Education of the Heart

(A book review submitted to our Social Work Education class)

    
    The Education of the Heart is a book of readings and sources for care of the soul, soul mates and the re-enchantment of everyday life. It is edited by Thomas Moore. 

    The book has a very catchy introduction and reading such made me decide without any apprehension that this is the book I would spend time reading and then willingly review. 

     Education for me has been a challenge because for me to finish until college, I had made so many sacrifices. I had to live away from my family. I had to learn how to work. I had to discipline myself and balance time. Coming from that, I know that I knew ever since that education is something of value. But although education has a personal effect and has really been a part of my life, I had to admit that the pages of the book had made me realized that education should be more than that. It’s about time to see and feel education not just a requirement for a job, not just for earning for a living, not just for personal credentials or prestige. It is about time to feel education not as a need, not as something to be forced at the ‘self,’ not something to be scared about or to be tired and sick of. It’s about time--- and should have been a long time--- to place education in a very sacred space of our being--- in our heart, in our soul. It is about time--- and should have been a long time that we love education and let it love us. Having such reflections is making me happy now because it is making me feel that as my perception and relationship with education is changed, my life is also about to change. 

     The book made mention of education as an eduction. Education is the art of educing or bringing out what is latent in a person. Education is not the piling on of learning, information, data, facts, skills or abilities- that’s training or instructing- but is rather making visible what is hidden as a seed. I find such lines really beautiful and true especially in my profession. The essence of social work education for me is bringing out the best in the self, in the others, and in the world. Education is about enlightenment and empowerment. It is about inspiration. It is about making dreams reality. 

    Starting with the ceremonial cosmic walk, I was able to experience together with my classmates that sense of awesomeness of the space I have here in the universe. While I was involving myself in the unfolding process of the Earth, I was able to appreciate the life that I am having now; knowing that it had came from a very sacred history, or should I say herstory. I am amazed of my uniqueness and the same time of my commonality with other creatures in terms of origin. To be educated of that story with the entire community of the earth in this single sacred universe is a transformative experience and I think that is the essence of education too. 

     We had visited in the first part of our class how education has been as time passed by. During primitive times, education among people was directed to ensuring survival of the group, clan, or tribe through training of the young in skills and arts necessary to maintain life. After that we discussed about Renaissance which was a revival or rebirth of learning, a belief of dignity of human beings, a renewed spirit of nationalism, an increase of trade among countries, and a period of exploration. 

     In the Philippine Education System, we can trace that during the Pre-Spanish Period, the early Filipinos considered education as a way to preserve their culture and transmit this knowledge to future generations. During the Spanish Regime, schools were established with the objective of rearing children to learn skills acquired by the youth in Spain. The educational system was under the control of the Roman Catholic Church. 

     During the American era, education was a means by which people can be oriented toward a democratic way of life. They made education accessible to all. During the occupation of the Japanese, education was an instrument for Filipinos to embrace Japanese ideologies. It promoted vocational education and inspired people with the spirit of labor. 

     In the post war, all educational institutions shall be under the supervision of and subject to the regulation of the State. The government shall establish and maintain a complete and adequate system of public education, and shall provide at least free primary instruction and citizenship training to adult citizens. 

     As part of the Legal Basis, the country has the Educational Act of 1982 (Batas Pambansa Blg. 232) which applies to both private and public schools in the entire educational system. It aims to provide that the basic policy of the State is to establish and maintain a complete, adequate and integrated system of education relevant to the goals of national development. 

    Article XIV of the 1987 Philippine Constitution stated that “The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make education accessible to all”. Yes, education should not be a privilege for those who can afford it and to those who have the opportunity. Education is a right. It should be within the reach of the people. But the book speaks not only education to be something around, but also something that is inside. Deep education entails an emergence of character and personality, and often takes the form of initiation. The Introduction of the book sights that a person can be educated by the death of a relative or friend. Experiences teach people. It gives them insights. It leads them to change. Education should be something that we experience on a personal level too, and not just in the classroom and in the school. To be educated, a person doesn’t have to know much or be informed, but he or she does have to have been exposed vulnerably to the transformative events of an engaged human life. Let this world be a school too. As a social worker, I am being taught more about this profession by the lives and realities of the clients that we serve and the community where we are needed. 

     I agree that one of the great problems of our time is that many are schooled but few are educated. True to our modern values and vision, we tend to the instruction of the mind and the training of the body, while we generally neglect the soul. It’s not surprising that as our culture advances in information and technology, we seem to become more inarticulate about matters of the heart. We quantify ‘human behavior’ and I believe if social workers will not be conscious of this, we too can fall into trap of quantifying human behavior. We develop programs of therapy and treatment, but do they really have much effect? That question really caught my attention. Do I understand the matter of the soul? I think I am one of those who could still encounter the soul chiefly as a set of intractable problems rather than as a creative and constructive source of life. Now is the time to be more reflective. Now is the time for me to meditate on the specific events of my life, and think about what they are telling to me as a whole. 

      I really like how the soul is being described in the book. The soul is more enticed by the past, especially by the beauty and wisdom that is our world heritage. We have to learn from our ancestors. I think on the personal level, an important part of being truly educated is to be able to learn how to reflect on the struggles and victories of people before us. In my opinion as well, that is the beauty of being able to write our auto bibliographies. In the process of recalling what we had been through, we are able to re-visit decisions, actions, perspectives and events that had taken place in our lives. We then maintain our connection with our entire being and we establish recognition and relationship with our soul. 

     The book has contents which require feelings before one can actually understand what has been expressed. I had to re-read them and then recall particular experience before I was able to get into what the writer has been saying. True, I agree in the book that we should not be taking a purely mental approach to the selections. We should read them with and by heart. It is shifting from a mechanical to a soul-centered world by giving up the intrusive quest for information, clarity, definition and answers. Instead, enter into the beauty of language and thought. And so I just find myself meditating on the book, reading passages aloud, writing them down for future reference, posting some quotes in face book and telling them to friends. For me, one of the main messages of Charles Cooley then is that this is not just about us. We cannot totally be far from others. These are just some of the ways of committing them to memory and then sharing them to others which for me is the goal of education. These are all ways of educating the heart. 

      One of my favorite parts of the book is this line: there is much to lose when we focus only on meaning. I agree with this, as I too, had several conversations with a friend about trying to understand events in our lives. Most of the time, we end up getting tired over-analyzing things, and when I had read that line, it seems like the heaven has given me an answer. We had been so meaning-focused, that we had sometimes failed to enjoy things as they are. As it is mentioned in the book, from the soul perspective, meaning is less important than meaningfulness. Ideas that move us with the grace of their presentation penetrate the heart and serve purposes that go beyond understanding, as they foster passion, interest and decision. In my life, I am glad to witness how I am growing each day through participation and then, contemplation in the experiences which has molded me. 

        I also agree that writers of the past still speak and have a presence in us, and this is also one of the reasons why I had always believe in the power of writing, and that’s one of the reasons why I had never stopped writing my experiences through poems, short stories and narratives. We can hear their voices in the words, phrases and sentences of their books. We are present to them as they present themselves to us. It was really an opportunity for me to enter in many conversations in the book. In the process, it expanded my own community. I was able to engage in the voices of the past with my heart and soul. For me, this is also a validation of how important reading is in our life-long education process. If we want to widen our horizons, we must never stop reading. 

       Without an education, the heart presents itself as a cauldron of raw emotions, suspicious desires and disconnected images. Dreams appear stupefying, longings inappropriate, and relationships confounding. Without an animating, educated heart, the intellect appears superior, and we give too much attention and value to it. Our institutions and ideas then lack the humanizing breath of the soul. Education of the proper kind brings into view the order and sense in matters of the heart that otherwise seem elusive, and position the heart to play a significant role in affairs of the mind. For me, this means that we should put heart to knowledge. Why are we studying? What is it making to our relationships to others and to the environment and in our commitment to the society? For me, education should be purposeful. It should lead to service, to peace and to love. 

       Soul is a strange word. For me, it will always be mysterious, and not just because I was able to review the book, then I could already go out and claim to everyone that I had understood the depth of the human soul. But something beautiful and life-changing happened to me in the process of reading the book. I was able to listen to my soul. It is really there, and it is telling me a lot: from pain to happiness, from sorrow to hope, from confusion to peace, from hatred to love…Wondering about the soul, seeking adequate language for it, wanting definition and insight, all mark the beginning of the process of bringing soul to life. Care of the soul begins in a felt acknowledgment of its reality and importance. The soul becomes more present as we consider it in our conversation, writing, meditating and the thoughtful living of our everyday lives. But because the soul has such deep roots in personal and social life and its values run so contrary to modern concerns, caring for the soul may well turn out to be a radical act, a challenge to accepted norms. Now, I am accepting that challenge courageously and excitedly! 

       James Hillman in Re-Visioning Psychology defined soul to be a perspective rather than a substance, a viewpoint toward things rather than a thing itself. This perspective is reflective; it meditates events and makes differences between ourselves and everything that happens. Between us and events, between the doer and the deed, there is a reflective moment-and soul-making means differentiating this middle ground. Yes, I agree. How can we say that we were really educated if we were not able to experience and practice the process of reflection, leading towards transformation? 

     As the book pointed out, love, desire and pleasure are the chief signals of the presence of soul. The soul will be called out from hiding and then we will be educated in the deepest sense. Indeed, it is a lifetime of contemplation on certain phrases and ideas. Yes, I should that the selections in the book are so deep, yet on a very positive way, for it is inviting me to think by heart. I could never fully grasp their meaning but in the process, I would be more intimate with their mysteries. This is how I put heart and soul to my learning and that is something I should be doing in process forever. Every time I learn something, it should change me positively. And I should inspire others to be renewed positively too, and then there would be a true change in the world, and only then, we can truly say that we had put justice, heart and soul to what education really is.

Bantayan Island, Cebu
Gawad Kalinga Build Challenge 2011

  

Sagada's Sumaguing Cave

Social Work Board Passer's 2011 Oath Taking
Manila Hotel