Education for the Heart-Mind

     Effective physicians know how to genuinely connect with their patients on a human-to-human level. How much the physician genuinely cares for the patient's well-being is clearly felt by the patient. This therapeutic alliance in turn positively affects the patient's hope & expectancy.
     Educators have a very similar high calling. Educators have a great influence - positive or negative - on their students.
     We all must take the influence we have on each other very, very seriously.

First Day of School   by   Sheree Fitch

Here, take my child.
He has a fistful of crayons,
Is ready to begin
To enter the halls that smell of chalk dust and lemon oil.
He wants to colour a picture.
Help him to see that the colour he chooses,
The pictures he makes, are beautiful…..
Before you ask him to paint the Sistine Chapel.
Here, take my child.
She knows one and one makes two.
I want her to learn to add,
Without being subtracted from.
I want her to multiply her abilities,
But not if it divides her against herself.
Here, take my child.
He has a book he wants to read.
Let him read it first,
Tell you why he likes it,
Before you ask him to read a book
You think he should read…..
To be up to “the level”.
Here, take my child.
She has written a poem:
“dandy lions are golden buttons in the grass”
Smell those dandelions, see the image,
Before you tell her dandelions are weeds or
Dandelions is not spelled correctly.
Here, take my child
but... TAKE CARE.

http://www.shereefitch.com/blog/2015/9/8/first-day-of-school-poem.html

When the Shoe No Longer Fits

     What happens when the religious / spiritual group with which you closely identify keeps punching you in the nose with its simplistic immaturity?

    The original founders of most major religions - Taoism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam - were profound mystics who deeply inspired small numbers of followers, AND usually met with violent opposition from orthodox religions, and other established political organizations.
    Subsequently, and even today, Judaism, Christianity & Islam continue the violence, even internally - one faction against the other, "orthodox" against "reformers," and the majority against their own, few mystics, who (like their founder) are serious reformers ie 'real shit-disturbers.'
    Not surprisingly, religious orthodoxies are only comfortable with the first 3 of Fowler's 6 stages of faith, deeply troubled by 4&5 (equating these stages with psychology, and thus 'anti-religious'), and are dead-set against 6 (calling it 'madness' - which ironically sounds like pop-psychology). http://www.johnlovas.com/2013/11/fowlers-six-stages-of-faith.html .
    For the past 18 years, important international research is been carried out on well over a thousand "Finders" - people who have stabilized at stages that start at Fowler's level 6. Instead of 'madness,' Finders report experiencing deep, foundational inner peace & joy that far surpasses common experience. Dr. Jeffery A. Martin. “The Finders.” Integration Press, 2019.

      How strongly one identifies with their particular take on religion / spirituality becomes clear when being questioned in a thoroughly intelligent, reasonable, & well-meaning manner.
     If the best they can do is an emotionally anguished, irrational counterattack, then they're actually defending their EGO (personal ± group). This may be a "shipwreck" moment - a "crisis in faith," when they might realize that the short catchy slogans of their sect are no longer enough.

     Their current worldview / self-concept may now need to be upgraded to a more mature model - one that better matches reality. They may need to go DEEPER in their own religion - membership alone is like being a fan of a sports team instead of engaging as a serious athlete. OR, maybe it's time to find a group that is capable of understanding & nurturing their current & higher levels of psychosocialspiritual development.
     Going deeper & moving on is a normal, recurrent event for normally maturing, healthy human beings, though sadly many of us neglect or even actively resist this process. One reason for remaining stuck is the fear of being shunned by your current group.  
     But perhaps the key aspect of maturation is having the courage to leave behind dogmas (that once seemed to provide certainty, but now feel claustrophobic), and move towards love, freedom & spaciousness.

     "The small man builds cages for everyone he knows. While the sage keeps dropping keys all night long for the beautiful, rowdy prisoners."                   Hafiz

Seaport Market, Halifax, NS

 

The Single Common Language - Rhythm of the Universe

     Isn't THAT what we're all after? Not that we're all, individually, at the same level of psychosocialspiritual development. But in our own humble personal way, as we all crawl, stumble, walk, fly & levitate majestically from the primordial swamp - are we not all evolving - in a massive timeless single will of the human heart-mind - one for all & all for one, towards full & complete enlightenment?

Night Watchman (Budapest), 2009 Tamas Dezso   http://www.kochgallery.com/artists/contemporary/Dezso/index.html