Bodied Mindfulness: Women’s Spirits, Bodies and Places PDF
Preview Bodied Mindfulness: Women’s Spirits, Bodies and Places
Joy is the energy that allows a person to see with their own eyes. Consciousness moves from the level of imi- tation to imagination. . . . The joy of seeing oneself with new eyes after being released from unfocussed fear, anger, and sadness allows the spirit to sing. — Winnie Tomm Bodied Mindfulness Women's Spirits, Bodies and Places This page intentionally left blank Bodied Mindfulness Women's Spirits, Bodies and Places Winnie Tomm Wilfrid Laurier University Press Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Tomm, Winnie, 1944- Bodied mindfulness : women's spirits, bodies and places Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-88920-269-9 (bound) ISBN 0-88920-273-7 (pbk.) 1. Feminist theory. 2. Feminism - Religious aspects. I. Title. HQ1190.T65 1995 305.4'01 C95-932855-6 Copyright © 1995 WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY PRESS Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L3C5 Cover design by Leslie Macredie using an illustration created for this book by Sandra Woolfrey. Photographs on page 66: The woman in the bathtub is Karma Tomm and the woman playing the cello is Jill Tomm. Printed in Canada Bodied Mindfulness: Women's Spirits, Bodies and Places has been produced from a manuscript supplied in electronic form by the author. All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechan- ical—without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any request for photocopying, recording, taping, or reproducing in information storage and re- trieval systems of any part of this book shall be directed in writing to the Cana- dian Reprography Collective, 214 King Street West, Suite 312, Toronto, Ontario M5H 3S6. Contents Acknowledgments ix Preface xi Introduction 1 Notes 14 One Self as Spiritual 15 Buddhist Mindfulness 15 Normative and Historical Consciousness 28 Spiritual Consciousness 35 Permeable Self 50 Desire 57 Notes 62 Two Spirituality and the Body 67 Eros/Erotic 67 Bodied Consciousness 77 Reflections in the Mirror: From Artifact to Artist 93 Female Potency and Engendering Activities 104 Notes 113 Three Sexuality and Language 115 Logic 115 Inscribing Meaning 133 Hermeneutics of Scepticism 142 Hermeneutics of Affirmation: Constructing Alternatives 152 Notes 164 Four Ethics of Connectedness and Resistance 167 Ontology and Epistemology in Ethics 167 Power and Trust 179 Self-Interest 187 Resisting Oppression 195 Notes 206 vii viii Bodied Mindfulness Five Exclusionary Politics at Work 209 Insider/Outsider Identities 209 Bad Girl/Good Girl Sexual Power 211 Social/Sexual Contract 223 Work and Economics 236 Working in the Family 253 Notes 262 Six Towards 'Living With' 267 Living with Uncertainty 267 Environment, Ecology, and Ecofeminism 269 New Images 282 Interpretive Drifts 295 Paradigm Shift Toward Integrating Spiritual and Social Realities 306 Notes 318 Bibliography 321 Index 337 Acknowledgments I WISH TO express my appreciation to the Social Sciences and Humani- ties Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) for the grant I received from them to write this book. In addition, I want to thank my own university, the University of Alberta, for its generosity in providing me with grant money to present papers in countries, such as Finland and the Nether- lands, which were associated with this book. As a result of working on this manuscript, I have had many opportunities to give papers in Canada and the United States. They have all facilitated the writing which was im- portant to my own university career. Thanks are due to several people who have helped read the chapters and comment on their contents. Dur- ing the writing of the first draft there were several people reading the chapters. They included Professor Terence Penelhum, Professor Leslie Kawamura, Professor Susan Wendell, Professor Petra von Morstein, Pro- fessor Karl Tomm, and our two daughters, Karma and Jill. In the later stages of writing there were four people who were very instrumental in giving me feedback. These are Mary Wright, Sharon Petkau, Karl Tomm, and Claire McMordie. I am grateful for their generosity in working on the book. In addition, I am thankful to the Calgary Institute for the Humani- ties for the space and facilities to complete the revisions. Thanks especial- ly to Gerry Dyer and Jane Kelley for their kind support and generous spirit toward my scholarship. Most importantly I want to thank the Women's Studies students at the University of Alberta for their courage and their dedication to their beliefs. They have provided me with the confidence to go ahead with this work and get it out. I dedicate this book to them. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Cana- dian Federation for the Humanities, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. IX This page intentionally left blank
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