The Spirit of a Student

Tags

learning, spirit, spiritchat, student, teacher

The month of August in the USA heralds the beginning of the “back to school” season – summer break is over and students and teachers begin the new year of school. As summer camps and summer vacations wind down and the focus shifts to preparing for new children to enter new grades, entire communities shift gear. Teachers may have to start preparing and revising lesson plans. School administrators may start focusing on myriad issues like budgets, staffing, curriculum and more. Parents may have to shift focus to gathering resources like school supplies, clothing, and waking up earlier than usual 🙂 And the students? What about the students, around whom this entire process of shifting focus revolves?

The student has perhaps the biggest shift to make – from the relatively carefree days of summer – to the relatively structured days of school. For some, the transition, the shift in focus, is easy. But I would guess, that for many, this shift is difficult, and takes some time. When I look back to my school days, this transition was slightly different. Our school year would begin in April, we would have a six week summer break, and then go back to school in early July. And, we had a stack of homework and projects to complete during our summer break. Oh, the injustice of it all – a summer break ruined with having to do school-work! 🙂

But, I digress. I was talking about the transition that ‘children’ have to make – mentally, physically and emotionally – to go back to school. We know of the responsibilities and roles of teachers, administrators, support staff and parents in transitioning ‘back to school’. What about the responsibilities of the ‘children’ to prepare themselves for ‘back to school’? In a way, we adults are perhaps like ‘children’, often find ourselves in having to make similar transitions – of going back to ‘school’. If we view our life as a playground of continuous learning – we adopt the attitude, and spirit of a student, don’t we? When we ingrain this student spirit into our minds and hearts, we have the potential to make our ‘back to school’ transitions easier. We simply view these life transitions as new opportunities to learn more about ourselves.

However, some among us, particularly the experts in a particular field or occupation, may find that it is difficult for us to go ‘back to school’. This can also happen in our spiritual life – where we have accepted certain truths, certain beliefs, certain rituals, and so on, as inviolate or non-negotiable. Yes, we need some truths and beliefs, and maybe even some rituals, to serve as foundations for the value systems in our life. So, how do we retain the spirit of a student? Of being open to continuous learning? As students, do we have a responsibility to prepare to be taught? If so, how can we do this? How does a spirit of trust affect the student-teacher relationship?

I hope some of these questions energize the student in you. I invite you to join the #SpiritChat community on Sunday, August 11th on twitter to talk about the Spirit of a Student. Come ready to share, and to take notes, and learn from the #SpiritChat community.

Thank you for reading – Namaste, and Be well.

Kumud

Update: Here are the questions asked during the chat. Enjoy, and feel free to answer in the comments… The full transcript and statistics are available at http://bit.ly/sc-tr-0811

Q1. The Spirit of a Student. What does it mean to you in your present life context? #SpiritChat
http://twitter.com/AjmaniK/status/366546228101660672

Q2. What makes an ‘ideal’ student? Does this ‘ideal’ create pressure for you as a student? #SpiritChat
http://twitter.com/AjmaniK/status/366547871773896704

Q3. As students, what are our responsibilities towards our ‘teachers’? Do we have any? #SpiritChat
http://twitter.com/AjmaniK/status/366549727333990400

Q4. In what areas of your lives could you be a better student? What stops you from being so? #SpiritChat
http://twitter.com/AjmaniK/status/366551856438194178

Q5. How do the lessons that we learn as students, serve us in our roles as teachers? #SpiritChat
http://twitter.com/AjmaniK/status/366553362897973249

Q6. Can spirituality be taught, even to the best of students? If so, how? If not, why? #SpiritChat
http://twitter.com/AjmaniK/status/366555484221734912

Q7. “The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn.” Thoughts? #SpiritChat
http://twitter.com/AjmaniK/status/366556842953932801

Q8. “When the student is ready, the teacher appears”. Do we need to get ‘ready’? Why or why not? #SpiritChat http://twitter.com/AjmaniK/status/366558104814501889

Education and the Spirit

Tags

spirit, spiritchat, student

The classic definition of a student is one who goes to “school” for the purpose of learning. However, haven’t we have been students all our lives? From the time we were born, we have been on a voyage of trying to learn about the world around us. A lot of the skills we have developed from a very young age have been motivated by the desire to function well in the world.

As we graduated from school to (perhaps) college and beyond, formal education imparted by our systems taught us the skills we needed to (hopefully) get good jobs or be good entrepreneurs. Maybe, some of this education also taught us some social skills of how to engage with others and how to develop ad maintain good relationships. For those (like me) who went to school (in India and the USA) for a relatively long time, it was almost a relief to be able to say – yay, I’m finally done. I have learnt everything I needed to learn.

How much more wrong could I have been! I very quickly learnt that a little bit of technical knowledge is a dangerous thing – particularly when you are surrounded by world-class experts in your field. In addition, technical knowledge (in any area) does not equal on-the-job skills. They are called on-the-job skills for a reason – you learn them by stubbing your toe a few times after putting into practice what you learnt during your formal education.

But what does all this have to do with the education of the spirit? It is my proposition that our spiritual education sometimes follows a pattern that is similar to our “classic” education. We have our educators and influencers at all stages – from our spiritual infancy to adulthood. There may be certain “graduation” milestones along our journey that serve as growth markers in our spiritual growth and understanding.

However, there may be big gaps between our spiritual education and what actually works in practice for spiritual growth. What do you think? Is a formal system of spiritual education necessary (or useful)? Who have been your influencers so far on your spiritual journey? What lessons have they taught you? What is our role as students in spiritual education?

I invite you to join us in our weekly #SpiritChat discussion to share your thoughts on “Education and the Spirit”. Sunday, April 22nd at 9am ET / 1pm GMT. Thank you.

Kumud Ajmani

P.S. A follow-on chat will further expand this topic with a discussion about “The role of teachers” in spiritual growth. Thank you @authenticpower for your excellent suggestion about this topic!

Update: Here is the transcript http://bit.ly/sc-tr-0422 and questions – thank you to all who shared their wisdom!

Q1. What do the words "education" or "schooling" signify to you?
Q2. What are some important life lessons that you learnt in "school"?
Q3. How is our education connected to learning and wisdom?
Q4. Which is more important for spiritual growth - formal or self-education? Why?
Q5. Who are/were some of your most impactful teachers from a spiritual perspective?
Q6. What can nature (the earth) teach us that can help us grow spiritually? 
Q6. What can nature (the earth) teach us that can help us grow spiritually?
Q7. If nature is a great teacher, what can we give back to nature (earth)?
Q8. How do our acts of giving back what we learn affect our communities - offline and online?

The Spirit of Learning

Tags

learning, spiritchat, student, teacher

We are all students and teachers at different times in our life, in different areas of our life.

We all start as young children and (hopefully) acquire the knowledge and skills to thrive in this world from our parents, care-givers, teachers, friends, family and communities. As we grow into adulthood, we hope that our ‘learning’ translates into opportunities to engage in the things we like to do, and in some cases, love to do.

The student-teacher relationship is very unique and can provide a great playground for exploration and development of ideas among the student and the teacher. In ancient India, young children had to leave home at an early age and request to be accepted into studentship by the sages of the time. They would be educated in all skills – mental, physical, social, and yes, spiritual – by these sages. They would emerge from these ‘schools’ with a well-rounded ‘education’ in all areas of their lives, with a foundation of strong character and life-skills.

It is relatively easy to learn the mental, physical, and to some extent, social skills in today’s teaching environments (schools and universities). But who is teaching us the skills required for spiritual growth? Are we being good students of the ‘spirit’? Are religious institutions providing adequate spiritual instruction? Or are loose-knit organizations (online and offline) being more effective in providing spiritual learning and support?

I invite you to come and share your thoughts with the #SpiritChat community on Sunday January 22nd at 9am ET/2pm GMT. The topic will be “The Spirit of Learning” – Thank you.

Please consult the FAQ if you need information on how to participate in the live tweetchat.

Kumud @Ajmanik

P.S. If you are unable to join the “live” chat on Sunday, please share your feedback on ‘The Spirit of Learning’ in the comments. Thank you!