thinking is the new black

As and aside to social theory, for r&r, I’ve been studying the Dharma. A few days ago I came across Paramis or the ten perfections. This is what one needs to achieve to be fully awakened, to have bodhisattva, the road to Buddha.

The 10 perfections are

1. Generosity (dana).
2. Virtue (sila).
3. Renunciation (nekkhamma).
4. Wisdom (panna).
5. Energy (viriya).
6. Patience (khanti).
7. Truthfulness (sacca).
8. Determination (aditthana).
9. Loving-kindness (metta).
10. Equanimity (upekkha).

The 10 perfections strike me as a really good Q.A framework for “writing up” a thesis.

A PhD is an apprenticeship in research. Nevertheless, for the majority of research students it is the single biggest piece of work they will ever produce in their lifetime, and therefore an expression of a significant personal journey. It takes years of devotion and truly is more than research and critical thinking. It’s a commitment to an idea and an “original contribution to knowledge”; it is a massive deal. However, I think that many people get carried away with what I’ll call Magnus opus syndrome. Sometimes it’s very easy to lose sight of the bigger picture and remember where a thesis sits in the scheme of life, all things woo-woo. Universe = BIG Thesis = small.

Anyway that said, I do see a lovely connection with the paramis and trying to get the old per her der finished. Thinking about and applying them to my research and life has certainly helped to get through some of the more difficult times recently. Generosity for instance is the key paramis to achieving the others because it includes all the others. It means being openhearted and letting go of the past or any negative habits. I have found this really helpful by turning it on myself when I’ve had days where I’ve struggled with writers block or haven’t quite achieved what I’d set out at the beginning of the day. It’s about living in the present moment and saying OK never mind about that and refocusing on being skillful in the now.

Paramis aren’t elaborate concepts either, which is one of the things I like about them. Employing the notions of say determination and energy to studying is fairly straightforward, but I also particularly like the ideas of truthfulness, patience, and equanimity.

Obviously one needs to be truthful when presenting an analysis, but I think really listening to what your heart tells you, and being brave enough to be honest about ideas is actually quite hard and occasionally scary. What if they’re rubbish thoughts? What if someone says durrrr – of course, and anyway? Yet, some of my best ideas have been my most uncomplicated ones and in the emerging thesis, I’m being to see that the original contribution to knowledge I’m making comes from simplicity rather than complexity. It’s about stripping away ideas to find ‘a truth’.

A PhD is one looooooooooonnnnnnnnng exercise in patience, in the sense that of course one needs amazing staying power to get to through the other side. Mental endurance if you like – comme ca the Japanese game show. But another sort of patience is also required because a PhD does not come all at once. It really is a series of processes. It can be absolutely infuriating to have to re-draft research proposals, aims and objects over and over, or spend an entire year conducting a literature review on a topic that – OK you become a world expert on for 10 minutes, but can’t bare to discuss with anyone for even 1 minute, because you are sick of hearing words, like for instance “commodity fetishism” or “branding” said aloud in the same utterance. But be patient if you can, because it does all come together. I was chatting with the supers about this only the other day. Although I cursed having to draft, redraft and re-redraft various documents for thesis outline or transfer meetings, because of the process my objectives eventually became razor sharp and one of the most useful tools in allowing me to crack on so quickly now. Know why? The objectives function, and I’ve actually stuck to them. Yup, they’re good.

Equanimity is also very important to Buddhism. In fact it’s fundamental to finding awakening. It is according most dictionaries a type of “mental composure”, especially in the face of adversity. It’s actually one of my favourite words at the moment. It’s to this week, what ambivalent was to last week. It’s difficult when writing up, because it can be pretty intense when you’re immersed, or having to put in long lonely days. Most of time in the final stages of a PhD is spent just with thoughts, and I think this is what is probably both the source of all the stress, and what sends people a bit la la. It’s an experience you can’t really communicate to anyone unless they’ve been through it, which can be a further source of isolation and inequity. This slightly off kilter state of mind can’t be explained to, nor understood by anyone who hasn’t done a PhD. Equanimity can definitely be refined, and I have found the more I meditate on it, the more steady I feel about the task in hand, so the more able I am to get on with it. Cultivating a balance of mind is therefore, extremely useful.

Om Shanti Om

Despite it being London fashion week, I spent most of last week in the sunshine having a tres bien temp en Paris mooching around the Sorbornne.

I kept it cheery by going to a graveyard.
Although they’re two theorists I don’t deal with much in my own work, I popped along to see the burial place of the greatest French existential polo neck wearing lovers of all time Simone De Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre.

Now, I am absolutely convinced that the Parisian tourist board pay this darling French couple to sit on the bench. They certainly do not need a passport.

I have been writing for a month. Happy anniversary me. Wooo

kool & the gang celebrating good times with me

Week one: Really only ½ a week but euphoria at being free to “begin to finish” I experienced joy at loafing around re-reading Marx and organising lever arch files. I skipped home from the gym mid morning and visualized finishing the thesis ahead of the timeline. This would allow me to spend the rest of special leave mooching in galleries, eating brunch at Providores, reading Vogue, and attending intellectual salons all over Europe. How cool was my life? Waaaayaaaay cool.

Week two: I wore chunky knits, reading glasses, and silk neckerchiefs. I was serious goddamnit, and my fashion story necessarily reflected this. Went to the library, saw my supervisors, read journal articles, updated my bibliography, structured chapters. As my favourite stylist Jay Immanuel is fond of saying to the models during shoots, work as if the rent is due tomorrow. Top Model? Pah! Britains next top thesis more like it. I was serving it.

Week three: was awake and at my desk before most people had their first thoughts of coffee. I’ll never finish, so best just give up sleep. Whilst the rest of the country slept I read Foucault and drew mind maps. I wondered if Foucault had drawn mind maps? I listen to Running up that Hill and decided if I only could I would make a deal with God to swap places. I wondered if Kate Bush had done mind maps? I became fanatical about creating the ultimate brain-food open sandwich and drew a mind map of various toppings. Finally on the Sunday I was lured to Hotel du Vin for a long lunch at someone else’s expense. Only fine dining broke the cycle. I went home to sleep for 48 hours.

avacado food of the gods & top of the charts for open sandwiches

Week four brought a vicious bought of impostor syndrome. I considered the possibility of simply handing in a one page mind map in lieu of the actual thesis and keeping my fingers crossed the external moderator might be wooed by my uncommon approach and ability to accessorizes any outfit. Obsessed with a fear of obscurity I chose wine and socialising, followed closely by self-reproach, more alcohol, more going out. This is intriguing, because despite all the hoo-haring, I somehow produced a prologue and introduction.

Week 5: It is so “on”. I’m giving it some ones and twos on the thesis front. I’ve sent work to the project supervisors ahead of time and everything. Had a paper published, found out I’d been quoted in Times Higher Education, and got contacted by a journalist from California interested in my not quite written thesis.

Consequently I’m indulging in a soupcon of fabulousness for a few days. Oh Oui. Mes lecteurs chéris et personnes très intelligentes I am away to Paris. The land of abundant éclairs, where the men say bonjour mademoiselle, and even regular folk have “le look”. I love Paris in Spring-time.

Two items have caught my attention in the National media this week. The article in The Sunday Times magazine supplement about face-book, and the feature in the digital planet pod-cast from The World Service on the 29th about an ancient Aboriginal tribe and DRM. As a quick aside I have always been quite big on pod-cast, but since I got my iPod touch the other week I have found a renewed ardour. I listened to the BBC in the gym this morning and I’ve been punctuating journeys on public transport with snippets of audio dharma. Isn’t technology marvellous?

The feature about the The Mukurtu Wumpurrarni-kari project is a fascinating example of the social shaping of technology and a rare example of a non Westernize slant on the whole digital rights discussion. This captured me because it considered deep rooted cultural practices in the development of online content. To my mind a really excellent example of anthropology in practice.

But The Times article… well first off, I was quite surprised to be even reading it. I am not a fan of the paper as it is, but buy it on a Sunday because the style section is one of the unsung heroes of the fashion press. This article struck me as very old hat. I hope they aren’t going to do this every week like the Mail on Sunday / Princess Di thing.

Here are the main points ZZzzzzz….see going all sleepy already it’s so yesterdays news.

• Social networking is really popular I’m sorry, but even my mother a complete laggard is aware of this.

• Online personas may not be the front of an authentic person. People are not always who they say they are, plus there are wierdos on social networks. There is no such thing as an authentic self. Come on.

• We are in the throes of a revolution, (imagine dramatic music in the background here) Who can predict what it’s impact will be? I am so irrated by this I find it hard to type. Article did not include a definition of revolution either. Rubbish.