VIP considerations: exploring connections between spirituality, teaching

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VIP considerations exploring connections
between spirituality, teaching learning

• Digby Warren Dave Griffiths
• (London Metropolitan University)
• Workshop for Higher Education Academy Annual
  Conference 2009

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The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the
rational mind is a faithful servant. We have
created a society which honours the servant and
has forgotten the gift. Albert Einstein It's
by logic we prove but by intuition we discover.
Leonardo da Vinci
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Compare the following definitions Spirituality
having to do with deep, often religious, feelings
and beliefs, including a persons sense of peace,
purpose, connection to others, and beliefs about
the meaning of life. (USA National Cancer
Institute Dictionary of Cancer
Terms) http//www.cancer.gov/Templates/db_alpha.as
px?CdrID441265 Spirituality is a mode of
consciousness rooted in a sense of connectedness
to our inner/higher selves and all forms of
creation. It is a state of being and believing
that can be understood as part of many faith
traditions as well as existing outside of them.
(adapted from Hunt 2006 p. 54)
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Keeping your mind in a quiet state let a
metaphor or an image come into your mind that
represents the relationship between spirituality
and learning share this metaphor/image with the
person next to you
ADD LINK TO SOUND CLIP
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• Why focus on alternative worldviews and ways of
  knowing and being?
• reaffirm deeper values that underpin teaching and
  learning
• renew our vision of higher education in face of
  current instrumentalism
• revitalise the learning experience for new
  generations of students

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• Some alternative frameworks
• Gaia consciousness
• ecological thinking
• spiritual intelligence
• presencing
• transformational learning

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Gaia consciousness
http//www.geekstir.com/img/earth3.jpg Viewed
from the distance of the moon, the astonishing
thing about the earth, catching the breath, is
that it is alive. (Lewis Thomas, 1976 p.170
cited in Midgley, 2001, p.17)
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• Gaia consciousness
• a worldview based on the symbolism of Gaia as a
  fusion of new science and ancient metaphysics
• idea of Mother Earth (Gaia, Tellus Mater,
  Eingana, Pachamama) as a sacred living being
  which sustains all planetary lifeforms
• Gaia hypothesis (Lovelock) Earth as a single,
  self-regulating organism
• humanity and environment are a single system,
  versus notions of dominionism and Cartesian
  dualism (separation of mind body, spirit
  matter)
• need to develop right relationships with self,
  each other and Earth itself

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• Ecological thinking
• paradigm shift from Age of Reductionism
  (behaviour of parts) to Age of Emergence
  (behaviour of the collective) (Laughlin 2005)
• new paradigm holistic or ecological (Capra
  1997)
• challenges old mechanistic paradigm of science
• deep ecology vs shallow (human-centred)
  ecology
• Deep ecological awareness recognizes the
  fundamental interdependence of all phenomena and
  the fact that, as individuals and societies, we
  are all embedded in (and ultimately dependent on)
  the cyclical processes of nature. (ibid. p.6)

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• Ecological thinking
• key features
• shift from building (e.g. foundational laws or
  elements) to network as a metaphor of knowledge
  
• synthesis of structure, pattern and process
• spiritual in essence
• When the concept of the human spirit is
  understood as the mode of consciousness in which
  the individual feels a sense of belonging, of
  connectedness, to the cosmos as a whole, it
  becomes clear that ecological awareness is
  spiritual in its deepest essence. It is,
  therefore, not surprising that the emerging new
  vision of reality is consistent with the
  so-called perennial philosophy of spiritual
  traditions.
• (Capra 1997 p.7)

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• Spiritual intelligence
• SQ our ultimate intelligence with which we
  address and solve problems of meaning and value,
  can place our actions and our lives in a wider,
  richer, meaning-giving context (Zohar
  Marshall, 2000 pp.3-4)
• innate ability of human brain and psyche that
  rests in that deep part of the self that is
  connected to wisdom from beyond the ego, or
  conscious mind (p.9).
• It facilitates dialogue between reason and
  emotion, between mind and body. It provides a
  fulcrum for growth and transformation and the
  self with an active, unifying, meaning-giving
  centre (p.7).
• SQ may find a mode of expression through formal
  religion, but being religious doesnt guarantee
  high SQ. (p.9)

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• Spiritual intelligence
• adaptive use of spiritual information to
  facilitate everyday problem solving and goal
  attainment (Emmons 2000)
• set of adaptive mental capacities based on
  nonmaterial and transcendent aspects of reality
  related to the nature of ones existence,
  personal meaning, transcendence, and heightened
  states of consciousness. When applied, these
  processes are adaptive in their ability to
  facilitate unique means of problem-solving,
  abstract-reasoning, and coping (King 2007)
• analogous concept of the undermind (Claxton
  1997) the intelligent unconscious (p.7), a
  vehicle for slow knowing (p.13) and source of
  wisdom (cf p.195)
• Tools include prayer, mediation, contemplation
  ongoing daily practice of staying conscious of
  ones thoughts, emotions and behaviours (cf
  Diedrich)

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source
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PRESENCING
source
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Transformed Awareness
Environment
Normal Awareness
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEARNING
PURPOSE
Identity
Beliefs
Capabilities
Behaviours
Sources Bateso (1972) Dilts (1990) Korthagen
Vasalos (2005
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• Common themes
• interconnectedness of all forms of creation
• holistic/systemic thinking
• place of intuition, feeling and imagination
  (creativity) in knowledge generation and
  knowledge application
• spirituality as a core dimension of being and
  development/learning

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What values do these models reflect? What kinds
of approaches to teaching and learning do such
values imply?
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• What kinds of activities/assignments do/could you
  employ to help students to
• tap into inspiration, insight, imagination,
  intuition, creativity etc
• see their learning experiences from the
  perspective of a deeper sense of meaning and
  purpose?

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• Examples of activities
• drawing concepts
• collages as reflection
• inner coaching
• drama as cosmic expression
• dreamtime exercise for actors

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We now know that the brain is built to linger as
well as to rush, and that slow knowing sometimes
leads to better answers. We know that knowledge
makes itself known through sensations, images,
feelings and inklings, as well as through clear,
conscious thoughts To be able to meet the
uncertain challenges of the contemporary world,
we need to heed the message of this research, and
to expand our repertoire of ways of learning and
knowing to reclaim the full gamut of cognitive
possibilities." (Claxton 1997 p.203)