Week 9 - Kimberly Pariyavanh

Prior to reading this article, I always thought of the concept of spirituality to be an individual act. In media, gaining spirituality is portrayed as a person breaking away from their relationships with others to be alone and “find” themselves. While reading this week’s article the author, Eric Ritskes poses an interesting idea of spiritually as something that is not an isolated act. I learned that there is a connectedness to others, culture, and nature that helps one make sense of oneself.

Ritskes’ article also made me reflect on how I naturally kept my spirituality out of the classroom. Being in K-12 education and now in higher education, I realized there was never a space that welcomed learning through being spiritual. While reading the article, I began to question why does academia require people to leave certain aspects of themselves out of the classroom? I would think that being present with ourselves as a whole and not just bits and pieces would allow us to better reflect and grow. I always thought of education as a way to think more freely but I can see the ways that it also limits our thinking. I think one’s spirituality can act as a lense that is critical and allows one to think about ideas differently, rather than taking it at face value.

(Installation by Chiharu Shiota. I am using this image to represent the idea of connectedness that Ritskes discusses in the reading. Chiharu states that the keys were collected from different people around the world. She wanted the keys to represent the memories and pasts of people and also act as doors to unknown worlds.)

Question: Why does academia require people to leave certain aspects of themselves out of the classroom?