On sacred ground: A qualitative exploration of the journey of self discovery

Background. The quest for the meaning and purpose of life has been ongoing since the beginning of mankind. The search is reflected in the philosophical foundations of both qualitative research and professional counseling. Studies have shown that the spiritual beliefs and practices of client and counselor can play a crucial role in the outcome of therapy. If the old counseling axiom is true, that one cannot guide another beyond one's own level of growth, then in order to help clients along the path of self-discovery, counselors need to embark on this journey themselves.; Purpose. The purpose of this philosophic-interpretive inquiry is to explore the universal human experience of self-discovery.; Objective. The objective is to develop a rich and holistic description of the journey.; Methods. In order to create a multi-layered analysis with a multiperspectival view, I used an integrative research design that was interlaced throughout the paper, making liberal use of the dialectic and of metaphor. The threads of this methodological fabric include the heuristic, the autoethnographic, and the hermeneutic/interpretive; they are both grounded and expanded by the dialogic, the dialectic, and the aesthetic: the warp and weft of the material. These threads are woven within the contextuality of postexperimentalism and performance text.; Participants. The participants in this study include five spiritual teachers, six graduate students in Counselor Education, the researcher, the co-researcher, and the audience.; Findings and conclusions. There are none; for the ending is the beginning; the destination is the journey; and the participants' voices speak for themselves. Such is the dance of the dialectic.