Writer/teacher Dave Hood defines the contemplative essay this way:
For many, a meditative essay explores an idea or topic. Typically, the writer asks an open-ended question—and then attempts to answer it in the body of the essay. There is no definite answer to the question. Instead, the writer thinks out loud, pondering the question, writing down possible answers.
For others, a meditative essay requires that the writer examine an object or emotion, seeking understanding through similes, metaphors, associations. The intent of the writer is to turn the abstract idea or the generalization of an emotion into an essay of concrete details that readers will understand and relate to.
The meditative essay is not a narrative, and so there is no true or fictional story shared with the reader. Nor does the meditation focus on the self. And so it is not a personal narrative essay, which is based on a personal experience that results in an epiphany, and a universal truth. Instead the writer focuses outward on some idea, emotion, object—exploring possible answers. But there is no single, definitive answer.
I highlit the parts of this form I would like you to focus on this week. To fully invest in this meditation, you will need to do some research on whatever your topic ends up being. Research is broadly defined here--and can come straight from your laptop (but please keep track - in some form - of every place - virtual or otherwise - from which you gather info) or from more experiential or material sources (books, media, observation out in the world, interviews, etc.). This essay *should not* read as a story or a narrative (a collection of chronologically-and-character-linked events that are bound by a single event or concern). Instead, it is an exploration of a thing or idea that urges *your own personal and possibly obsessive* yet more open-ended investigation. You cannot escape yourself, but do not focus on your own experience as raw material here... instead your reader should encounter you in the way you gather and organize and link information. You-as-curator of accumulated/ing knowledge rather than you-as-subject.
Readings:
Melville on White (pp197-208)
John Cage on Silence (pp481-500)
Geoffrey Dyer On Photographs of Scarecrows: http://nyti.ms/2jxFyHQ
David Foster Wallace on the Lobster http://bit.ly/2kBV07x (super long but a CLASSIC and worth it to see how a remarkable mind can manifest in attention to things outside the self).
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