Module 13: Relationships: particular concerning such qualities as:
Identification and Empathy, Compassion, Awe and Wonder in Education of the Human Spirit
[T]he qualities of things associated are displayed only in association, since in
interactions alone are potentialities released and actualized.
“The Inclusive Philosophic Idea,” 1928; LW 3: 41
Module description:
In relation to a working definition of the process of holistic development this module looks at the nature of, and use of, the idea of ‘ relationships, – particular concerning such qualities as identification and empathy, compassion, awe and wonder in the development of the human spirit’ by the teacher, or other practitioner, so as to encourage learning, professional development and/or personal growth.
“Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather than static “snapshots.” It is a set of general principles — distilled over the course of the twentieth century, spanning fields as diverse as the physical and social sciences, engineering, and management…. During the last thirty years, these tools have been applied to understand a wide range of corporate, urban, regional, economic, political, ecological, and even psychological systems. And systems thinking is a sensibility — for the subtle interconnectedness that gives living systems their unique character.” Peter Senge SEE http://www.infed.org/thinkers/senge.htm
“………..relationships are not in things but between them.
If the self, as I suggest, is a relational entity, it cannot have a locus in the world of experiential objects. It does not reside in the heart, as Aristotle thought, nor in the brain, as we tend to think today. It resides in no place at all, but merely manifests itself in the continuity of our acts of differentiating and relating and in the intuitive certainty we have that our experience is truly ours.”
Ernst von Glasersfeld – p.p.186-7: ‘Cybernetics, Experience and the Concept of Self.’ [1970] SEE http://www.oikos.org/vonen.htm
Identification:
Empathy:
Compassion: Viktor Frankl:
“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Awe:
Wonder:
Introductory reading/s to get started:
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/edpsyindxc.html
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9042010207/002-1848570-1116859?v=glance&n=283155
A sense of the field can be obtained from Roger Stack’s ‘Map’ of Holistic Education see also his blog
