The Fifth Province Approach as a Systemic Meditative Practice

Abstract

In this paper we want to share our experience of using systemic practices from a systemic Fifth Province Approach in the facilitation of meditation groups and retreats. We refer to our way of being and doing as a "Fifth Province Systemic Meditative Practice".  The practices and approach we will present can be likened to a kind of human murmuration, where  surprising, generative, inter/intra-active and relational processes emerge. These emergent processes or transformations occur spontaneously and are from within the subtle, communicative, behaviour and relational aspects of the whole group.  It is in this context that we use the word "intra-relational" after the work of Karen Barad (2007 p33).  The term "subtle" refers to all the non-verbal emergences occurring from the spiritual, mental, emotional, behavioural and social processes at play.

The first author (Imelda) set the meditation group up twenty years ago and has facilitated it more or less since then. The second author (Jean), facilitates the group from time to time and has, along with the first author, enjoyed tracing and noting both the practices and the emergent processes over time.  Indeed, her Masters in Spirituality examined those processes and explored how they could be learned and applied in a group or individual setting. (Minogue 2018)