INTRODUCTION 39
proposing shifting paradigms as a description of the evolution of
science. The term paradigm has achieved widely popular and confusing
usage in many arenas today. Kuhn sees a paradigm as a framework or
model that for a time provides a way of asking questions and seeking
answers within a community of practitioners. The medical model
that addresses the diagnosis and treatment of disease is a powerful
paradigm that has shaped the course of physical and mental health
research and practice for many years. This paradigm has brought
amazing breakthroughs in understanding and treating disease, but it
fails to address questions of meaning and soul. According to Kuhn,
when a paradigm is no longer able to ask questions and seek answers
to the most important questions of the time, a paradigm shift occurs
and new paradigms emerge. Such a shift is often considered a break
through , but it begins by breaking with stories that no longer serve to
address the pressing questions of the time. In the stories that follow
we examine existing and emerging paradigms that shape how we see
the world and ourselves.
Organization of the book
We recognize that our ideas will continue to be in the middle of
intertwining rhizomatic relationships, and we also recognize that the
structure of a book requires an organizational framework. This book
is organized within a framework of creative process first outlined
by the Appalachian Expressive Arts Collective, the interdisciplinary
group of faculty members who developed the expressive arts program
at Appalachian (Atkins et al. 2003).^1 Within this framework, creative
process can be conceptualized as moving in the following five stages:
(1) beginning, (2) moving in, (3) insearch, (4) finding voice and
(5) bringing art into life.
Stage 1, beginning, involves opening the space for creative work,
addressing the intention for the work and defining the holding
space in which the work will occur. Stage 2, moving in, is a time of
1 S. Atkins, M. Adams, C. McKinney, H. McKinney, E. Rose, J. Wentworth, and J.
Woodworth.