A search on 'digging deeper' on Amazon.com gives 4347 returns and on Amazon.co.uk gives 26 returns. The returns refer to whole books. There are many topics but historical and scientific ones seem to be most common.
A search for "digging deeper" on google.co.uk gives 641,000 returns. The first ten include topics such as bible study, gardening, history, investigative journalism, genealogy and various aspect of ICT.
A search for "digging deeper"+spirituality on google.co.uk gives 20,100 returns. Many of these seem to be with reference to Christianity and Judaism.
A search for "digging deeper"+Buddhism on google.co.uk gives 621 returns. Many of these are essentially western religious websites where there is interest in Buddhism.
This shows that the idea of 'digging deeper' has wide application but is not hugely common, especially in the UK! New ground is being broken!
In the lategrowth project we are mainly interested in digging deeper into the idea of 'being' in contrast to just 'doing' and 'having'. We feel that our culture tends to short-change us in terms of our potential as human beings and that by digging deeper there is the possibility of uncovering buried treasures.
So what does digging deeper involve? It has two sides - technical and intellectual/ emotional.
technical aspects
The technical aspects of digging deeper involve a range of things. At the organic end there are face to face meetings and curling up by a fire with a good book. This moves through the more familiar ICT things like email and static websites to the more interactive online tools such as blogs, forums and wikis.
At a more practical level there is the core/ extension principle which is used in designing work sheets for mixed ability groups. The core material tells the story in a sequence of small, simple steps. But at each step there are optional, sideways extension materials to help those who are able and willing to dig deeper.
The extensions can take various forms. In hard copy they can be footnotes or endnotes, annexes or appendixes, subsidiary worksheets, glossaries, annotated bibliographies etc. In cyberspace there are equivalents to the hard copy options plus hyperlinks to other relevant material on the web. Note that the latter can be more or less passive (eg just read it or listen to it) or interactive (eg exchange views in more or less real time, edit the material which is presented or post your own and get feedback on it.)
intellectual/ emotional aspects
The intellectual/ emotional aspects of digging deeper also involve a range of things. At the intellectual end there is the cool, hard, rational analysis of patterns of living with their various hegemonic qualities and their taboos. At the emotional end there is the need for increased mindfulness and awareness of what really makes us tick. Underlying both of those lies the imperative to 'Know yourself'.
Digging deeper is not the primary activity. It is most likely to be useful when it follows a period of relatively shallow and wide ranging exploration of the territory. You are then in a better position to identify the areas that hold most promise for your in depth study. This is a variation on the theme of ‘look before you leap’.