Friday 8 February 2013

Friday Musings

Hello to all my fellow MAPPers and hurrah to the Module Ones who finally made it!  It was a shame that I wasn't able to meet you all in person at the induction last week - I love the feeling of being embodied, present and connected to people on the course and would have enjoyed very much  the flow of discussions.  However this is a good forum and its great to read some of the musings of those of us who are about to embark on Module Two.  I have been musing and reflecting on the hand book too which was great and I am glad that I have done so (still a little bit to finish reading  the handbook as I'm taking my time to digest it).  I admit that before Module Two I wanted to have a sneak preview online but forced myself not too because a) I would have freaked myself out with the amount of work to do and b) I wanted to wait for the hardcopy that I could carry with me in my bag and read at intervals c) I didn't want to preempt the research tools and body of work to do around it with a project idea already developed that would not fit. 

I realise now after reading the handbook that I hade some preconceived notions and ideas for how to proceed with module two but have been stalled which is a good thing and my thoughts and feelings now have changed around how to approach it.  In a way by having a ready made research project idea would have limited effect of the outcome for my idea and my thoughts now are asking myself what it is I would really like to delve into – what is my real inquiry especially with this new epistemology of experience highlighted in the handbook and my own understanding and interpretation of it all.

Admittedly I took some deep breaths and found myself commenting whilst reading that for every new idea and theory around ‘dualism’, ‘moneism’ and the different bodies of knowledge and experiences etc I read I would need to delve even further to establish a personal standpoint. What the handbook presented was a very thin layer of an otherwise dense and multifaceted area of research to explore. In some ways I embrace it but without feeling overwhelmed!  For me to think about this new approach would be to look at the research ideas as there are lots of different approaches and ways of seeing and knowing much in the same way as looking at a coin say for example a 50 pence piece but viewing it from different sides.  The coin is still pretty much the same but from the viewpoint of many different sides that make up a 50p piece.

Well I had better crack on with the reading! Have a good Friday!