Critical Questions for Pedagogical Engagement of Spirituality

Abstract

There can be no doubt that we are witnessing in these times an unusual and significant outpouring of deep human longing, expressed in what Charles Taylor (1996) describes as a wild explosion of spirituality--from astrology to sacred ecology to revival of ancient mysticism. adult educators engage others' spirituality? Some would argue that individual learners control the extent to which their spirituality is involved in any interaction, and others might hold that spirit is an undeniable, inexorable dimension of all human engagements, including adult learning and development. So the question can be rephrased as, Should adult educators explicitly and intentionally engage or develop learners' spirituality in their pedagogy? And if so, towards what purposes? How we respond depends on the extent to which we view spirituality as a legitimate province of education. People will continue to embrace spirituality in various configurations with or without the interference of educators. While I do not wish to critique the general enterprise of integrating spirituality and education, I do want to raise some questions for educators to consider when they wade into this territory--either as interested commentators, as ministering facilitators, as confessors, or as critics. 1. What desires are driving educators' interests in the spiritual? Spirit and spiritual experience are currently objectified in popular culture as fashionable, affirming, and seductive acquisitions. Spiritual longings for connection, purpose, and transcendence are wedded to spectacle, consumption, and euphoric bliss. Are educators participating in a commodification of the spiritual for their own interests? Or perhaps, we understand the spiritual to be simply an extension of the pedagogical project. If so, do educators long to be the midwives of human meaning? Do we somehow absolve our own search for authentic vocation in ministering to the spiritual? 2. Does spirituality have an ethical place in education, or is this meld an exercise in manipulating soul for economic interests? Throughout history, powerful bonds among the economy, education, and religion have successfully exploited and shaped large populations. As I have argued elsewhere (Fenwick & Lange, 1998), the expanding human resource development project appears to regard workers' spirits as an untapped resource with remarkable potential for increasing human capital and improving productivity. Corporate interest in spirituality is easily presented to employees as humanistic caring for the organization's workers. And once the domain of the spiritual is admissible in the organizational training mission, it becomes subject to ideological cooptation by corporate high priests. One problem is the fundamental contradiction between the purposes, pursuits, knowledge, and authorities of spirituality and those of certain forms and contexts of adult education--particularly those aligned with vocational interests. Another problem is the invasion of individual privacy by educators' uses of spirituality. And finally, the growing encroachment of educators in spiritual domains is potentially melding whole persons to the global marketplace. 3. How do educators position themselves in relation to the trend to individualist spirituality? As Dreyer (2000) points out, in much North American spirituality persons are engaged as individuals rather than as members of a sustained faith community. Communality has historically provided spiritual support and strength through doctrine, rituals, shared experience, and voice. Meanwhile, the cult of self flourishes in popular expression of spirituality. Bass and Tickle (2002) describe as shallow those spiritualities that focus only upon an inner journey of healing, personal peace, and exploring the self. This individualism pervades many spheres of civic life, and educators are among its harshest critics (Edwards, 1998; Martin, 2001). So, how do educators respond to the erosion of communality in spirituality? …