Planetary Consciousness, Witnessing the Inhuman, and Transformative Learning: Insights from Peace Pilgrimage Oral Histories and Autoethnographies

Journal Title: Religions - Year 2018, Vol 9, Issue 5

Abstract

This article describes insights and consciousness transformations reported in several contemporary peace pilgrimage oral histories and autoethnographies, including my own. Autoethnography is a form of autobiographical writing that stresses the interpretation of experiences in their psychosocial, cultural, and historical contexts. Peace pilgrimages are typically self-defined journeys and projects which may be inward and metaphorical, or which may involve actual travel to destinations that memorialize historical events of mass killing and profound suffering, and places that envision, cultivate and educate for global or inner peace. The insights and learnings include (a) the call to journey and other out-of-the-ordinary communications; (b) understanding the transformative learning process; (c) glimpsing the meaning of planetary consciousness; and (d) bearing witness to the inhuman. These paradigmatic themes may be applicable to one’s personal search for meaning, and as signposts for collective, societal healing from psychic and social wounding and traumas. The themes may be useful for educators and researchers in peace studies, religious studies, history, biography, philosophy, psychology and consciousness studies.

Authors and Affiliations

Roy Tamashiro

Keywords

Related Articles

Eastern Orthodox Christianity and the Uses of the Past in Contemporary Greece

The article examines the use of Orthodox Christianity in the debates over the cultural heritage of contemporary Greece. Since the birth of modern Greece, Orthodox Christianity has been used as one of the foundational c...

Acknowledgement to Reviewers of Religions in 2014

The editors of Religions would like to express their sincere gratitude to the following reviewers for assessing manuscripts in 2014: Acevedo, Gabriel A. Ajrouch, Kristine J. Anbar, Ran Angeles, Vivienne Avishai, Or...

How to Communicate Lateran IV in 13th Century Ireland: Lessons from the Liber Exemplorum (c.1275)

The Liber Exemplorum, a collection of preachers’ tales, was compiled c.1275 by an English Franciscan working in Ireland, and is the earliest Franciscan example of its type. Out of 213 exempla which survive in this manu...

A Day in the Life of an Aesthetic Tantrika: ¯ From Synaesthetic Garden to Lucid Dreaming and Spaciousness

This essay addresses the question of the relationship between Aesthetics and Tantra, in the world-view and life-world of Hindu Tantric visionary Abhinavagupta (ca. 975–1025 C.E.) and his tradition. I respond to a class...

Does Religion/Spirituality Modify the Association of Stressful Life Events and Suicidal Ideation in Australian Men?

In a large population cohort of Australian men, we previously observed that stressful life events were associated with increased suicidal ideation (SI). Many stressful life events, such as relationship breakdown and fi...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP26010
  • DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9050148
  • Views 328
  • Downloads 10

How To Cite

Roy Tamashiro (2018). Planetary Consciousness, Witnessing the Inhuman, and Transformative Learning: Insights from Peace Pilgrimage Oral Histories and Autoethnographies. Religions, 9(5), -. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-26010