In November I will be presenting a paper at the Creative margins conference at Curtin. Much of it is already written but there is a lot of editing and work yet to be done. With a new house yet to be finished, a huge move likely during the September school holidays, 2 units of my Workplace Training for TAFE to complete and now a paper to write - all while still doing my 0.5 at TAFE (and the load of paperwork that goes with it) is it any wonder that I wake in the small hours emitting silent screams.....and then have to calm myself down enough to get back to sleep. Well it is the Year of the Ox and I knew it was going to be head down and bum up all year - just plod, plod along.
Having spoken to a friend who has not long completed her own doctorate, I feel a little more detached about the conference. It is possible that my talk will only be attended by 3 of my best supporters (2 of which might be my supervisors) and a few people who find themselves trapped in the auditorium having read the timetable incorrectly and accidently stayed on to support one of their own mates. Oh well - I still want to get it as right as I can, which means being able to answer questions like: what do you mean by psyche? I don't know, doesn't everyone know what that means? Maybe not if you go by the overwhelming number of interpretations. (It is quite probable that no-one will ask me that question but I still need to be prepared).
Anyway, I have updated the link CREATIVE MARGINS CONFERENCE on this blog so you can look at some of the abstracts if you are interested. Because I am not assuming prior knowledge, I want the paper to be accessible to any intelligent person, so will be posting portions of it here as a way to get some feedback.
This is a small extract:
My study assigns and examines a specific context for the imagination and its role in the human psyche. The theoretical framework is found in archetypal or Imaginal Psychology where the imaginal is perceived as a non-ordinary state of consciousness. Instead of dismissing them as fantasy, Imaginal Psychology proposes that images created by the imagination not only have meaning but an ability to effect change on a deeply psychic level. Furthermore it is my contention that the image and the activity of imagining enables us to enter an imaginal realm of archetypes.
