| This dissertation is a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary study using the juxtapositions of East to West, ancient to contemporary, and masculine to feminine, for the purpose of showing embodied movement toward wisdom. It aims to show the translation of a philosophy of transformative learning into praxis through reflection and the creative process of narrative. Put more simply, it explores the relationship of stories within and as mirrors of themselves. It makes use of the disciplines of religion and philosophy, education, feminist thought, and creative writing.;From Borobudur, the largest Buddhist monument in the world, on the island of Java to the medieval cathedral of Chartres in France, this spiritual autobiography is an adventure story of a journey through the realms of sacred narrative, sacred art and architecture and personal experience. The Flower Ornament Sutra containing the story of Sudhana searching for teachers throughout the Gandavyuha, life and death in a Zen AIDS hospice, a pilgrimage to Notre Dame and the churches of Paris looking for feminine Christian roots, all these are explored with the chosen method of self-reflective narrative. Other ways of knowing and representation are applied as well, including dreams, literature and photography. |
