Chapter 10: Paradigmatic Dialogues, Intersubjectivity, And Nonduality In Qualitative Inquiry

A subjective-objective ontology means that there is underneath our literate abstraction, a deeply participatory relation to things and to the earth, a felt reciprocity.

—Abram, 1996, p. 124

I believe in non-duality (advaita), I believe in the essential unity of man, and for that matter, of all that lives.... The rock bottom foundation of the technique for achieving

the power of nonviolence is belief in the essential oneness of all life.

—Gandhi, 1924, p. 390

Interconnectedness, as conveyed by Abram and Gandhi in these quotes, are powerful ontological stances that have implications for how we relate to others in everyday life and in the qualitative inquiry process. The assumption is that “we are in it together” and that we influence one another in the process of understanding the ways individuals and groups construct knowledge and understand how we know. Epistemologically, individuals and cultural groups vary significantly in their approaches to ways of knowing and to constructing knowledge. Various forms of knowledge and ways of knowing beyond the rational or cognitive are valued in cultural groups around the world (Reagan, 1996). Understanding this variance and searching for potential common threads seems an important pursuit to advance a spiritual research paradigm.