Transpersonal Research Methods

Okay, so that sounds like a pretty boring topic. I was not thrilled when I learned that this was a required course for me in this semester at BC. What I've discovered, however, is that it is anything but boring. It's not about quantitative research, which (sorry Eileen) is about as approachable for me as economics (and yes, I need to learn more about both).

I have been interested to read about ways of knowing and researching that are more intuitive, more story driven, and more empowering to those people who are often left without voice. Braud and Anderson describe many different models of transpersonal research and I've just begun to explore them. This morning I have been reading about "Integral Inquiry," which honors empirical research methods and expands upon them with a continuum of possibilities in the realm of research. Although I certainly value the empirical methods and look for such validity in the study that I undertake, I appreciate the effort to recognize, value, and incorporate other means of learning and becoming wiser.

Just a couple of quotes that have leapt out at me this morning:

Evelyn Underhill, a researcher from 1915 is quoted as saying, "Wisdom is the fruit of communion; ignorance is the inevitable portion of those who 'keep themselves to themselves,' and stand apart, judging, analyzing the things which they have never truly known."

I recognize Luke, Katie, and Chris in this quote. They didn't want to just study Thai culture or the nature and geography of Thailand. In their desire to learn about the culture, they recognized the need to be there, to live within, not just to visit as a tourist. I honor their way of knowing.

Jonas Salk also describes his ability, his need, to immerse himself into the being of what he was studying. "Very early in my life I would imagine myself in the position of the object in which I was interested. Later, when I became a scientist, I would picture myself as a virus, or cancer cell, for example, to try to sense what it would be like to be either."

The point is that these forms of research can and should be complementary, not competitive. They are the yin and the yang of human ways of knowing, and they belong together. Braud and Anderson use the idea of complementary conjugates, pointing out that "the root of conjugate implies playing together" (Braud, Anderson, 1998, p. 42). We needn't fear other ways of knowing, or of being.