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UID:news860@zasb.unibas.ch
DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20200811T102144
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20190320T161500
SUMMARY:Paula Pryce: “Silence of Being”: Performative Knowledge and Unk
nowing as Agents of Perceptual Change in Contemplative Christian Ritual
DESCRIPTION:Silence\, meditation\, chant . . . traffic jams? One teacher
in my ethnographic research among a global network of inter-religious Ch
ristian contemplatives said\, “Commuter traffic\, like silent meditatio
n\, is an invitation to the contemplative life.” Though most set asid
e special periods each day for formalized ritual and silence\, these cont
emplative practitioners of a meditation technique called Centering Prayer
also approach ordinary activities as “prayer without ceasing.” M
onastic and non-monastic\, religiously affiliated and independent\, diver
se members of the Centering Prayer network understand the “inner gestur
es” of meditation to be a way of cultivating a “silence of being” t
hat can permeate all aspects of life\, even in the uncertain\, bustling s
pheres of their pluralized worlds. Drawing from more than ten years of
ethnographic research in North America and on pilgrimages to India\, Ital
y\, and Israel/Palestine\, this paper describes how members of this globa
l movement intentionally foster “unknowing”\, a ritualized form of am
biguity\, alongside intellectual knowledge and social activism in an effo
rt to work toward a phenomenological transformation of consciousness in a
ny context\, whether acoustically still or not. Here\, I will introduce
the terms\, apophasis (ambiguous\, contemplative “inner gestures”) an
d cataphasis (observable action)\, to the anthropological study of ritual
and silence to help us understand how everyday behaviours can become act
s of contemplation when addressed with intentionality and discipline. \\r
\\nDr. Paula Pryce is a lecturer and research associate at the University
of British Columbia in Vancouver\, Canada. She is the author of The Monk
’s Cell: Ritual and Knowledge in American Contemplative Christianity (Ox
ford University Press\, 2018) and “Keeping the Lakes’ Way”: Reburi
al and the Re-Creation of a Moral World among an Invisible People (Univers
ity of Toronto Press\, 1999).
X-ALT-DESC:Silence\, meditation\, chant . . . traffic jams? \;
One teacher in my ethnographic research among a global network of inter-r
eligious Christian contemplatives said\, “Commuter traffic\, like silen
t meditation\, is an invitation to the contemplative life.” \; Thoug
h most set aside special periods each day for formalized ritual and sile
nce\, these contemplative practitioners of a meditation technique called
Centering Prayer also approach ordinary activities as “prayer without c
easing.” \; \; Monastic and non-monastic\, religiously affiliate
d and independent\, diverse members of the Centering Prayer network unde
rstand the “inner gestures” of meditation to be a way of cultivating
a “silence of being” that can permeate all aspects of life\, even in t
he uncertain\, bustling spheres of their pluralized worlds. \; Drawin
g from more than ten years of ethnographic research in North America and
on pilgrimages to India\, Italy\, and Israel/Palestine\, this paper descr
ibes how members of this global movement intentionally foster “unknowin
g”\, a ritualized form of ambiguity\, alongside intellectual knowledge
and social activism in an effort to work toward a phenomenological trans
formation of consciousness in any context\, whether acoustically still or
not. \; Here\, I will introduce the terms\, apophasis (
ambiguous\, contemplative “inner gestures”) and cataphasis (observable action)\, to the anthropological study of ritual and silen
ce to help us understand how everyday behaviours can become acts of cont
emplation when addressed with intentionality and discipline. \nDr. Paul
a Pryce is a lecturer and research associate at the University of Brit
ish Columbia in Vancouver\, Canada. \; She is the author of The Mon
k’s Cell: Ritual and Knowledge in American Contemplative Christianity (Oxford University Press\, 2018) \; and “Keeping the Lakes’ W
ay”: Reburial and the Re-Creation of a Moral World among an Invisible Pe
ople (University of Toronto Press\, 1999).
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20190320T180000
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