Process And Spirit

MON., APR. 13, 1987, 11:29 AM
MINI-PRICE INN, LAS VEGAS

The discussion you just have left was a testimony to the importance of spirit in the process, no matter what the end goal may be. This was a long and involved process, commencing with almost no hope for eventual success. Gus provided the key concept – caring. When groups who had some influence on the success of the proposal came to see that some health educators cared about them, as minor associations, their responses were more supportive. Caring, when it is genuine, is an expression of spirit. And that is My theme for this midday meditation in this dry, dry place.

This was also the important theme of part of your conversation with Liza last evening – the importance of process in teaching health. Some subject areas can be taught reasonably effectively without much variation in process and without much spirit in that process. Not so health. The way in which classes are conducted… even individual sessions… is as important as (or even more important than) the subject matter itself. Processes that require or encourage interaction, that encourage self-esteem and also the valuing of others, are ones that demand a working spirit in the educator and that enhance spirit in the learners.

Those who have these capacities and use them can always achieve more spiritual growth, which empower them to even more spirit-enhancing processes. Those who have few talents in this realm and who won’t try to increase them (and symbolically bury them in the ground) achieve few benefits and make little progress. Yes, this is another example of “to those who have shall more be given, and from those who have little, even what they have is taken away.”

This obviously isn’t fair… does not seem like something a compassionate, loving Holy Spirit would do. I am ever ready to help, even with small attempts. I encourage these, and I help in innumerable ways. Yet, finally, the individual soul must “take the chance” and be willing to be vulnerable… humble herself to a view that the educative process is, at its best, one of interaction, with a lot of equality. Remember also that some persons are just not able to do what they purposed for themselves in the earth life… and are either not ready for or not suited for the life in the earth in which they find themselves.

Some get into teaching because they are attracted by the subject matter, not because they want to contribute to the lives of learners. As I said, in some subject areas this is not of great consequence, yet I still will affirm that a math, science, or social studies teacher with strong spirit, who wants to see this aspect of self develop in learners is likely to be more successful as a motivator, which is a key factor in learning.

The initiating story for this day’s Teaching suggests that even as you teach about something as “non-spiritual” as administrative skills and planning for success in an initiative, spirit can be a critical part of the process of learning these skills, and this helps to insure that actual later “real” processes are carried out with more caring and concern for others.

Now the concept of “tough love” can be extrapolated here. Having spirit as part of a process doesn’t mean that the approach is weak, namby-pamby, or wimpy. Students can still be “required” to learn. A program may need to retain its integrity, which would be diminished with too much compromise. Here is where true spirit shines forth. You could say to a class, in effect, “You have to do these papers right the first time… you have only one chance” (or is it “I’m willing to read them only once”?). Or you could say, “I want you to do the best you can do. If you can display this by rewriting a paper, I’m certainly willing to read it again.”