Module 3: The Spirit of Caring in Holistic Education
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 ‘caring’ by the teacher, or other practitioner, so as to encourage learning, professional development and/or personal growth.
Caring is a process and product which incorporates supports, sharing and respect. It encompasses the unity of mind, body and spirit of the holistic person with the broader content of one’s environment. The practice of caring becomes the highest commitment and provides a value-based approach to nursing practice.
http://www.ptc.edu/department_nursing/Philosophy.htm
With the rise of VIRTUE ETHICS (qv) a caring person is increasingly recognised in ethics as a particular instance of a good person. Caring is not to be equated with BENEFICENCE (qv), having a more relational quality to it. FEMINISM (qv) has seen caring as a central human virtue yet one that has traditionally been undervalued both in academic ethics in particular and in patriarchal societies more widely. …
http://www.biol.tsukuba.ac.jp/~macer/biodict.htm
Introductory reading/s to get started:
http://www.infed.org/biblio/noddings_caring_in_education.htm
Love as the foundation of caring
So far as I am concerned ‘care’ is love in a professional setting. The most eminent writer on this subject is Professor Nel Noddings SEE http://www.infed.org/biblio/noddings_caring_in_education.htm
Below are some quotations that might spark off your initial thinking:
“This book is for teachers who have good days and bad, and whose bad days bring the suffering that comes only from something one loves. It is for teachers who refuse to harden their hearts because they love learners, learning, and the teaching life.” The Courage to Teach Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teachers Life Parker J. Palmer
Rollo May lets Socrates answer the question, “What is love”. Socrates quotes……”He is neither mortal nor immortal, but a mean between the two….He is a great spirit (daimon) and like all spirits he is intermediate between the divine and the mortal….He is the mediator who spans the chasm which divides men and gods, and therefore in him all is bound together…..” Love & Will p78
May goes on to say that Eros is not a god in the sense of being above man, but the power that binds all things and all men together (p 78). He goes on to say (p 79) that eros is the binding element par excellence. It is the bridge between being and becoming, and it binds fact and value together. Eros, in short, is the original creative force… now transmuted into power which is both ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ the person. Eros is presented as very similar to the concept of intentionality presented in Love and Will by May – both presuppose that man pushes toward uniting himself with the object not only of his love but his knowledge.
Love is heaven’s kindly light, the Holy Spirit’s eternal breath that vivifieth the human soul.
Love is the cause of God’s revelation unto man, the vital bond inherent, in accordance with the divine creation, in the realities of things.
Love is the one means that ensureth true felicity both in this world and the next.
Love is the light that guideth in darkness, the living link that uniteth God with man, that assureth the progress of every illumined soul.
Love is the most great law that ruleth this mighty and heavenly cycle, the unique power that bindeth together the divers elements of this material world, the supreme magnetic force that directeth the movements of the spheres in the celestial realms.
Love revealeth with unfailing and limitless power the mysteries latent in the universe.
Love is the spirit of life unto the adorned body of mankind, the establisher of true civilization in this mortal world, and the shedder of imperishable glory upon every high-aiming race and nation. (`Abdu’l-Baha: Selections … `Abdu’l-Baha, Pages: 27-28)
Introductory reading/s to get started:
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/palmer.htm
http://www.infed.org/biblio/friendship.htm
A sense of the field can be obtained from Roger Stack’s ‘Map’ of Holistic Education see also his blog
