| This dissertation investigates the question: "What is the experience of passion? A comprehensive literature review revealed only one study, a heuristic research design by K. Moustakas (1979), "What is the nature of the passionate experience in everyday encounters with the self?". A qualitative research design was used for two reasons: in order to keep the phenomenon alive by way of vivid descriptions of rich texture; and to discover meanings and essences of human experience in the everyday lived world. Data was gathered from ten co-researchers in extensive open-ended interviews in which passionate experiences were vividly portrayed. The phenomenological research design included these processes: epoche, phenomenological reduction, eidetic variation, and synthesis. This dissertation introduces the topic and question, reports on literature reviewed, explains phenomenological theory and methods, reports analysis of data, and presents outcomes and conclusions. The data revealed five core themes of the experience of passion: (1) moving toward active engagement with some component of the world; (2) a flowing through the body of intense, firey energy; (3) a sense of full presence of the self; (4) being in the process of self-creation; (5) transcending day-to-day experience and entering into spiritual realms. These themes were supported and explicated by verbatim descriptions from the data. Psychological, educational, and societal implications as well as suggestions for future research were addressed. |
