The JCS Editors are excited to announce Special Issue #07: Micro-Phenomenology, Heart Openings, and Contemplative Practice with guest editors Christian Suhr and Martijn van Beek.
In recent years, micro-phenomenological interviews have been used across a range of disciplines to understand the rich textures of human experience, providing exceptionally detailed and precise descriptions. In this volume we explore how micro-phenomenology can contribute to the study of contemplative and religious experience, especially its affective dimensions such as love and other qualities related to the heart. The articles provide insights into how the process of micro-phenomenological research can be meaningful and valuable for researchers as well as for practitioners by increasing awareness of subtle and often unrecognized micro-gestures involved in contemplative practice. Such gestures may facilitate a softening or an expansion of the experiential qualities that are associated with the heart. They may also hinder or reverse openings of the heart. Individual contributions to this volume include explorations of everyday, ordinary experiences as well as extraordinary or peak experiences that may have a transformative effect for practitioners. The articles also offer methodological reflections that show how micro-phenomenological analysis can be conducted and communicated in different media such as text and film and how the method can be combined with other qualitative methods such as life story interviews and participant observation. Finally, we explore challenges, complexities, and ethical considerations that emerge when conducting this kind of research.
Articles:
Christian Suhr, Aarhus University
Light Flowing from the Heart: How Micro-Phenomenological Interviews and Audiovisual Media Can Be Applied to Describe Religious Experience
Renee Ford, Rice University
I Feel Different: Affect in Contemplative Practices Expressed in Micro-Phenomenology-Inspired Interviews and Considerations
Kenni Eilert, Aarhus University
I Invite You to Identify a Concrete Moment: Noticing With-ness in Micro-Phenomenological Interviews
Hanne Bess Boelsbjerg, Aarhus University
Feeling Christ: Echoes of Transformative Experiences in Everyday Contemplative Practices of Lutheran Priests in Denmark
Martijn van Beek, Aarhus University
On the Edge of Awareness: Micro-gestures and Effortlessness in Dzogchen Meditation
Clarie Petitmengin, Institut Mines-Télécom
The Subtilization of Experience in Contemplative and Micro-Phenomenological Practices
Anne C. Klein, Rice University
Discussion
