Epiphany in Waiting

Authors

  • Anar Rajabali The University of British Columbia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25071/1916-4467.40365

Keywords:

poetic inquiry, embodiment, arts-based research, aesthetic phenomenology, spirituality

Abstract

Rumi writes “Keep walking, though there’s no place to get to. Don’t try to see through the distances . . . move within” (Barks, 1997, p. 278). In this lyrical essay, I begin by enacting a walk I took with my mother along the ocean. I poetically dwell in a sensual phenomenological inquiry where I attune to the experience of this walk as it is unfolding: the images, the colours, the gestures, the scents, the sounds and the silences. Through the (re)telling of this pivotal event, I am then transported to the past, where I (re)enter a painful moment in a classroom. As in the line of the altering hues of the horizon that we walk alongside of, I relinquish to this line of inquiry. As I theorize this space in between the present and the past, I am brought to an epiphany and transcend both experiences into a renewed understanding of my pedagogical self. Here, I learn how the body holds the words; and in poetry as a physical, emotional, and spiritual walking through, I then enter into a place of light. The keen lessons of an encountering give in healing and meaning, illuminating the future with promise and with purpose.

Author Biography

Anar Rajabali, The University of British Columbia

Anar Rajabali is a teacher, poet and researcher in language and literacy education. Her arts-based dissertation, (Re)turning to the Poetic I/Eye: Towards a Literacy of Light, is a personal and pedagogical study into the kinship between poetry and spiritual expression and is the recipient of the 2018 ARTS PhD Graduate Award at CSSE. She is the founder of Pearl Learning: English Language Education Centre and dabbles in songwriting with a growing collection of intimate songs.

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Published

31-08-2018

How to Cite

Rajabali, A. (2018). Epiphany in Waiting. Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, 16(1), 175–184. https://doi.org/10.25071/1916-4467.40365