Teaching And Spirit

JAN. 22, 1981, 6:11 AM
W. WILLOW, STUDY

You come here in the not-so-early morning, o son, with the first week of your return to teaching almost complete. It has been a fine return thus far, and the class this afternoon on Perspectives should be the unique and proper beginning for that Life and Death class. So let us concern Ourselves with that calling our yours, vocationally, and that special calling to illuminate… together called Teaching and Spirit.

You commenced with teaching that required physical strength and prowess. While such is no longer necessary for what you do now physical vigor is still a plus when your subject is positive, holistic health. Physical wellness is important… though it often is a challenge to teach while you have some small sickness… or an injury such as now plagues you.

Teaching is, of course, is an intellectual endeavor, requiring full use of your mental capacities. It is the artful combination of confronting learners with facts and with concepts and ideas… with the equally artful combination of what is yours, originally, and what has been well developed by others. And, importantly, the task really is to get the learners to exercise their minds, not just repeat what yours has created. Don’t forget that as you develop these classes. Be aware of and appreciate the use of mind which is creative. As you do you are in an exercise of spirit.

Those are as in which you teach have some inherent emotional content. The most positive, healthy emotion is joy… that marvelous feeling of goodness with what is happening and with one’s role in the happening. Though it is not something for which you can strive, directly, it should be an everpresent spiritual goal to help students experience joy. When it happens the teaching has been a “thing of the spirit”. For, again, let it be known that emotion can be felt as “just emotion” or it can move on to an experience of spirit.