Of course, I would love to respond! This type of thinking is exactly the attitude
that I have run into in schools across Idaho…teachers and administrators who
feel that merely “clearing your mind” or “contemplating” is somehow tied to
Eastern religions. Unfortunately, this
is a common misconception. Every religious tradition has some contemplative
aspect whether it be called meditation, prayer, contemplation. It is usually a practice that is designed to
remove you from the day-to-day worries of your life and is supposed to be a
reflective time to consider “how things are going”. I think that the following illustration is a
nice way of understanding the various “contemplative” traditions: http://spirituality.wsu.edu/dimensions-of-spirituality/equanimity/tree-of-contemplative-practices/ . Contemplation/meditation is a natural human tendency/desire...it just happens to be used more frequently by religion.
If you look at the tree graphic, you will probably notice
that there is a broad range of practices from the secular to the overtly
religious...and many are Western. Christianity
has a strong contemplative tradition, and some of the earliest work in
contemplative pedagogy was begun by Thomas Merton, a Trappist (Catholic) monk. In fact, the contemplation and writing
exercise that I have you do in class is modeled upon a traditional Christian
monastic practice called “lectio divina” (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectio_Divina
or http://www.contemplativemind.org/practices/tree/lectiodivina
). Granted, I have modified it to be a
more silent practice without the verbal “response” or “prayer”…nevertheless,
the idea of identifying a passage of text or an idea and contemplating, and
then responding to it is uniquely Christian in origin. Nevertheless, contemplation is not a
religious thing….but it is used by religions as a mechanism to open the mind
and expand awareness of our place in the world. Unfortunately, education hasn't always been interested in "opening the mind" so we haven't been good about using contemplation in the classroom...too often Western education has been about cramming the mind full of objective facts and sterile knowledge rather than taking the time to make personal connections between the learner and what is learned.
Now, to the bell issue.
The fact that I use Tibetan tingsha in class is merely a coincidence and personal preference. I use them because they are small and
portable…I could just as easily use a larger handbell as is used in Christian
monastic traditions. In fact, I think
the handbell has a much more resonant and lasting sound…but handbells are large
and heavy to lug around. The use of the
bell is merely a signaling mechanism that allows the “facilitator” to
participate and remain in the contemplative experience along with the rest of
the group. Every time the facilitator
has to talk it takes them out of the contemplative experience. Although I have not yet stopped talking in my
facilitation of our in-class contemplative exercise, I am slowly moving us in
that direction. Nevertheless, if my use
of the bell is an overt distraction that keeps members of the class from being
able to focus, I am open to merely facilitating the process verbally.
Churches have used bells for thousands of years to call people
to worship, to mark the hours, to celebrate holidays, to mourn deaths, or to
warn of danger. The sound of the bell
has a strong Western tradition of signaling that we need to stop what we are doing
and pay attention to what we should be doing right here, right now. According to a Lutheran
history of the handbell, bells were steeped in superstition during the Middle
Ages. Bells were often baptized, and once baptized had the power to
ward off evil spells and spirits. Bells
were hung in doorways to protect visitors and the visited from the evil
spirits, which were believed to hang around doorways awaiting the chance to
slip inside. A visitor would ring the bell to drive the spirits away then
pass inside - which is the likely origin of the present day doorbell. This
custom also led to the "passing bell" which was rung to drive away
spirits who stood at the foot of a bed and about the house ready to seize a
person's soul as he died. The
sound of consecrated bells was also believed to dispel thunder and lightning
and to calm storms at sea for which demons were believed to be responsible. Talk about mysticism!
I think that you need to remember that bells are used
throughout our society as cues to pay attention or to transition…for example,
school houses used to be built with bells outside the door or an actual
belltower to call students to class.
Most teachers also had small hand bells on their desks to call the class
to order or to signal a transition between activities (that is why engraved handbells
are still a traditional gift or award for educators…see here for just one
example: http://giftsforeducators.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=13
). Bells are still used in schools to signal
transition times between periods, recess, lunch, or the beginning/end of the
day. Part of this is a holdover from
when schools used to be held in churches.
The unfortunate assumption that bells are uniquely “Eastern” shows just
how much we have forgotten about our Western religious history and how much we
have learned to tune out the various “bells” that still measure out each and
every school day. In fact many schools
take tremendous pride in their school bells (see: http://www.stauntonschools.org/History_of_the_Staunton_School_Bell.pdf
or http://www.prideofscotts.org/Bell%20Story.htm
or http://ohiosmalltownmuseum.org/bell.htm)
Personally, I think the tingsha are a
much more light and calm sound than the god-awful “bells” that are now used in
many schools.
Finally, I understand that what I am asking you to do is a
little bit out of the ordinary and uncomfortable. It was out of the ordinary and uncomfortable
for me until 4 years ago. 4 years ago I
went to Harvard Medical School to
participate in their clinical training program on Mind/Body medicine. I will tell you the whole story on Monday…but
to satisfy your curiosity let me say that I am not an easy person to convince
and I am naturally skeptical of anything that smacks of “new age” or “mysticism”. The thing that convinced me of the importance
of contemplative practice in my personal life and classroom was medical
evidence about the effect of contemplation/mindfulness/meditation of the
physiology of the body and brain.
Suffice it to say that teachers and students are stressed out; stress
slows down or stops the learning process and affects teachers’ ability to be
effective; therefore managing stress through
meditation/contemplation/mindfulness/yoga/tai chi makes students and teachers healthier,
happier, more productive and more successful.
It’s that easy, and there are large-scale experimental studies that
support it.
When we talk about using evidence based practices in the classroom,
the field of mindfulness in the classroom has more substantial
biological/neurological/psychological evidence behind it than almost any other
instructional/behavioral practice that is currently used in schools. I will share some of that research on Monday
(much to the chagrin of the last cohort, I’m sureJ
). If you want to do some pre-reading,
please check out the following small sample of peer-reviewed journal
articles/abstracts that cover the medical/education research….I will be happy
to answer any additional questions on Monday.
·
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1602246?uid=3739648&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102433338847
·
And on and on and on and on……….
Matt, one day earlier in these week, you asked hypothetically in passing, something along the lines of "Can we teach morals and values without teaching religion?" I think that can be answered with a "yes, it SHOULD be possible" for the same reasons that a chart can be made about contemplation across different religions. I truly believe that there are common values and common ideas of truth and good. I believe that our students need to practice kindness, compassion, charity, an awareness of one's self and self control, as well as an appreciation for the truth that some things are simply out of our control. We need to teach our students to focus on the commonalities while at the same time appreciating variety and differences for the value that they add. I appreciate the exposure to meditation that I have gotten through your classes, and although meditation and being quiet and alone with my thoughts seems to only cause trouble, I definitely see the value of mindfulness practices.
ReplyDeleteWhen I teach ethics I have my class read the following chapter from the book "Elements of Moral Philosophy" by James Rachels (thankfully another faculty member has copied it to their web page so I don't have to break copyright law;-). See: http://faculty.uca.edu/rnovy/Rachels%20--%20Does%20Morality%20Depend%20on%20Religion.htm
DeleteI think this chapter summarizes the philosophical argument as well as anything else I've read. In general, morality, like contemplation, is used by religions and spiritual traditions but not dependent upon them. Morality and contemplation cannot be dependent upon religion....if that were the case then we would, by default, have to assume that individuals who are nonreligious / atheistic are immoral/amoral and unable to contemplate/meditate...and we know that this is not the case. Therefore morality and contemplation must stand as constructs / practices that are independent of religion
Hi Matt,
DeleteThanks for taking the time to address my post so thoroughly. I think I was misunderstood though. It’s not that I think bells or mysticism or even meditation are exclusive to eastern religious traditions. It isn’t even that I am uncomfortable with these practices in general. As a Christian I meditate most mornings, and I have based most of my major life decisions on the fundamental belief that the Holy Spirit of my God indwells me and communicates with me. That’s about as mystic as it gets. The only thing I was pointing out was that the idea of meditating on self, on opening one’s self and emptying oneself coupled with the bells seems very much to be an eastern religious practice. It’s really an issue of context. If I ask my students to kneel on the floor and play a game it’s nothing. If I ask them to kneel on the floor and pay homage to me it’s worship. The kneeling isn’t the issue, it’s the context. Just as the bells and the meditation aren’t inherently eastern religion, when the two are individually or corporately are focused on self they are in opposition to my beliefs. I hope I am making sense here. I don’t even have issue with simply focusing the mind on the major issue of the text, that just makes sense. I have no doubt either that the research indicates meditation enhances learning. We are spiritual beings and much of our society doesn’t address that, education included. I would look at this in some ways as bringing prayer back into school.
Second, I noticed you said this:
“Morality and contemplation cannot be dependent upon religion....if that were the case then we would, by default, have to assume that individuals who are nonreligious / atheistic are immoral/amoral and unable to contemplate/meditate...and we know that this is not the case. Therefore morality and contemplation must stand as constructs / practices that are independent of religion.“
I would question your first and second premise as they concern morality. I think it is perfectly possible for objective morality to exist and also for a person to “construct” his/her own moral code. Just because they construct it doesn’t make it true (or real) though. Likewise, just because an individual or group constructs a morality doesn’t eliminate the possibility that true objective Morality exists. If I believe I can fly and conduict my life as such, that doesn’t eliminate the possibility that the laws of gravity exist. Further, if morality truly is a social / individual construct, than it is so fluid it doesn’t really exist because it has no definition. Depending on the individual or the society Hitler would be just as morally correct as Mother Teresa. With Morality as a construct, the removal of all wrongdoing in the world would, as Thoreau says in Walden, simply be a matter of believing that wrong didn’t exist. I would say that the fact we haven’t done that (with the exception of Thoreau who lived alone in the woods) goes a long way to indicate that Morality isn’t individually construct -that right and wrong are written on the hearts of humanity by God.
I am speaking more to morality here than contemplation. I could see meditation being separate from religion just like kneeling can be separate from religion- kneeling to wash the floor for example.
As I say all this, I am mindful that you are a Phd professor who has taught classes on ethics, and I am a greenhorn teacher. At the risk of being intellectually and academically buried by your much larger knowledge base, I would love to continue this conversation over tea. I am interested to hear your take on this.
I appreciate your response Tom. I think its important to note that I stated that morality is not dependent upon religion...I didn't state that there was no objective morality. I especially don't believe that morality is individual and solipsistic. All societies share common moral ideals regardless of religion and culture; some of these ideas include honesty, respect for life (prohibition against murder and unnecessary injury), respect for property (communal or personal), etc. Without these common ethical principles society couldn't exist, even if they do vary some in definition and degree across different cultural groups. Again, if we notice these commonalities across cultures, from the primitive to the modern, irregardless of religious belief, we can assume that there is some objective morality/ethical principle necessary for societies to exist...but this morality is not dependent upon religion or belief system...although religion has incorporated and expanded upon some of these basic principles.
DeleteAh, Ok. I could see the possibility of it not being tied to "religion" as you use the term. Perhaps tied to Ideology then? Otherwise where does it's definition come from? I suppose it's a moot point though because there isn't a society without ideology, so there can be no example to examine. When you called morality a construct, I took it to mean that it had no objective existence and was determined individually. I got a little excited, but it sounds like I just misunderstood what you meant.
DeleteI had a very negative experience during the first contemplation exercise in class, which, of course sent me into a deep round of contemplation of what went wrong. The first discovery was simple, I'm a mouth breather, easy to fix, intakes of breath need to come through my mouth and my nose. If I do that the sensation of drowning was gone.
ReplyDeleteThe second discovery I made is that this is not as alien to me as I thought at first. I can attach this type of consciousness to other things I already know. For instance, I'm artist. I come to this place of contemplation when I am deep into a piece. In art we talk about this as a new way of seeing; I call it coming to center. When you are in it, the world and all it's distractions are forced out, and your focus becomes intense. I have used the artistic process many times to work anxiety from my body and mind. For my husband, running is how he finds this place, for my son it is the playing the guitar, and for one of my daughters it is setting the volleyball over and over against the side of the house.
After connecting mindfulness with something I already know, I felt my initial resistance fall, and I got a great deal out of the exercises. Maybe this is key to disassociating contemplative thinking with a specific religion or set of religious ideas. Link it to what people already know. I've never had any complaints teaching art exercises that promote finding a creative space within your mind. (Pssst....it is meditation just don't tell anybody in Troy)
I see nothing objectionable to this contemplative exercise from my perspective. Western meditation is different than eastern. Meditation has roots in the western Christian practice and does not involve “emptying the mind” in the sense that eastern meditative practice does. Contemplating on a particular passage of text without any distraction seems like a fairly harmless, if not beneficial, exercise. Besides, it gives us an opportunity to strengthen our powers of concentration, a useful skill for religious or secular pursuits.
ReplyDelete