Emotions as a way of knowing

Going through the storm of emotions... I started thinking, how in one way or another, emotions and kind of thinking in my daily activities is designing my way of research inquiry process.  The late American movie critic Roger Ebert(1942-2013)used this simple statement "Your intellect may be confused but your emotions never lie to you". understanding that statement I believe our emotions are often present convincing feels only to ourselves, but for emotions or opinion to go public, language and reason come into play. I feel it is our gut feelings that determine our actions and moral behavior, followed by the reason we think of later in justifying the doing or not doing the right or wrong thing. But why do we need to justify what surely we felt was right? Because this is how society understands. Someone will demand an explanation and we will be obliged to give reasons and not just any reason, but the one that satisfies, since that is what explanations do.

when I deal with my students and people around in my community, higher status is often given to the rational( reasoning) over the irrational( emotions) however, I found emotions and reasoning are intertwined and working together in my decision-making.
In Indian classical dance we, show 8 dominant human emotions like anger, love, joy, pride, sorrow, disgust, wonder, fear, I always wondered are these emotions listed above universal or are they dependent on culture or some other factor?  The Bhagavad Gita(5th century BCE) Indian religious epic states that emotion has the advantage of being open to all, the weak and the lowly, the illiterate and the scholar. similarly, Darwin supported the naturalistic view that emotions are purely physiological and experienced across all cultures..The James-Lange theory asks us to consider that the bodily state causes the feeling. Antonio Damasio, the Portuguese neurobiologist has given a hypothesis which proposes that emotions play a critical role in the ability to make fast, rational decisions in complex and uncertain situations.
As I kept thinking deeper about emotions I could discover the connection between emotions and dance as a way of knowing... I realized as dancer, often I was trained to create a thought( Character/role narrating a story from epics) then start living into that thought and you become the thought..emotionally at that level of consciousness you are remembering every movement of your  choreography creating perfect balance between time-space-music and eventually reach the fourth dimension spiritual bliss or aesthetic bliss.
This inference follows the knowledge acquired by the self through the mediation of senses and the entire concept or action stimulates enjoyment in the spectator causing the sentiments to be felt by them...similarly I sense that my thoughts, emotions, and actions could be focused to create a balance  with my research investigation to stimulate the audience to feel similar sentiments.

What motivates Observation?

What motivates observation?  I am sure there are numerous reason why we observe some things and not others... this is something I noticed recently when I Judged a youth dance competition.  When I asked students what motivated them to participate in the dance competition,  most young dancers responded that they were motivated to learn dance by observing other eminent dancers, how they executed different techniques, their choreographies etc. and wanted to emulate such performances
  I sensed that was something worth thinking about, especially at this stage of my life whatever I do or see, all my actions are driving me towards my research inquiry...sounds strange..but true!!

I am sure there are numerous reasons why we observe some things and not others. Its like if someone points out a particular tree to us on our way to work, we begin observing it thereafter. We may have passed it every day until then, but we may begin to observe it only after it was pointed out to us. Who knows the multitude of reasons that people have for observing things? As teachers, we need to be alert and sensitive to what excites each child in the class and get him/her to use that as a trigger for observation.

we generally have a half/fully formed hypothesis/theory regarding why things happen the way they do before we feel it necessary to observe and actually find out if what we have thought is true. For instance, I may think that each time there is a thick blanket of cloud there is rain on the following day. I may have formed this theory/hypothesis even unconsciously over years of experience. Now I may want to observe and actually see if this is always true. 

As dance teachers when we want a particular dance move to be imbibed in students, observation might be the first of them all. So let's say I show them how to describe a beautiful garden using hand gestures, and they watch me and respond according to what I ask them. When they are observing this are they motivated by a theory or hypothesis or just motivated by the wonder of what is happening?? Subsequently, when they go on to study other aspects of dance like preparing for the performance, make-up costumes making their hair( as in Indian classical dance we have elaborate costumes with pieces of jewelry)  observation skills does become the most important learning skills. What are your thoughts?

Nevertheless, as of now creating/ preparing a professional artifact has Motivated my Observation!!



Source URL: http://www.teachersofindia.org/en/article/what-motivates-observation

All roads lead to Research!

When I read Adesola's blog on some interesting questions, I was allured to discover how my identity has developed over the years and how have I constructed myself.  I suddenly realized that I am actually thinking like a researcher..initially with a beginner's mindset then with a deeper approach asking questions to myself and gradually exploring the various possibilities or outcomes.
When I look back on my professional journey, the most important thing I discovered was my passion for dance. I wonder where the passion emerged from? I wonder how this passion can compel me to reach any heights to seek knowledge. Despite not being from an artist family, it fascinates me how one can develop taste for any art form.
I consider myself fortunate to have supportive parents and husband to make my own choices in life and to have learned from great Gurus. For me, Bharatanatyam continues to offer great opportunities to meet creative people and Gurus who have enriched and renewed my vocabulary.  I sincerely believe that is is not possible to master the nuances and dimensions of this art form in one lifetime, as there is so much to learn ..grow and evolve with the art. I also think my current life stems from 'karma' or my past life as believed in Hindu philosophy.

I must admit that whatever little knowledge I have today is because of the divine intervention and my Guru's grace. My Gurus (teachers) in India lead a simple life with great thinking ability to be intuitive in their teachings and they deeply connect with inner being of each and every student. This has greatly influenced me to able to recognize my inner and outer self and to find my identity in this multi-cultural environment as these values teach more than dance.

I feel with all these rich knowledge about 'Guru-shishya parampara' ( a Teacher-Student relationship)  my aim is to train students towards holistic development by encouraging them to look around as they develop an awareness of the environment. This would also enable them to grow along with the knowledge of past as the basis for their understanding. 

Do share your thoughts.