| This phenomenological inquiry into the felt experience of participatory sense-making and collaborative presence in small groups explores where and when a common field of resonance is generated among individuals. The experience is named participatory reality constitution (PRC). Nine co-participants who met criteria of having experienced PRC in a higher education classroom context were interviewed. To gain a deeper understanding of this phenomenon 2 research methods were synthesized: (a) the phenomenological method of Giorgi, and (b) Hartelius' somatic phenomenology. This inquiry uncovered a general meaning structure for PRC by attending to the entire description given by each co-participant and conducting a thematic analysis of interview transcripts. In this small sample, the analysis revealed that an individual has to come into a small group space with an intention to collaborate in order to create the conditions for PRC to be experienced. This intention is experienced as a sense of openness, which results in the building of trust, authenticity, and bonding via personal connection. These qualities contribute to an increasing depth of the experience. A sense of effortlessness becomes present, accompanied by excitement, awe, joy, and a sense of adventure. This leads to a deeper process of emergence or generativity of new insights, which have a clarity to them that leaves the individual feeling part of something greater. The individual feels inspired and has a strong desire to recreate the experience and is often positively transformed in a way that leads to long-term changes in identity or life goals. These results contribute to a nuanced understanding of PRC as an embodied generative process that serves as a meaning structure for further research and practice in psychology, education, and wherever such small groups occur. This study exemplifies a contribution to the development of transpersonal phenomenology based on a participatory worldview. |
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