Meditation Teachers & Students - Both Responsible, Both Vulnerable

     Teachers as well as students are both "vulnerable to their unconscious longing for perfect attunement, for a merger experience in which idealizations obscure a realistic view of an actual human being. ...
     It is tempting to ignore the reality that there are two sentient beings in this dyad, and that both have psyches that make them capable of unskillful actions. Teachers, in fact, are vulnerable to the ways in which students project onto them both salvific & destructive capacities. And when a student idealizes the teacher to the point where he or she can't see the guru as human, it becomes nearly impossible for that student to take into account both the teacher's gifts and vulnerability.
     A teacher who has the maturity to be seen as a whole being - in addition to having a kind heart and a liberated mind - may invite the student to curb the idealizations and work instead toward cultivating the wisdom and agency they have been ascribing exclusively to the teacher.
     Teachers & students alike pay a price when this mutuality does not develop."

       Pilar Jennings PhD "Looking into the eyes of a master. A relational psychotherapist explores how we can see our teachers as people, both gifted and flawed." Tricycle Spring 2004

What Really Matters in a Community?

     What we do "is a very significant and integral part of many people’s lives. Bringing individuals together into community, exposing them to material that can challenge them, that can transform them, that can inspire them, and then watching and supporting them through those moments of transformation. That’s a very significant and important piece for individuals and for community. And that’s one of the concerns I have ... we’re losing places where that can happen in a very healthy, fulfilling way.

     I think what’s most important is the creation of communities in which we can be vulnerable to one another. A shared experience and vulnerability are key elements. Watching people become vulnerable with one another, or them watching me become vulnerable with them – those are moments when we’re touched and we think oh! And we have to see something differently, because you sense that someone else has some skin in that issue, or it’s a big thing for them, and we’ve never thought of that before. But when you’re sitting next to someone for whom something is a big thing, then you have to consider it and we open ourselves more fully I think.”

       Gretta Vosper, interviewed by Mary Hines on CBC Radio's "Tapestry" on Oct 4, 2013

http://www.cbc.ca/tapestry/episode/2013/10/04/letting-it-go-gretta-vosper-miriam-katin-eulogies/

http://www.cbc.ca/tapestry/popupaudio.html?clipIds=2410345126

     Meaningful Communities of Health-care Professionals: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2012/02/balint-groups-start-one.html  

     See also: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2013/01/sense-of-workplace-community-belonging.html 

Dale Chihuly   http://www.chihulygardenandglass.com/

From Shame to Courageous Imperfection, Vulnerability, Authenticity

     “Shame absolutely unravels connection. And shame can be understood as the fear of disconnection. Is there something about me, that if people see it, I won’t be worthy of connection? What underpins this is excruciating vulnerability. In order for connection to happen, we have to allow ourselves to be seen – really seen. … The one thing that keeps us out of connection is our fear that we’re not worthy of connection.
     The original meaning of courage - derived from coeur - was to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart. To have the courage to be imperfect.”             Brene Brown PhD 

     Within theistic traditions "guilt" can be a dominant factor. I suspect "shame" is more accurate. A sense of worthlessness ("worthless sinner") is profoundly disconnecting (on earth & heaven), and may lead to desperate longing to connect with a religious community that would take them in.

       See also: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2013/06/attention-educators-threatened-self.html
     and: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2013/04/self-conscious-shame-guilt-and-basic.html

Critical Spirituality - A Holistic Approach to Meaning

     Spirituality is “that which gives life meaning, in a way that connects the inner sense of meaning with a sense of something greater.

     Using this definition of spirituality makes it clear why it is important for human service workers to include spirituality in their work with clients and colleagues: how can you understand what is happening for another person in a holistic way if you do not have a sense of what gives life meaning for them?

     We need to be asking critically spiritual questions and seeking spiritual growth in order to create the kind of life-affirming communities and societies that we want for ourselves and our clients. Critical spirituality is about seeking meaning in a way that creates wholeness individually and leads to communities that live in sustainable, inclusive and socially just ways. Implicit here is that as critically spiritual workers we also need to include our own spirituality; we need to be able to reflect critically on what gives life meaning for us and the implications for how we practice.”

       Gardner F. Critical Spirituality. A Holistic Approach to Contemporary Practice. Ashgate Publishing Co. Burlington VT, 2011. 

See Rod Meade Sperry's editorial "Welcome to the Big Tent": http://shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4097&Itemid=0

Photo: bijan64   www.dpreview.com