self and other so a true diversity is possible. Imagine sitting across from someone who does not share your world view and threatens your sense of safety. You are tasked with finding a mutually satisfying resolution to a problem. What can the artist, writer, poet ethnographer, caterpillar, island and ceiba tree remind us about ourselves to more robustly meet the invitation? What might be possible?

If we answer Édmond Glissant, Martin Buber, Bill Bowen, and Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen’s invitation one needs to inhabit the body in a different way to manage the impulse to protect and stay closed when giving and receiving during an encounter. Words spoken are often subverted by the body looking for safety. It is necessary to resource the body, particularly around the chest and heart, to remember wholeness and convey a willingness to know and be known.

This thesis paper will primarily explore the writings of Glissant, Buber, Bowen and Bainbridge Cohen. Poetry and supporting text will be added. I am considering adding a story about my own encounter with a Ceiba tree to provide an example of one answer to the questions posed.