- Title
- The mandorla: a spiritual memoir
- Creator
- Cousins, Diane
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2014
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- The Mandorla: A Spiritual Memoir constructs a life-narrative and is an attempt to articulate and give structure to an inner world of struggle and conflict that fuels the spiritual journey of one woman—myself. It is a record of the tribulations, as well as moments of knowledge, divine insight, transcendence and ineffable bliss. The spiritual memoir is organised around four journeys, and while the journeys themselves only took around seven months in total, they map a spiritual odyssey that evolved over four decades from youth through to middle age. The journeys serve to ground an eclectic range of spiritual themes in places that provide temporal and spiritual reference points. The first section is centred on two journeys to the “East,” and is grounded in an Eastern philosophical and spiritual outlook. The initial expedition explores a youthful quest for truth in India; the second trip tracks a return to India just before the collapse of my marriage, and follows my life in middle age. The second section is centred on two journeys in the “West,” one to Central Australia, the other, a pilgrimage/sabbatical to England and Europe that explores, among other things, the feminine face of the Divine. “The Mandorla,” the final section, considers complementary opposites such as male–female, inside–outside, agony–bliss, heaven–earth and how these irreducible opposites overlap and exist together in a third liminal space, the mandorla, a place of potential reconciliation and apotheosis for the seeker–traveller. The accompanying exegesis is divided into three parts and examines a variety of spiritual autobiographical projects, especially works by female writers. The first chapter explores the genre of spiritual autobiography, and provides an historical overview exploring key texts, as well as documenting the process of the writing of the spiritual memoir and the challenges of working in an autobiographical, self-reflexive style. The second chapter investigates travel/pilgrimage and eco-spiritual writing, and also considers methodologies for understanding spiritual journeys. The third chapter of the exegesis reflects on the powerful autobiographical accounts of the spiritual journeys of two women in modernity—Monica Baldwin and Karen Armstrong. These memoirs parallel my own spiritual explorations and journey in The Mandorla and provide a form for reflecting on women’s spiritual experience in modernity.
- Subject
- creative writing; spiritual memoir; autobiography; feminine divine; women's spirituality; eco-spiritual writing; travel writing; symbol; Christian art; awakening; flower of life
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1058768
- Identifier
- uon:16469
- Rights
- Copyright 2014 Diane Cousins
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 564 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |