In Education in the New Age by Alice A. Bailey, the Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul inspires us to uplift all of humanity through bringing the ageless wisdom into practical usage in our classroom activities and relationships. He states that teaching of our true inner nature, creating an atmosphere of love, patience, understanding, and co-operation, and meditating to facilitate soul contact are of the highest importance within these settings. The value of the individual and the reality of one humanity, when fully grasped, will revolutionize the teaching system. He further states that in the new age, education will utilize the most advanced psychological knowledge on a much wider scope than at present. Psychology is preparing itself for that role through the development and expansion of the fourth major trend within that field, Transpersonal Psychology.
This exciting dimension to psychology emphasizes the reality of the soul and its divine inner potential, the unity of all mankind, and the importance of love extended within and without. Meditation and selfless service are methods of realizing and living these higher truths. As this influence gains ground in education, we find the Master's recommendations becoming concretized in practice. And the classroom begins to be transformed.
Expanding traditional content in psychology into transpersonal arenas is easily accomplished. The following are examples of initial forms of higher wisdom being introduced through traditional course material. Most of us are familiar with the work of Abraham Maslow on self-actualization - the propensity of each individual to move towards the fulfilment of their potential. Research has identified personality traits increasingly exhibited during this expanding process.
In our classroom we examine these traits, grasp their meaning and importance, and apply them to ourselves. For example, it is said that mystical or peak experiences - feelings of awe, wonder, oneness with the universe, and a loss of self-concern - often accompany the actualizing process. Students search for their own such experiences and what they have learned and may learn from them. Another trait is that of social interest - a feeling of greater unity, concern for, and involvement with humanity, indeed with all life itself. This often results in service, sharing with others what we can to lift their burdens. We must ask this of ourselves, that our new understanding of cosmic truth result in new action in the world. Students thus examine how their understandings influence their behavior. This process introduces an optional project of serving in one of our area's soup kitchens assisting the homeless. Those students who have participated have written of their feelings about the experience, one account of which was published in our local newspaper and brought in many more volunteers. Many students continue their involvement long after the project has ceased ... READ MORE ...