--By L P Bhanu Sharma
Through this column, we are attempting to explore into the system of education that promises to finely integrate both the age-old human values and the modern scientific dimensions of living. For the sake of convenience, we call this ‘holistic education’.
Parents worldwide, in increasing numbers, are seeking alternatives to mainstream education. Few could criticize the commitment to academic excellence that most schools and teachers have and work hard to actualize. But more and more parents realize that just learning academics is not enough, and they see young people in their communities suffering from identity crisis, absence of values, lack of social and ethical concerns and minimal awareness of the universal ecology. This gap in education has resulted in: increased competitiveness in many aspects of a child’s social life, such as sports, out-of-school activities and school; obsessive concern for their “look,” from their body shape to their clothes; violence in many forms, from the physical to the psychological and emotional, and; soaring incidents of stress and related psychological issues.
There are four dimensions of human life: the physical (body), the psychological (mind), the emotional (heart) and the spiritual (spirit). It is only the physical and somewhat of psychological aspect that the present education takes care of. It teaches us about the external and physical aspects of life (our body, our surroundings, earth and other planets – the physical sciences) and the mental (psychology, humanities and management including all behavioral sciences). But it fails to identify, recognize, teach and immerse students into their own inner life of emotions and spirit.
If one were to draw a sketch of present human being, it would only have the muscles and the bones and a comparatively larger head. The heart would be very small in size and hidden somewhere, and the spirit will be completely forgotten and ignored. Suppose you have four rooms in your building. You take care of two rooms that are visible from the outside, but have never opened the doors and windows of the other two rooms that lie hidden from public sight. One can imagine the extent of damage these two ignored rooms must have suffered over the past dozens of centuries.
The purpose of holistic education is to prepare students to meet the challenges of living and this naturally includes academics. It must take care of the emotional needs of our life –to connect with everyone and the nature around, to give and receive unconditional love and to be taken care of by the society at all times. Taking care of emotional needs would solve many of the problems facing the world such as, stress, anxiety, depression, feelings of loneliness, suicidal tendencies and almost all the conflicts that erode our time, energy and resources.
Spiritual education aims at gaining new insight through observation of one’s own mind and by understanding one’s aims, objectives and direction in life. It focuses to understand oneself by studying/working with nature; learning new creative and innovative solution to problems and the application of meditation and self searching in the mind on all levels. A more spiritual education seeks to open the mind, warm the heart and awaken the spirit of each student and is not too different from normal public education that is needed for today’s work areas.
A holistic curriculum values physical, mental and spiritual knowledge and skills. It presents knowledge within cultural and temporal contexts, rather than as facts to be memorized or dogma to be followed. It is inter-disciplinary in nature, emphasizing creating of solutions through inter-relationship and inter-connectedness. It prods and challenges students to find their own place in the earth, their own model of contribution to society and to reach for the highest aspirations of the human spirit.
The author is the President of Jeevan Vigyan Kendra, a modern spiritual organization, and Principal of Apex College. He can be contacted through bhanu@ jeevanvigyan.com
