Meditative Poetics exploring a Reinventive Education
Marlene de Beer
Consciousness Based Education (CBE) Co-Director
And Research Fellow into Consciousness
CIDA City Campus
E-mail: de_beer_marlene@hotmail.com
Genesis
I invite you into this space:
to become still
to go deeper
within
…breathe, watch and wait… & see what you will see –
visualise a reinvented education…
an education that integrates the head and heart
an education that returns to & appreciates the
Aesthetics
the Beautiful
the Sacred
an education that allows for Contemplative Space and Transformative Practice
Calling Educators to hold sacred a deeper Organic Potential…
May we as educators become more Organic in our approach:
we need to prepare the Soil with reverence & care
what Seeds do we plant in the darkness of the earth?
- with what Consciousness?
do we allow enough time for germination
for the invisible Root system to emerge
to continue to grow?
what is the quality of Relationships we nurture
as the young sapling appears above the ground
reaching into the light…
growing gradually into a trunk
with multiple limbs,
branches,
knotholes
& leaves
do we water it regularly &
provide some protection during winter frost?
from these branches Flowers and Fruits are eager to flourish
though, do our education practices & systems allow a hundred Flowers to Bloom?
from these Flowers, what Fruits emerge to feed & nurture a future generation?
what Seeds may take root & grow again from these Fruits in decades to come?
Spiritual Presence
Someday - looking back:
we can say with integrity & humility
YES!
I felt Your Sacredness
I was honoured to catch sight of your Higher Self - Your Original Face
& experience Your true Presense!
To become and resonate more
with why you’re here
& what your purpose is!
I am
because you are
a spiritual being
we are connected…
After all, no tree has branches so foolish as to fight amongst themselves!
Spiralling Pendulum co-create
May we allow through our teaching:
our bodies to be grounded through Mother earth
our minds to soar into the blue open skies
our emotions to flow from the deep creative river below
our imaginative spark to be rekindled around wood-cabin fires
…the Kosmic Spiral Dance to connect our chakras
– individually and collectively.
As educators we are challenged:
to find a fit-ness
between the yin-yang dance
of whole-ness and part-ness
a breakthrough, transformation and transcendence
of bifurcations and dualities
in an evolutionary co-creation…
It’s time to Awaken!
When you wake up, you find yourself back in the everyday world
& at a deeper level you’ll understand
that we are holding the birthing Universe in our laps…
we are flowing Together in the Kosmic Rainbow
& at the end of a tiring day
it is the Flame of our Hearts
that carries us through…
Executive summary - take 2 of neither the Alpha and the Omega…
…still under construction (& so is the rest of life)…
I:
Yet, once upon a time…
Russian-Pushkin-Purple-Seeds rooted…
in Ireland
Divided
head from heart
throat chakra
Troubled-Red…
Baronscourt Blue-Royalty
Emerge & evolve
Evolutionary challenged
Invite Blue Education
Fragmented / segregated
to Co-create
explore and express
across-border
creative energy
release imagination
inspire brain-friendly
experiential learning
intelligence reframed
create ripples
radiating ever further afield…
to soften Orange Rational Science
integrate the art of living & being
into the art of fitting & knowing
Like a gardener
Pushkinites till the soil
plants seeds and nurtures
(not only) inner landscapes & spiritual ecology…
through the River of Life
seed-sapling-Living Tree
bloom potential Tetra-Petalled-Flowers…
II:
…integrally informed Creative Spiral Wizards-to-be
Leap…
Yellow threads connect & weave
Turquoise web-like Spiders-
Spinning-Soul
Transcending & Including
without suppressing
No blame & be-blame games
Only Naked
Original Face
Mirror Higher Self…
& Power to the Third Win
for the Greater Good
& the Health of the entire Spiral
pendulum-like spiral existence
Translate & Transform the deeper pulse
we dance
and play
the tune beyond us,
yet ourselves
striking chords
chords beyond the reach
of social engineering
into a future
which is, under construction
go forth, with love…
I conclude with a summary of further implications that the above poetic meditations may have for the future of mainstream education:
- Education is not restricted to the classroom and four walls that box in beautiful emerging souls;
- Teachers are challenged to relinquish their power and become holistic co-creators;
- Teachers are not sole educational specialist and should explore involving the talents of environmentalist, artists, community members and parents in collective learning and teaching;
- Education systems and curriculum need to become more integral and reawaken the creative spirit through aesthetic practices;
- We need to find a triple embrace in our education between the True, the Good and the Beautiful;
- Young and old may learn through reconnecting with the Sacred and the environment; therefore, I call educators to hold sacred a deeper Organic Potential;
- We can all grow from an ego-centric and ethno-centric, to a world-centric embrace and realise we are all world citizens!
Sample references that inspired the above work and meditative poetics:
Beck, Don E. & Cowan, Christopher. 1996. Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change – Exploring the New Science of Memetics. Cambridge: Blackwell.
Beck, Don E. 2003. An Integral Global Emergence. Spirituality & Reality: New Perspective on Global Issues, III(3):31-32.
Bloom, William. 2004. SOULution: The Holistic Manifesto. London: Hay House, Inc.
Clements, Jennifer., Ettling, Dorothy., Jenett, Diane. & Shields, Lisa. 1998. Organic Research: Feminine Spirituality meets Transpersonal Research. In Braud, William & Anderson, Rosemarie. Transpersonal Research Methods for the Social Sciences: Honoring Human Experience. London: Sage Publications.
----. 2000. Organic Inquiry: If Research Were Sacred. Palo Alto: Serpetina Press.
de Beer, Marlene. 2005. Pushkin’s Organic 4-petalled Flower & Tree of Life Model… Towards an integral 4 Quadrants and Creative Spiral Dynamics interpretation of The Pushkin Trust. Online: http://www.ulst.ac.uk/faculty/shse/unesco/html/debeer.html
Gardner, Howard. 1983. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basil Books.
Gebser, Jean. 1985. The Ever-Present Origin. (translation, 1949, 1953). London: Ohio University Press.
Gilligan, Carol. 1982. In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Graves, Clare W. 1970. Levels of Existence: An open systems Theory of Values. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 10:131-155.
----. 1974. Human Nature Prepares for a Momentous Leap. The Futurist, April: 72-85.
Jung, Carl G. 1968. Psychology and Alchemy (The Collected Works: Volume 12, translated)(second edition). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
---. 1971. Psychological Types (The Collected Works: Volume 6, translated). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
----. 1977. The Symbolic Life (The Collected Works: Volume 18, translated). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Marshall, Hazel (Ed.) 2002. Journey in Depth: A Transpersonal Perspective (Barbara Somers with Ian Gordon-Brown). Leicestershire: Archive Publishing.
Miller, John P., Karsten, Sella., Denton, Diana., Orr, Deborah. & Colalillo Kates, Isabella. 2005. Holistic Learning and Spirituality in Education: Breaking New Ground. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Mokwena, Makgathi. 2003. Integrating Psychology and Spirituality through the Feminine Principle. PhD thesis. Johannesburg: Rand Afrikaans University.
Senge, Peter., Scharmer, C. Otto., Jaworski, Joseph and Flowers, Betty Sue. 2004. Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future. Cambridge, MA: The Society for Organizational Learning (SoL).
Smuts, Jan Christiaan. 1926. Holism and Evolution. London: MacMillan.
Wilber, Ken. 2000. A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science and Spirituality. Boston: Shambhala.
Zohar, Danah and Marshall, Ian. 2000. SQ: Spiritual Intelligence – The Ultimate Intelligence. London: Bloomsbury.
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