In the twenty-first century, people have unprecedented access to knowledge. The creation or transmission or application of knowledge is increasingly how many people earn their living. But there is also justifiable concern that artificial intelligence will soon supersede many of these roles. And paradoxically, in spite of the focus on knowledge, doubt seems more prominent than ever.

At one time, transmitting useful knowledge to the young, to help them prepare for active citizenship and the world of work, seemed the high goal of education. But now, we must ask whether this can be enough, for our knowledge-based society has placed us in the midst of multiple interlocking crises.

We normally associate knowledge with the mind, and a common definition is "justified true belief". Justification, or proof, is generally based on the evidence of physical experience, or from mental reasoning about such experience. So, what should be our attitude towards knowledge in a time when, by force of pandemic circumstance, more work, education and leisure time has moved online, and therefore away from one of the key ingredients of knowledge – shared physical experiences? This highlights one of the major issues with knowledge in a technologically advanced society, for the credibility of experience is itself under attack, with the rise of 'deepfake' technology, which permits the falsification of audio and video evidence.

Combined with this potential erosion of trust in one's own eyes and ears, there is a general erosion of trust in authority. Governments, religious institutions, media organisations, and even scientists, must now expect to have their pronouncements examined critically. More widespread critical thinking is an important outcome of the mass education of the twentieth century. It is essential in sifting truth from falsehood, and thus for being a responsible citizen. Yet critical thinking can be pushed too far, at which point it may transform into a corrosive scepticism that threatens collective trust, which is the foundation of communal endeavour. A society in which the first instinct is to doubt public information is one that is in peril of disintegration. Thus, it is a dangerous time for knowledge, with people potentially becoming more strongly motivated by feelings, a condition that some in politics and commerce seek to actively exploit. All of this indicates that we ought to be much more discriminating in our approach to knowledge. Perhaps, in addition to asking "what is being shown here?" we should also add, "who is showing it, and why?" Above all, we should seek to detect the note of goodwill in what is being shared.

This concern about knowledge also calls upon us to reflect very carefully about how education of all kinds ought to change. Because of the pandemic, far more education had to be delivered remotely. If the pandemic had taken place even a few years earlier, it is doubtful that this could have happened, which shows the importance of interconnectedness. Yet what is largely missing in this pervasive electronic connection is 'the human touch' – that subtle combination of sensory cues, body language, and energetic connection which give nuance and enriched meaning to communication. This missing element means that students and teachers will almost inevitably suffer a diminishment in their relations. Opportunities for chance encounters and friendly guidance delivered in an informal manner, which can happen in a physical place of learning, are also largely absent from a screen-mediated experience.

As vaccination programs proceed, and some societies begin to return to ways of working from before the pandemic, it might be tempting to think that the world of education need only learn the lesson that teaching should not be exclusively performed through a screen. But, given education's current role in conveying knowledge, which should equip students to actively face the future, the time is ripe for a more profound re-assessment of that role. Knowledge may be fundamental to a modern society – but is it enough?

Beyond Knowledge

The answer to this question may turn upon our idea of 'citizenship'. Have we, as a species, reached the point at which we can expand national identity, and truly step forward into planetary citizenship? The idea that we now live in the Anthropocene era, where the human species has global impacts upon ecology and climate, is now commonplace. And our understanding of the human mind and heart, informed by both spiritual traditions and modern psychology, is wider and deeper than ever before. The moment seems ripe for a fundamental shift in educational practice, a re-commitment to the quest to unearth the jewel of the soul that dwells within each person. This process of discovery calls for exploration beyond the boundaries of the concrete mind.

In Education in the New Age, Alice Bailey emphasised two cornerstones of education – the value of the individual and the fact of the one humanity. In our ecologically conscious age, we can reword this idea as the value of the individual organism and the fact of the one ecology – the great complex of ecosystems that has been named Gaia. One directs us to values and the nature of the individual, and thus to philosophy and psychology; the other to the factual unity of humanity and all living species, underneath all apparent diversity, and thus to ecology, history, anthropology, and all related fields of inquiry.

Values reach beyond the intellect into the intuitive sense of wholeness and rightness. We normally think of the branch of philosophy called ethics as concerning intellectual reasoning about values, but if we interpret 'philosophy' more broadly as the love of wisdom, it can become a vehicle through which we can live those values into being. This is the core of the spiritual life. In the past, organised religion has, for many, given a context for this vital field of healthy human functioning. As organised religion wanes in influence, it is critical that this essential dimension of human life is reinforced in the educational field. This is not to suggest that one specific spiritual doctrine should hold sway. Rather, there should be an acknowledgement that, as a fundamental aspect of being human, spirituality should be at the heart of every educational curriculum.

Putting the same thought in slightly different terms, we could say that education concerns two fundamental questions – 'What is happening?' and 'Why is it happening?' The latter question, the ceaseless 'why' of childhood, speaks to something deep within the human spirit – the quest for meaning and significance. How can we design an education that keeps this divine flame of curiosity alive and nourished, as the child grows into adulthood? The 'What' question, of acquiring information, is also important, and when rightly nurtured, leads to the grand architectures of factual knowledge that science provides. Finding the right balance in education between 'What' and 'Why' is difficult, and there are good grounds for suggesting that humanity has recently given too much priority to 'What' over 'Why': valuing physical understanding of the world, with the consequent ability to predict and manipulate it, over the question of whether such manipulations are wise, and serve the common good.

The arts, another field that reaches beyond the purely intellectual into the intuitive realms, are also somewhat neglected in education. In a recent letter issued by the Arcane School, (1) the educationalist Gert Biesta is quoted as saying that art is disappearing from education, as it becomes viewed less in terms of its own intrinsic worth, and more in terms of its impact on other areas of the curriculum, such as academic achievement, and the development of creative skills, discernment and pro-social attitudes.

Biesta suggests there is an over-emphasis on the role of the arts in providing the young with opportunities for expressing their own unique voice, creativity and identity; rather than asking the more important and difficult question, of what should be the right quality of these expressions, and by implication, how those expressions should contribute to the wider culture.

In Biesta's words: "The arts…provide unique existential possibilities for encountering the resistance of the world, material and social, and for 'working through' such resistance…which is at the very same time about encountering and 'working through' the desires we have about the world and our existence in and with it …Just as art is the dialogue of human beings with the world, art is the exploration and transformation of our desires so that they can become a positive force for the ways in which we seek to exist in the world in grown-up ways. And that is where we may find the educative power of the arts." (2)

In this approach, the educative experience of actually doing art receives greater attention – an exploration by the artist of the qualities that he or she is seeking to express through an act of creation, and the resistance that is encountered to that appearance. This not only includes the resistance of wood, clay, paint and metal, sound in the creation of music, gravity and the body nature in dance etc., but also, more crucially, the resistance of the subtle materials of mind, emotions and physical nature to being coordinated in such a way that an idea 'for good' is expressed in the objective world. Thus, making art becomes about the formation of character, under the inspiring influence of the soul.

So the challenge for educators everywhere is to step beyond their role as purveyors of relevant knowledge, towards true mentors who can point the way for learners beyond knowledge, to meaning and purpose, sensed through the intuition, and given form through the creative imagination. And the challenge for wider society is to place educators and education at the centre of re-building; including placing a higher value on their physical well-being. As Helena Roerich remarks in Fiery World I "...the nation that has forgotten its teachers has forgotten its future. Let us not lose an hour in directing thought toward the joy of the future. And let us make sure that the teacher be the most valued member of the country's institutions." (s.582)

In the articles which follow we reflect on how the programmes of the United Nations are helping to foster the spirit of inclusiveness in education, and prepare students for an unknowable future; and on an innovative implementation of the "World Core Curriculum", proposed by the former Assistant Secretary-General of the UN, Robert Muller, and described by our guest contributor, the founding President of the Robert Muller School, Gloria Crook.  §

1 The Arcane School is a correspondence course in applied discipleship living which focuses on the three inter-related areas of meditation, study and service. Further information at arcaneschool.org

2 Art, Artists and Pedagogy, p. 18

 

"Thinking together so we can act together to make the futures we want"

While we live in an interdependent age with an ever-increasing demand for skills in flexibility, cooperation and collaboration, mainstream institutions, cultures and social systems continue to operate primarily through deep-seated thought forms of separation and competition.

Despite many positive changes in recent decades, none of us should be surprised that old instincts, illusions and glamours remain. Yet in most cultures there is now a noticeable contradiction between a growing awareness of oneness and lingering ideas of separation. And as the years go by, this contradiction is becoming increasingly intense, manifesting in an array of hazards each with their own cycles of crisis – from extreme climate events to social conflict, and widespread mental health issues. It is a time that, more than anything else, requires us all to think deeply about who we are and how we can use the problems of the age to transit into something where insights on synthesis and wholeness play a stronger role in the structure of human relationships. This is well laid out in a recent article from the United Nations Development Programme, The Great Transformation: Working with Radical Uncertainty in a Planetary Crisis: "great transformations require rethinking the basis of society's foundational relationships - with nature, economy, technology, future and ourselves."(1) The existential crisis facing humanity is clearly a crisis of soul and spirit; purpose and ethics.

The coronavirus pandemic brings all this to a head. It has come into our lives, as Paul Levy has written, as something of a revelation, showing "that for each of us to truly thrive we literally depend upon the health of the whole – we are truly one, with no "others" anywhere to be found, except in our minds". (2)

Alice Bailey has described the outstanding characteristic of the soul or true Self as inclusiveness reflected in a mind that is able to see wholes, harmonies and networks of relationships with increasing definition and clarity and leading to a natural sense of responsibility and personal involvement in the good of the whole.

The transformation of consciousness from separation to inclusiveness is essentially an educational challenge. Ideas and pedagogies driving mainstream schools and universities as they prepare students for the future are increasingly recognizing this – but, along with most other institutions, they remain largely anchored in a mindset that prepares students for the future as if it will be an extension of the past. Schools, for example, often devote significant resources and attention to which university to apply for, and what career path to prepare for, emphasizing the development of skills that it is believed will maximize earning capacity while largely ignoring the larger process of helping students develop and grow as human beings – with elements of soul and personality – and as active participants in responding to the intensity of modern opportunities and hazards.

Education has always been based on a concern to prepare students for the future. But while we may believe the future is knowable and can be predicted (each with our own concrete sense of what theologians and ageless wisdom students refer to as a Divine Plan, or what behaviorists and humanists might consider to be a future mapped on behaviors of the past), the future is inherently uncertain (at least in its details in the short-term perspective of years and decades). The working out of the 'Plan of Love and Light' depends on the individual and collective imagination of future possibilities and capacities to respond to those possibilities in the present. Imagining possibilities sets up an invocative spirit. It creates a sense of anticipation. This is greatly enhanced by the understanding that through the imagination it is possible to build a bridge in consciousness between the concrete, rational mind and the higher levels of soul, intuition and the consciousness of the whole of which we are a part.

Wisdom traditions found in all major philosophies, eastern and western, offer well developed maps of consciousness extending beyond intellect, emotions and instincts to include inter-penetrating realms of spirit, soul and personality; with clearly outlined pathways for human beings to develop integration and some element of fusion. Yet even beyond these more esoteric disciplines, there is a growing awareness of the human potential for empathy, compassion and cooperation, accepting that these qualities can be carefully cultivated in classrooms and educational environments. The widespread understanding of Emotional Intelligence, for example, recognizes that individuals can be taught the basic skills of detachment required to observe their own emotions and the emotions of others, using "emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, and adjust emotions to adapt to environments". (3)

UNESCOs Futures of Education: Learning to Become Initiative (4) is one place where we can see evidence that new approaches to education are recognizing the need to foster an inclusive spirit. The Initiative is inherently invocative, encouraging fresh thinking about how to best prepare young people for an unknowable future and the ethical implications of the ways we think about the future. Designed with the goal of mobilizing "the many rich ways of being and knowing in order to leverage humanity's collective intelligence", the Initiative draws on a global network of thinkers to 'reimagine how knowledge and learning can shape the future of humanity and the planet". Since its launch in 2019 there has been a wide array of consultations with educational thinkers and members of the public, online meetings, and original research, generating a momentum of what UNESCO describes as "Thinking together so we can act together to make the futures we want". The plan is for an International Commission to synthesize the various inputs and produce a Report by November of this year.

One influential participant in the UNESCO consultations is Gert Biesta, co-director of the Centre for Public Education and Pedagogy at Maynooth University, Ireland and considered by some to be "one of our era's most thoughtful scholars and critics". (5) Modern educators often reject the idea of schools as places of 'control' where knowledge is imposed on young minds by a 'sage on the stage', replacing this with a view of schools as providing learning environments with teachers acting simply as facilitators (a 'guide on the side') responding to the needs and desires of the student. Biesta argues that given the crises the world faces, teachers need to move beyond facilitating learning to actively 'teach' their students the thinking skills needed if they are to become free, responsible citizens, understanding the consequences and implications of their actions so that they can choose how they will live in the world. "It is (a) teaching that draws us out of ourselves, as it interrupts our 'needs', … [and] our desires, and in this sense, frees us from the ways in which we are bound to or even determined by our desires. It does so by introducing the question whether what we desire is actually desirable, both for ourselves and for the life we live with what and who is other." (6)

Keri Facer's contribution to the UNESCO Futures Project's Ideas Lab imagines what education might be like for "a different sort of human from the one we have been thinking with for far too long". Rather than being separate and apart from each other and the world, she suggests that students are "deeply entangled" with each other ("humans have always, and in ways that are intensifying, thought with each other") and with the newer technologies which today form a part of the processes used to think and make sense of the world. They are similarly entangled with the biosphere and its "defence and care is essential to [their] continued flourishing." From these recognitions, Facer who is professor of Education and Social Futures at the University of Bristol in UK suggests that education be understood "not as a preparation for a known world, but as a practice of encounter and revelation. Of encounter with the other actors in the world (human, technological, material, more-than human) of which we are a part, and of revelation of the possibilities in the self and in the world of the forms of being that might emerge from this encounter. We might recognise education as premised upon curiosity, responsibility and the search for a distinctive vocation in a more-than-human natural-technical world, a search that happens at all ages and stages of life." (7)

Another aspect of UNESCO's work which is contributing to the transformation of thought about schools and education is a ten-year program building momentum amongst national policy-makers for Education for Sustainable Development for 2030, (8) recognizing that education has a critical role to play in building the consciousness that will make the Sustainable Development Goals achievable. ESD for 2030 advocates approaches to education "that support learners of all ages to be responsible and active contributors to more sustainable societies and a healthy planet." In May this year UNESCO's World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development included Ministerial Roundtables on ESD and reports from educators on initiatives to transform values and attitudes to sustainable development. The Berlin Declaration on Education for Sustainable Education, adopted by national government participants during the Conference, affirms "that education is a powerful enabler of positive change of mindsets and worldviews and that it can support the integration of all dimensions of sustainable development, of economy, society and the environment, ensuring that development trajectories are not exclusively orientated towards economic growth to the detriment of the planet, but towards the well-being of all within planetary boundaries." (9)

One of the values of all this coordinated thinking, research and conversation amongst educationalists around the world is that it creates and clarifies a thought-environment of expectancy and invocation. Attention is directed to future possibilities and the impact these possibilities have on choices about what to teach and how to teach in today's classrooms. This attention is refining the ability to imagine a world in which students are taught how to become themselves, freely choosing to manage their desires and impulses in response to the world as it is and to a sense of the world as it is becoming. For those who recognize the reality of soul and of a higher kingdom of soul where Enlightened Presences of Christ, Buddha and other potencies are to be found, this invocative spirit is particularly meaningful and significant. §

1. http://bit.ly/greattransformation
2. http://bit.ly/trulyone
3. http://bit.ly/adjustemoptions
4. http://bit.ly/UNESCOfutures
5. http://bit.ly/GBiesta
6. Gert Biesta, 'The Rediscovery of Teaching: On robot vacuum cleaners, non-egological education and the limits of the hermeneutical world view' in Educational Philosophy and Theory, 2016 Vol. 48, No. 4, 374–392; http://bit.ly/Biestateach
7. http://bit.ly/FacerUNESCO
8. http://bit.ly/UnescoESD
9. http://bit.ly/BerlinDec

 

The World Core Curriculum: Education of the Future

Gloria Crook is the founding President of the Robert Muller School.

The Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations in 1989, Dr. Robert Muller, gave a speech at the World Goodwill Seminar in that year. His speech laid a new and surprising view of Education before the interested audience: The World Core Curriculum.

He said, "My work at the United Nations as Head of ECOSOC for thirty years along with my present position as Assistant Secretary General, has shown me that a World Core Curriculum must be the Education of the Future for all of Humanity."

As surprising as that was, it struck a beat in my heart for the Children's School we had just begun in Arlington, Texas for children of the School of Ageless Wisdom parents. His World Core Curriculum idea carried every tenet already held within our "Morya's Garden School."

Dr. Mortimer Adler (a renowned educator) was quoted by Dr. Muller as remarking to him, "This World Core Curriculum of yours is definitely the Education of the Future, dear friend—but it will never be implemented in our lifetime!" Dr. Muller acquiesced in this reasonable assumption at the time.

Dr. Muller's World Core Curriculum encompassed four lifelong objectives and categories of education:

I. Our Planetary Home and Place in the Universe.
II. The Unity of all Humanity.
III. Our Place in Time.
IV. The Miracle of Individual Human Life.

These are only a skeleton to be explored and taught as Teachers are able to understand the Principles behind each Category.

I. For Implementation, each category needs to be considered as a necessary understanding for any human being to know in what Universal Context they exist with all other human beings. This 1st Category, Our Planetary Home and Place in the Universe, can take one into the regions of undiscovered space and can give a child a true scientific grasp of where is "Home" to all of us on Earth, within Universal or Infinite Space. The study can be as complete and extensive as Science will allow. A Teacher can use amazing Truths for the Soul of the Children as part of an Infinite Universe of Love.

II. The Unity of all Humanity. This unveils the attitude of separation of sexes, races and cultures. In the School, we taught from the angle of something familiar—as with animals like cats and dogs. Dogs can be of many types, sizes, colors and personalities; but they are all "dogs"—One Species. Cats are the same—many sizes, colors of fur, long or short-haired, inside types or outside—but all are "cats"—One Species. People, human beings, are the same—many sizes, heights, skin colors, hair colors, languages, but all are the same—human beings. Humans are all part of one Species. The study of differences can be as large or small as the Teacher permits, but it remains for each child to realize there is one Human Species of which every child is a part.

III. The opportunities for Unveiling the Light of the Soul in the 3rd category are fantastic! In general, Our Place in Time is now considered and taught as history in relation to what separate group did what? The Light of the Soul changes the perspective to "Humanity did this or that in this place or that; in this or that Time. It was the Human Species Who was functioning in Time. For example, consider that "Humanity" was involved in the holocaust during a world war. It was all of Humanity in Action as an ignorant and unwise Species.

Take every aspect of human genius and realize—it was Humanity Who did the Rembrandt Paintings in the Time of his life. Leonardo Da Vinci showed the expanses of human genius, Michelangelo created great sculptures as a part of the human Species in his Time. Salvador Dali put a new view into Human Consciousness for the Species. Every great and every "disrespectful" condition was the Human Species in Time. Add Plato, Shakespeare, and Dickens to more fully exemplify Human Genius.

There are countless aspects of History with which to connect each student in Time. For example, our School taught students to roleplay important historical figures, such as George Washington, as if they were participating in their stories. Pedagogues must expand perspectives into much larger Inclusions as a Species for all students to grasp their own place and part.

IV. The Miracle of Individual Human Life unveils the many aspects of the Soul in an evolutionary sense. Humans begin as unthinking, instinctive little beings. Then, depending upon our individual responses, we become emotional. Then we discover the power of the mind and think in a material, self-serving way for years. Then, we can move on to the Intuition, in a Buddhic sense of pure Love. Finally we can reach the Monadic sense of Oneness with All Life. We are still Individual; but at One with All Existence.

"The World Core Curriculum" was the basis for Dr. Muller's Award of the United Nations' Peace Prize for Education in 1989. A meditative contemplation of the possibilities and depth covered by each of the four distinct categories will convince thoughtful human beings of the validity of this Award.

After returning to Texas and presenting the Curriculum to our available and Certified Faculty, we voluntarily began implementing the Curriculum. As we witnessed the resulting global possibilities, we announced our implementation, and requested from Dr. Muller that we name our Children's School, "The Robert Muller School." His assenting comment was unforgettable—"You have rendered me Immortal, while I am still alive!"

Our Certified Teachers volunteered and implemented the World Core Curriculum for sixteen years; producing Graduates who went on to College. The School was fully Accredited from "Birth through 12th Grade" through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The latest publication of The World Core Curriculum, Foundations, Implementation and Resources was completed in 2000, and is available from the School. This publication includes the entire Accreditation Report.

During these sixteen years, there were spectacular examples of the World Core Curriculum inspiring Consciousness of the Soul! One was during a mini-workshop held for educators. The students started with Tai Chi on the large front lawn of the School. A young student held a guiding hand for each educator. At the end, one little boy told his educator to "hold both hands over her heart and then send her heart's Love to the Neighborhood—then—on to greater and greater distances until she raised her arms—to send her heart's Love to the Whole World!" Afterward, he told her, in a very commanding tone, "Don't ever forget this! it's the most important thing we do here!" She was enthralled at the sincerity of that eight-year-old boy! She later reported his comments to the Workshop attendees.

The continuing worldwide example of Global Education and Relationships is expressed through the "Global Elementary Model United Nations" (GEMUN), now in its 32nd year, which, since 1988, has enlisted more than 10,000 children (from 4th to 8th Grade) in the Annual study, debate and solving of global issues in all problematic relationships addressed by the actual United Nations in New York!

Access to GEMUN is through registration with the Coordinator (Marti Cockrell), which then permits the choosing of a Country, adopting Its values, writing-and-debating, and problem-solving Resolutions for an Annual Model United Nations Conference. The Conference is usually held at a Texas University capable of accommodating 500 participants from all across the USA, along with other participating students from Schools around the Globe.

The main obstacle to greater participation is the cost of flights for participants, sponsors, friends and parents, plus accommodations for their period of time in the United States. We fulfill the need for our side of the Invitational visas, and publish the Delegate's Handbook for participants each year. Local High School Students volunteer to be the Secretariat of GEMUN Committees and work closely with the elected Secretary General.

The School of Ageless Wisdom coordinates the GEMUN Registration, Insurance, College accommodation in rooms, auditorium for group meetings, workshops for interested students, volunteer Pages, etc..

Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the GEMUN Conference has found it necessary to carry out all activities online via ZOOM. This has been found successful, along with the huge saving of many costs. The most negative aspect has been the lack of personal interchange among participants which are always joyful and pleasurable for the young students.

We believe "The World Core Curriculum" will be, indeed, an Unveiling of the Light of the Soul in Education for the Future of Mankind. §

Website: theschoolofagelesswisdom.org (A 501(c)(3) website; EIN:75-1538044)

Postal Address: The Robert Muller School (OR) The School of Ageless Wisdom, 6005 Royaloak Dr., Arlington, TX 76016-1035, USA

Teachers in schools should speak about the power of lofty striving. Moments of silence should be introduced, when children can direct their thoughts to the Beautiful. Such moments may evoke the fiery sparks in their hearts.
(Supermundane, s.853)