Week 8 - Matthew Mandel

The article, “Spirituality in the academy: reclaiming from the margins and evoking a transformative way of knowing the world” by Riyad Ahmed Shahjahan, brings the thought to mind as to why there is a separation between education in the academy and spirituality. He described something called the state of “being’ and “non-being”, the being is everything that is, everything that is tangible and what you understand. However the non-being is everything that is not seen, it is what you cannot understand unless you work to be more in that state. He also explains that having the belief in something greater than yourself gives you a feeling of purpose and drive to be better, so when you separate that from your life, what purpose is their but to push to be more successful in your work and make more money. But why do they not allow spiritual beliefs into schools already? The schools believe in science and facts, they believe in the “being”, what can be studied and researched, something they can see and prove. They pull away from what is the “nonbeing”, it is something they cannot see or comprehend. In schools you must learn skills to push you to go and earn money, you gain a career and educate yourself with what everyone can understand, these are things that can benefit you and others.

Growing up in a religious home I learned about how when I went to school they did not teach or talk about religion and you could not go and take time to practice prayer. There were smalls groups of after school activities where people of the same religion get together but that was it. It contradicted with education and because everyone does not practice the same religion they also kept education and spirituality separate. My thoughts are that if being able to take the time to say a small prayer before something is taught to you or an exam will benefit your spirit that does not seem to be a big problem, and as long as you do not go and disrupt the learning process maybe some aspects of spiritual beliefs should not be kept separate. When your spiritual beliefs are a part of the person you are and help guide you that is something that would be more comforting if you were able to also include that in your educational growth. 

Question: Why aspect of spirit realms do you think the general public disagrees mosts of teaching it in school?

Resources:

Shahjahan, Riyad Ahmed. "Spirituality in the academy: reclaiming from the margins and evoking a transformative 

                way of knowing the  world." International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 

                18.6 (2005): 685-711. Web.

Image Resource:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/40015061@N04/34345335996