Week 9- Future of Spirit Realm

Week 9: Future of Spirit Realm
ASA 189B
Franchesca Flores

Escaping the idea that knowledge can only come from academia and explore new ways of thinking, such as spirituality. When western cultures dominated over indigenous people and their practices, spirituality was an aspect that was shadowed over. Underrepresented groups of people are now able to come together and prove that knowledge does come from living one’s own reality, and there are multiple types of knowledge that different people value. Indigenous knowledge is truly of the people because it is ever changing with the times and people that one comes in contact with. The term “indigenous” ensures that the knowledge gained is fluid, coming from different sources and overall large. Present day education silences multiple voices and instead focuses on those discussing Western culture. Alongside knowledge is spirituality, and Eric Ritskes states “spirituality  is  an  elusive  word  with  a  variety  of  definitions  –  some compelling, some wifty, some downright dangerous”. Spirituality then helps people establish a sense of individuation, finding their place in this world. There is a sense of family in indigenous cultures, where knowledge and spirituality combine forces. The future of spirit realm will be seeing the combination of the two. As one experiences the wonders of life their spirituality grows as does their knowledge. Knowledge meaning meeting different communities, practices, experiencing different cultures, and places. 

A question that comes to mind is in today’s schooling system knowledge is graded mathematically and systematically, with the incorporation of teaching spirituality, should it be given the same grading criteria?