Becoming a Better Teacher - SPIRITUAL MATTERS IN HOLISTIC EDUCATION ? FAQS

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The Spiritual Matters. The position taken by this site is that there are many sources, art, inspiring people, nature as well as religions from which people take spiritual sustenance. However all such nourishment is pointless if it doesn’t help us act in the world with greater virtue. The site seeks to be inclusive and integrative and as such it includes inspiration and ideas from the great world philosophies, humanism and socialism as well as from the great world religions.

The spiritual matters. The reader might do well to read the Section P) SunWALK FAQs first and some of the summaries of the model here http://www.sunwalk.org.uk/_sgg/m7_1.htm

The spiritual matters because it is what we are - spiritual beings. What is mean by ‘spiritual’? Primarily I mean the life-force (‘chi’ or ‘ki’ in other parts of the world). In life we are animated. Even arch-materialists have to accept that there is a significant difference between a corpse and a living human being.

By spiritualization I mean the ennoblement of a woman or man through relationship with positive spiritual sources – as evidenced not by learning but by the acquisition of virtues such as truth, beauty, goodness and justice.

Those sources need not be a formal religion, but formal religions have been the source of great ennoblement and insight, as well as crass ignorance and unspeakable cruelty via the mis-appropriation mis-use of them by ignorant men.

The spiritual matters. It matters because we are in a maelstrom of self-destruction and some form of spiritual change is necessary to make healing possible.

The spiritual matters because it is far too important to be left to religions. With religions it is a matter of convert or be damned, but what if Ghandi was right when he said, “God has no religion.”

The spiritual matters because in the vast majority of government schools there is diversity of ‘belief background’ and in the main schools faced with this thorny reality make only a feeble effort to nurture spiritualization.

The entire site, as well as this Spirit Matters section, is devoted to what we might do whilst we are waiting for all the people of the world to be converted to a single religion!

Consequently the site presents a meta-religious world-view. That is to say a worldview that respects all belief systems when;

a) from them come truth, beauty, goodness and justice and other such virtues,

b) insights into human nature, the world, reality as a whole.

As soon as a religionist starts acting counter to those virtues that are at the core of every true religion s/he is no longer truly religious, but is acting as a perverter of true faith position. Perhaps the very act of being against – certainly in the sense of ‘I know who I am because I know who I hate’ – is spiritual death. Becoming thus is to have ‘lost it’.

‘Meta’ is not a perfect term - meta-knowledge for example is knowledge about knowledge. The position is not so much one of knowledge about religions - potentially this is just a matter of sterile academics. It is a position in which one has a living relationship with the true, inner spirit of the great wisdom traditions. It is a position that is integrative in the Ken Wilber sense and transcendent of the particularities – especially the ‘exclusivities’ – of the religions. By ‘exclusivities’ I mean the teachings, usually man-made, that teach ‘all are damned except those that believe like me’.

This position is not one in which we each make ourselves the centre of a belief system. I say this even though an acceptance of the inevitability that every person’s faith and world-view is subjective is a vitally important thing for so many to understand. It is a matter of recognizing the great gifts to humankind that exist in the teachings of all of the world’s wisdom traditions, to be humbled by them, to acknowledge that there is but one ultimate source, inevitably shrouded in mystery since the finite human mind cannot know that which is infinite, that even with the great teacher-founders of those wisdom traditions we can only see from within our personal make-up, personal history and given culture.

The position I describe is a position of acceptance that other people’s answers about the unknown and unknowable are inevitably different to our own.

Throughout these ‘Spiritual Matters FAQs’ I have in mind the reflective teacher. That is to say the teacher who – for personal development, or as part of a course of studies, - is seeking to analyse and develop her/his practice and theory-making. Here the special focus is on the spiritual dimension, within a holistic view of education.

As with my own overall model, SunWALK, I have chosen the asking and answering of 'FAQs' to try to make clear as much as possible about the kind of spiritual questions to be asked within a holistic or integral studies view. Many of these questions I have been asked, or have asked my self (Self?). There is some overlap with the SunWALK FAQs.

I also started to cover some of this ground within my doctoral thesis which is elsewhere on this site. These ‘Spiritual Matters FAQs’ however are seen as an open and evolving document and will be updated and extended frequently.

The first section is concerned with basic, more general, issues and the later sections with ‘deeper’ issues. They are not intended to be entries like a dictionary. They are personal responses which might suggest possibilities for the reader. If nothing else the questions are there – and some at least need to be answered by any one reflecting seriously on education!

I should say something about purpose in this work. I believe that a new possible paradigm of education has become progressively clear. This site is all about ways and means that teachers and students of education might make this new paradigm clearer through their practice and theory-making.

In addition to working toward a new paradigm we are faced in today’s world by specific issues. Whilst much that is here has relevance to combating global warming, eliminating hunger, debt, disease and poverty the primary thrust is toward a worldview and mindset that might act as a curative or preventative to the sickness of fundamentalism, racism and such sicknesses of the soul.

NB I have not included primary definitions, contexts, basic facts & background material.

For these go to: ‘definition’ + chosen subject in to Google (Princeton), Wiki encyclopaedia, Creedopedia, etc

These thoughts are intended to any last word on the subjects, but like each of us they are works in progress. Start by picking out the questions that interest you. Write and tell me your ideas and your additional questions. I will try to point you in a useful direction.

Gradually I will put here in the first section all of the ‘concept-elements’ that seem basic, foundational, most general and introductory.

SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION - BASIC, MORE GENERAL ISSUES

WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION IN EDUCATION IN GENERAL AND HOLISTIC EDUCATION IN PARTICULAR?

This is not a subject I feel qualified to answer - but it is a subject for future dissertations or theses. However a few remarks might be worthwhile.

Holistic Education, the spiritual dimension of education, as non-faith-specific indoctrination, and the Philosophy of Education are all astonishingly young subjects.

Whilst material in religious and philosophical writings go back to the ancient Greeks, and earlier, serious non-faith-specific study of the spiritual dimension of education, as a specialist academic concern, has a very short history. The vast majority of stuff written about the subject has been produced in the 1990s and since. The broader concern of the Philosophy of Education is not much longer established – just over 50 years in the case of the UK.

Allied to the ‘young-ness’ is the fewness of the specialists in the fields of Holistic Education and its spiritual dimension. There are literally only a handful – Jack Miller, and Ron Miller being pre-eminent. Often people fail to distinguish between practitioners and writers on other subjects, some of whose work is relevant to Holistic Education and the tiny number of practitioners and writers who have dedicated their careers to Holistic Education. The list of those whose work can be made relevant to the spiritual dimension or to Holistic Education is very large. Bringing the ideas of such writers into a Holistic Education framework provides almost unlimited numbers of projects – there is so much virgin territory.

CHILDREN ARRIVE IN SCHOOL WITH A VARIETY OF BACKGROUNDS AND DEGREES OF DEVELOPMENT IN SPIRITUAL MATTERS - HOW CAN THE TEACHER SHAPE UP TO THIS DIVERSITY?

By concentrating on virtues - primarily truth, beauty, goodness and justice. S/he can set standards and seek to model them in her/his own behaviour. For teachers - as with sales people - that which is talked about grows. Talk about and celebrate how pleasing it was that this truthful, good or beautiful act took place - in a child's behaviour or in the class or in the community.

SO THERE'S AN INNER CORE THAN TRANSCENDS PARTICULAR BELIEF SYSTEMS?

Yes virtues are one way of thinking and talking about that which transcends particular belief systems.

WHAT IS SPIRIT, SPIRITUALITY & SPIRITUALIZATION?

Spirit is the life-force.

Spirit is the relationship of elements that determines levels of being; plant, animal, human etc.

Spirit is will, including the will to focus.

Spirituality is concern for the development of those virtues & positive characteristics that are pre-eminently human – chief amongst these are truthfulness, beauty, goodness and justice.

Spiritualization is the process of arranging for experiences – for self or others – that lead to the development of virtues and positive characteristics that pre-eminently make us human.

WHAT'S 'PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY'

'Perennial philosophy' is that which all, of the great world religions hold in common about the spiritual life and the journey of development that each soul makes.

THE SEVEN MAJOR POINTS OF THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY - TWO VIEWS A) BY KEN WILBER AND B) BY DEB PLATT

HERE IS HOW KEN WILBER SUMMARIZES THE SEVEN MAJOR POINTS OF THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY, IN HIS BOOK GRACE AND GRIT:

1. Spirit exists.

2. Spirit is found within.

3. Most of us don't realize this Spirit within, however, because we are living in a world of sin, separation, and duality--that is, we are living in a fallen or illusory state.

4. There is a way out of this fallen state of sin and illusion, there is a Path to our liberation.

5. If we follow this path to its conclusion, the result is a Rebirth or Enlightenment, a direct experience of Spirit within, a Supreme Liberation, which--

6 marks the end of sin and suffering, and which-- 7 issues in social action of mercy and compassion on behalf of all sentient beings.

THIS IS HOW DEB PLATT PRESNTED HER LATE LEMENTED SITE ON WHICH SHE BROUGHT TOGETHER A VAST AND BEAUTIFUL SELECTION OF QUOTATIONS FROM WORLD RELIGIONS (If anyone knows what happened to her site please tell me)

• There's a reality beyond the material world:

• Which is uncreated.

• It pervades everything,

• but remains beyond the reach

of human knowledge and understanding.

• You approach that reality by:

• Distinguishing ego from true self

• Understanding the nature of desire

• Becoming unattached

• Forgetting about preferences

• Not working for personal gain

• Letting go of thoughts

• Redirecting your attention

• Being devoted

• Being humble

• Invoking that reality

• Surrendering

• That reality approaches you through:

• Grace

• The teacher

• You're transformed so that you embody that reality by:

• Dying and being reborn

(SEE Aldous Huxley or Chap 2 of Jack Miller's Educating for Wisdom & Compassion)

Holistic Education doesn’t have allegiance to anyone religion or philosophy, but Perennial Philosophy is very important for many and is the position of this site.

SECTION 2 - GOING DEEPER

INTRODUCTION

In seeking to go deeper in Spiritual Matters we inevitably ask, 'Where to start'? All particulars, all parts, point to one reality, the Whole. Where else could they point? Answer: only to the hell of relativity, to a sea of disconnected bits. Even if that is not true it is part of the ‘fine deception’ though which we humans could lead kinder, more harmonious lives!

'Where to start'? In seeking to honour all of the great world-views my choice of a starting point is to place together a poetic fragment by the Zen master Dogen with a fragment by the great rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel:

From Dogen:

"This slowly drifting cloud is pitiful:

What dreamwalkers men become.

Awakened, I hear the one true thing-

Black rain on the roof of Fukakusa Temple."

Heschel says:

"Concepts are delicious snacks with which we try to alleviate our amazement." A. J. Heschel, Man Is Not Alone p.7

Perhaps everything is contained in these two, but I want to emphasize one or two points. The first concerns what we might call ‘excessive observance’ – I read recently of some meditator leaving his wife and children for ten years just to go up another level in his meditation. It is very difficult to see how such neglect can be seen as an instrument for truth, goodness, beauty or justice - or any other virtues. What is the point of spiritual practice if it doesn't enable us to act in the world with greater virtue?

Excessive desire for the unitive state can become lust in which no credence is given to the equally important 'living in duality'. In duality we give attention to the particulars, to the concepts, to noticing the wonder and awe behind the image or sound of rain falling on a roof. Compulsive anything can become the ‘world’ that comes between us and expressing the good. In any case this writer takes the unitive and the dualistic as being the two blades of the ‘scissors’ by which we engage reality – and, if you like, cut the cloth of our lives. Unitive junkies may not be as dangerous as fundamentalists (unless you have to be their wife or child) but they can be a distortion of their true selves.

Heschel points to the true state – of awe and wonder – which I take to be the same as the goal of the meditator in other traditions, but the wit of downgrading concepts to snacks should be seen as exaggeration for the purpose of restoring balance. Duality is as vital to us as is the unitive. It is from the dynamics between the two that we come to know. Talking is important as well as silence – but silence needs to be emphasized more. Attention to parts is important as well as experience of/in the Whole – but the unitive experience needs emphasis because so few of us have it satisfactorily in our lives.

Dogen on the other hand brings us back to the reality that each particular points…………….

NB - in continuous development. At the foot of this document there is a list of possible concepts for the Spirit Matters FAQs – and indeed for any general model of Holistic Education. Additions will be made from time to time. Concepts will be progressively taken from the list and used and added to the FAQs.

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF POSSIBLE CONCEPTS FOR SPIRIT MATTERS

LEVEL 1: LIST OF SPIRIT MATTERS CONCEPT-ELEMENTS

This is the master list of the main Elements'/Themes/ Concepts for the SunWALK model with additions & with

a new set of emphases related to ‘Spiritual Matters’.

Not all are discussed extensively in text.

See also the Glossary of Terms + Glossary of Baha'i terms/concepts.

Aesthetic/s see Beauty see Creative

Abilities

Action see Behaviour

Affective see feelings

Attitudes

Adulthood

Alienation

Aims & Objectives & Goals

Appearance & reality

Attachment

Authenticity

Authority

Autobiography see story

Autonomy

Awakening

Awareness

Awe & wonder

Beauty – see the Creative, the I voice, aesthetics

Behaviour see Action

Being & becoming

Belief/s

Brain - 'left brain' & 'right brain'

Caring

Centering

Certainty

Change

Character

Childhood

Cooperative learning – see

community

Commitment

Communication

Community

Compassion and empathy

Competition

Conceptual development

Conflict resolution

Conformity

Connectedness see holism

Conscience

Consciousness & c. raising/expanding

Consultation - group process

Contemplation

Contemplative practice

Context/ual/ization

Control

Core ethic for relationships – to relate to others so as to help them in their struggle to develop

Creative thinking

Creative /ity

Crisis

Critical thinking

Criticality

Culture

Curiosity

Curriculum

Decision-making

Democracy and democratic process

Detachment

Development

Dialectical = problematization + dialogue

Discipline

Discovery

Discrimination

Doing

Dualism

Discovery (inc. curiosity)

Ecology see environment

Ecstasy

Education

Educational environment

Ego

Emotion/s and feeling see affect

Empathy see compassion

Energy see spirit & chi

Engagement – see modes

Environment/ecology/inner being

Epiphany

Essence

Ethics - see moral/ity education

Ethos/Atmosphere

Evaluation

Evil

Existence

Existential/ism

Experience just two kinds

Experiencing outside of the box. As with Drawing with the

Experimentation

Faith

Falsity

Fear

Feelings see affect

Flow

Free will- see will

Freedom

Global development

Goodness – see caring

Group process-PFC/Consultation

Team work/co-operation

Growth see development

Habit

Harmony - h. in diversity

Having c.f. being/doing/becoming

Heart-knowing

Holism/whole/Holistic Ed

Holy Spirit

Human being - h. nature/spirit

Humankind – humanity

Human Rights

Humour and comedians

Ideals

Imagination

Independence see autonomy

Individual/ity c.f. individualism

Indoctrination and ‘Absolving’

Indwelling/intuition/inner being

Information – i. and knowledge

Initiation – education as

Inner being/spiritual/insight – see

interiority

Insight see intuition &

Interiority

Integrity

Intuition - insight/inner development

Insight

Instinct

Intelligence

Judgement

Justice

Justification – see knowledge

'Know that' – see Knowledge

Knowledge I WE IT voices

Language

Learning & Teaching

Life-force/energy/spirit/chi/inochi

Literature

Love - affect/spirit – see caring

Management

Materialism

Mechanistic models

Meaning & Meaning making

Meditation c.f. contemplation

Memory

Men/gender - see left brain/right brain

Metaphor

Meta-religion

Meta-religion and Perennial Philosophy

Methods in learning

Mind

Modes of experience & engagement

Moral development

Moral sensibility

Moral/ity in relation to the spiritual

Mystery (in human nature)

/potential/subconscious/unknown

Narrative see story

Nature

Needs

Negotiated learning – see democratic

process

Non-reflective learning

Norms

Objectivity

Openness

Paradigm

Paradox

Participation

Perception/attention/forms/field &/

Perennial Philosophy

Person/hood see human being

Personal history see story autobiography

Personhood – see also

authenticity/autonomy

Philosophy

Philosophy for children PFC

Physical self

Planning

Play

Poetry

Politics

Political correctness – a fascistic disease. Good manners, a commitment to unity in diversity and a willingness to forgive or apologise - and some license for comedians - is what is needed.

Positivism

Potential

Power & empowerment

Principles

Problem-solving v posing

Qualitative the

Qualities, spiritual e.g. empathy

Questioning

Rationality/reason/able/ness

Real/ity

Reductionism

Reflection - reasoning/meditation