Thesis (Ph.D.)--Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, 2009
The purpose of this phenomenological study was to elicit the subjective experience of and personal meaning found in the process of first using literal expressions and then creating metaphors to describe a past meaningful experience. Six coresearchers in the field of psychology were selected for a one-time, 90- to 120-minute, one-on-one interview session. During each creating cycle of the interview session, coresearchers were asked to describe literally a past meaningful experience, create novel metaphors for this same experience, and then elaborate upon their internal processes. The interview was audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using a modified version of Amadeo Giorgi's phenomenological method. The end results include several individual-oriented situated structures and one general structure across coresearchers. The situated structures were presented with rich textual descriptions of each coresearcher's internal process. The general structure delineated the essences found across coresearchers, which include (a) the texture of literal expressions being compartmentalized and conflicting with the conscious mind, which is actively narrating the meaningful experience based on deeply embedded hidden perceptions; (b) the quieting of the conscious mind and the repositioning of internal focus; (c) the externalization of perceptions and formation of metaphor; (d) the initial intuitive recognition of the metaphor and the resulting instantaneous mental, emotional, and physical relaxation; (e) the repetitive comparison and processing with which new meanings emerged and repressed emotions were released; (f) the use of the newly created metaphor as the root metaphor for other experiences in life; and (g) in some cases, the occurrence of nonlocality, which invites descriptions found in mystical experiences. Finally, the research findings were discussed in response to the initial research questions, in A.-T. Tymieniecka's metaphysical framework of ontopoiesis of life, and in the context of existing literature. To conclude, the potential applications of this creating process were explored
