No longer clutered by daily worries and living simply allows the mind to be light and uncluttered. It makes it possible for the brain to stay alert and learn from everything, because education is everywhere, it is a living thing. However, education as we know it is to train the memory, discover technological knowledge, get a diploma and a job. The whole process being mechanical, without great depth. However without a comprehensive understanding of the meaning of existence, education has very little value. What society offers today as education is a form of violence : taking exams, competition, ambitious comparing, evaluating, judging, scoring... Comparing students destroys their momentum, it is then a competitive and destructive way of preparing for future life.
But is it possible to live in this world without competition, with intensity, energy and passion but without ambition ?
It takes great intelligence on the teachers part to cultivate non-duality. So what is education and what is the function of the educator ? What is are relationship to the student and parents ? Is the relationship based on giving information, from the status of having knowledge ? If so then the educator has no relation to the pupil. But if the educator descends from his platform, from his authority sand arrogance and tries to establish a relation with the student, the nature of the relationship is quite different. If he is concerned not only with the teaching of technological knowledge but also with the totality of the being : what he eats, his clothes, his walk, his speech, his behavior, all of this being part of the relationship, then his contribution takes on another dimension.
THERE IS THEN NO DIVISION NOR SEPARATION BETWEEN THE TEACHER AND THE STUDENT.
He is not just the one who informs, but who is deeply concerned the relationship. Because both are conditioned. The student is conditioned by his parents, his friends and his neighbors. Likewise, the teacher is himself conditioned, isn't he ? So the responsibility of a good teacher is to explain to the student that both are conditioned, and together they explore this conditioning so that there is a real relationship, without division. The teacher must also take care of the student deeply, with affection and love.
On the other hand, the parents are themselves conditioned by their beliefs, ambitions and the lack of time for proper education. They have to work to earn a living, buy more cars and everything else.. So there is very little relationship at this level too. Can parents be concerned with the full development of the child and also themselves, with the help of the teacher, all together ?
And then there is history : teaching history.. How to teach anything other than dates, kings, wars and the dates of wars, in order to glorify one's country and its rulers.. But rather teach the meaning of history, which is the story of man and woman.
Teach him not only the factual of kings and queens but the extraordinary story of the man who grew up to be what he is.. Not national history but the history of mankind. How do you go about that ? The individual is the totality of mankind, isn't he ? He is the embodiment of the totality of the human species. He will be grow up to suffer, if it has not already been the case for a long time. And then there are the wars, the communities : United States, England, France, all these divisions and why they exist, so that the child understands the global history through his personal experiences and not that of the books, philosophers nor specialists.. He can thus become an authentic individual, and not a second-hand person like the rest of us..
There is also mathematics and the understanding of order.. awareness of order.. order on a daily basis.. how to eat well, act, communicate.. consideration, politeness.. So it is necessary to teach order and respect for others, and not impose disciplines.
The subject of order concerns the teachers, parents and children. We can then link order to algebra and all the rest, always in relation to existence and everyday life, without discipline, which is compulsion, reward, punishment, grades, evaluations... The teacher-student relationship should not be that of a big brother or a teacher, coming from the standpoint of authority, but rather together. School should be akin to leisure, with a mind that is not occupied with books, family, problems... BECAUSE ONLY THE MIND THAT IS NOT BUSY CAN LEARN.
Comments