Spirit In Teaching

TUES., AUG. 25, 1987, 6:29 AM
FARM, STUDY

As you actually commence your Fall classes, o son, I must, once again, offer you some words of direction concerning the teaching/learning process. You certainly are familiar with the process, and you know what I expect of you in the teacher role. Yet I want to offer you another up-date… another challenge as you begin, symbolically, another year of this important vocation.

You have the spirit that is necessary for good teaching, and you can develop still more. You must not assume, however, that all learners are where you are, and hence you must accept some where they are and move them along as far as they are able and willing to go. Toward what end? Toward an acceptance of spirit as the essence of each learner and of each class. With this perception your concern is with touching those spirits and letting spirit energize and direct the intellectual processes in learning.

Emphasize, as you talk about the spiritual dimension, that this is the dimension that unifies, coordinates, and facilitates. Thus, when it is strong its main evidence may be balance and comfort in the whole learning process, rather than a strong evidence of religious fervor. A strong spirit can be very unobtrusive in the behavior observed by others, but powerful in affecting motives behind the actions. You remember that I am much more concerned about your true motives than about actions themselves.

But then, to invoke the learning process, I’ll say that if you can’t generate the highest motives act in ways that such motives would produce, and from this may come more comfort with the higher “reasons for.” In one sense this is being hypocritical, so this balance must be maintained. Relax and let your spirit guide this balancing. (You can see, of course, how spirit is involved in the expression and in the growth of sprit, so that when you have a strong spirit it becomes stronger easier, while when it is weak, it is much harder to develop.)

Spirit is the chief determiner of what is best to do, even what is “right.” So always let spirit guide you in the conduct of a class. Your mind and spirit must always have alterative activities or approaches, and you must be willing to shift and change in order to abet the learning process. Traditional teaching – telling learners what they need to know – may not be appropriate at a particular time. Because it “should work” you can be tempted to “pour it on” even more. Only a few will respond with Puritan doggedness. Others go through the motions. Others just stop learning. Still others turn away from the subject and from you. Your concern must be for all of the flock, o shepherd. And spirit is your guide to how a class is functioning and what you should do to maintain the highest learning level, over the total course. Be wary of winning battles and losing wars.

In the environment class strive to make them aware from the first meeting, of how necessary spirit is to the maintenance of ecological balance here in the earth. When the actions we take to achieve the life we want are injurious to the best balance, it takes a sense of sacrifice and a concern way beyond self to affect any changes. Such a spirit is behind all real change that is not otherwise forced.