Week 8 - Spirit Realm in Academia: A Movement for Spiritual Liberation - Ryan Tong

For the academic world, religion and spirituality is never discussed. The Western world and its academia focuses on “science” and “factual proof”, yet the reasons for this are not as concrete as the “proof in science”.

In the article “Spirituality in the academy: Reclaiming from the margins and evoking a transformative way of knowing the world” written by Riyad A. Shahjahan, Shahjahan talks about why spirituality is difficult to talk about and why it is not discussed in the academy. According to Shahjahan, studies that are “observable, measurable, and visible” are taken to the world and “reinforced through academic capitalism and globalization”. To Shahjahan, the “university mimics business corporations” and focuses on preparing students to the industrial work world. How would the world change if suddenly spirituality was taught more?

Let us suppose that the world of academia took spirituality and religion as a priority. The values of how the world operates would change, or religion would have to adapt to their beliefs. Assuming that spirituality does not retain its concreteness that the world wants now, we will assume that spirituality has been discovered and proven through a breakthrough. Doing so, would not only make it taught more in school but there would be less arguments between religions as there will be a way to prove the supernatural forces, which at this point, would not be so supernatural.

This would not only change the way spirituality is studied at the university, but also the lifestyle of people in general. Arguments and questions will still be asked and can be studied in the academy.

Works Cited:
Shahjahan, Riyad Ahmed. "Spiritually in the academy: Reclaiming from the margins and evoking a transformative way of knowing the world." International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. Routledge, 28 Oct. 2015. Web. 21 May 2017.