Enlightenment

Our little band of AWErs (Association for World Education) has spent the week talking about enlightenment. I always had to chuckle back home when telling people I was helping coordinate a seminar on enlightenment to be held in India, the land of enlightenment.  Such incongruity.  (Though as has been pointed out this week, the west, spurred by its rampant materialistic addiction of the 20^th century, has been shifting to rebalance by seeking a stronger spiritual life, and the east vice-versa – pardon the broad generalization there).

A small group of us – including Danes, a Russian, a Belgian guy, and some Indians – worked on e-mail and skype since our last AWE gathering in Denmark in the fall of 2010 to develop purpose, direction and structure that includes this major stopping point in Kerala.  What with the difficulties of communicating across cyberspace, language, and culture, it’s been filled with both joys and confounding amazement at how often we would come away with completely different understandings of ideas and decisions. Of course, that has provided with the ideal path to enlightenment!

We built the seminar around 3 basic questions: What is enlightenment? What educational activities and environments support the development of enlightenment? and What is an enlightened teacher? (or what is enlightened teaching?)  Still on board? Pull up a chair. Coffee or tea? A primary motivation in the fall of 2010 was to revisit the identity and boundaries of what world education means (as AWE).

A central concept in our discussion is that enlightenment has to do with “whole being,” or “whole living.” – trying to find our way to living beyond the socially and personally imposed barriers (traumas, fears, insecurities conventions) to who we truly are, who we started this life as; trying to live connected to others, to life, and not as separate, ego-dramatized individuals. Traditional education, while spending some significant time with the body in the early years, tends to focus primarily on the mind (always a trouble maker). As working the mind begins to dominate more and more over the body, the spirit and the soul meanwhile have been mostly neglected (except in those inspired, but too few classrooms – or schools - where the teacher is truly her/himself living from the heart).  Then our western, scientifically driven world squeezes out of us what we know about life and living as children. And look what has happened to American educational practice over the past 30 years in the name of reform.  Even more mind dominated.

Everybody is in this conversation here because they have been inspired by and tried to work in the margins of educational practice – which in developing countries – and to a lesser extent in industrial societies - is often in the margins of society.  Because of that, we all have to keep banding together and at some risk, preaching to each other (rallying the cry).  But I hope here, primarily, we have just been having an experience of awakening (as the Danish folkhighschool inspirator Grundtvig taught, always a precursor to enlightenment) by living “wholly” together – by connecting our eyes, hands, feet (often barefoot here), minds, hearts, movements, songs, energies, and spirits – all amidst this most profound land and life of southern India:  intensely alive with color, celebration, smell, joy, pain, celebration, taste, beauty, bigness, smallness, celebration, speed, slowness,  sound, celebration. In other words, we practice this whole way by creating a cultural container for it – and that in a nutshell is what this world education needs to do – one learning circle at a time, by building a learning container together that enables us to break through the barriers that our habits enslave us with.  OK, better stop.

So we did laugh a lot. and roll our eyes. and ponder. and stare in awe. and … We  visited a teacher training college, watched the most amazing performance of traditional dance (never see faces dance so close up before), visited a guru (my first ever), listened to panels of speakers, worked in small group discussions, grappled with mid-week revisions, toured about inspiring craft, farming (learning how they grow mushroom spores for growing more mushrooms), and technology programs here at Mitraniketan, struggled with words, and tried to conclude with some … answers.  But enlightenment is really only a path with questions. :-)

So what? (I always ask my students).  I can only speak for myself of course. But I feel exhausted and awakened. Dragged back down onto the ground and heartened to get up and try again. Lifted by these amazing people around here who live so closely with the earth and air.  Really inspiring.

As to my work, I am redoubled in my dedication to do what I can to co-create experiences for anyone – especially teachers -  to bring our compromised enlightenment to higher levels in our work and communities. Or better put, to pull away the barriers so that our already enlightened selves can be released. Learning and committing to regular practice that breaks our long entrenched and mind-fueled habits.

I’d love to hear your comments.

And I’ll try to get back to life on the ground here in India next time!