Lived spirituality: Exploring the richness of inner work

Abstract

This article investigates and documents inner processes which underlie and support my professional life – a living-eduationaltheory based on what I term 'lived spirituality'. Influenced strongly by the work of Rudolf Steiner, this living-educationaltheory is grounded in personal experience tracked through time and the personal knowledge gained over a period of many years. To shine a light on and into this process, I identify past and present influences – theoretical and philosophical – to weave them more strongly into my living-theory. In considering lived spirituality, I outline the benefits which a regular practice of inner work can have; in this I draw on Foucault’s work on the care of the self, parrhesia and askesis. I use Deleuze’s notion of the rhizome as a metaphor to explore this development, linking it to how lived spirituality influences my work and, through this, affects others.

Keywords

• first person research
• meditation
• living theory research
• steiner