No possibilities for continuing thinking clearly
or thoroughly
or in a linear manner
with
the fragmented sentences.
the fragmented thoughts.
the fragmented words
which are cut by the dark/black/grey line or border on the paper.
But clearness is not that clear, however.
Deleuze (1994) writes how 'an idea is all the more distinct the clearer it is, and
clarity-distinctness constitutes the light which renders thought possible in the
common exercise of all the faculties' (Deleuze, 1994, p. 213).
(The faculties of imagination reason and understanding. See ibid., p. 136-138.)
'The principle of the clear and distinct' (ibid., p. 213).
Following Leibniz, he (ibid.) continues: 'a clear idea is in itself confused; it is
confused in so far as it is clear' (p. 213).
That is
'a clear idea is confused because it is not yet clear enough in all its parts'
(ibid. p. 213).
And that there might even be a difference
'between the clear and distinct,
not jut of degree but in kind,
such that the clear would be in itself confused
and the distinct in itself obscure?
What is this distinct-obscure which corresponds to the clear-confused?’ (ibid., p. 213)
What is this distinct-obscure, which corresponds to the clear-confused?
The fragmented lines slow down
both thinking and writing.
Taking me back to the forest,
the dark forest during the night in November.
The possibility for moving in the dark forest was not similar to walking in
daylight when seeing was possible.
Seeing takes one farther.
Not-seeing takes one closer.
Closer to sensing.
Sensing solitude in silence.
Being alone without being lonely.
Sensing solitude and subtly connecting with the world,
the world of both human and non-human bodies,
bodies “as understood in physics that can be any kind of body; a human body,
an organ, an artefact or any kind of matter” (Hultman & Lenz Taguchi, 2010, p.529).
Solitude in silence – sensing a more complete connection with the world of
bodies,
a connection removed from the sole human perspective,
the totalizing perspectives of signifying, knowing and thinking.
Immersion.
Sensing (also) other solitude souls,
in silence,
in the darkness of November.
Soulbodies,
gather together to create to-gather-ness.
Gathering experiences and experimentations in research practices and
research methodologies in order
to open them, let them loose toward
how we might (also) think about doing research or about creating knowledge.
Questioning individuality,
linearity,
clarity, celebrating accidental discoveries,
and
unanticipated encounters,
even serendipity.
What they might offer (to us) and prompt (in us)
when thinking about and doing (qualitative) research (differently)?
Barely-seeing thus imagining.
Entering a potential world through imagining,
filling the gaps in seeing by, for example, joining fragmented, barely visible
points, dots, to each other,
as a patchwork.
Imaginary world created through
embroidery.
What emerges? A forest, perhaps.
References:
Deleuze, G. (1994). Difference and repetition. (P. Patton, Trans.) New York: Columbia University Press.
Hultman, K., & Lenz-Taguchi, H. (2010). Challenging anthropocentric analysis of visual data: a relational materialist methodological approach to educational research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education,23(5), 525-542.https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2010.500628
