Authors note: I was inspired to write this as we have an election around the corner and saddened to see the way our human values and even human life is sacrificed to gain political power. I am not a supporter of any particular party or any person.  I want to support a person with integrity and compassion and I am not sure I can see such a person in our political arena. My wish is to see Sri Lanka become a model of peace and compassion, the way King Dharma Asoka transformed his nation. History has taught us that religion and dogma have not brought us both – inner and outer peace. It has only divided us. Yet, we are fortunate to have foundation of knowledge about living a spiritual life. Now we have to change this knowledge into a way of life through self inquiry and mindfulness. That has to begin at a young age and education is the vehicle and meditation a way of getting there.
In a recent article in the Daily Mirror, alternative energy advocate, Asoka Abeygunawardena wrote, “our education system should focus on spiritual development rather than economic development”.
Let us explore this further. What does spirituality mean ?.
To me, spirituality is about integrity. It helps us to find meaning in life, provides a foundation of our values to guide us in the way we behave with self, others and the world around us.
In contrast, our education system has shaped us to be more left brained, analytical, linear thinkers and become efficient at achieving targets at any cost. The value is in the results not integrity. Religion which is supposed to teach us about spirituality and to live a life of integrity is a rote learning process of stanzas, fables and stories with not much application to real life and individual practice. If at all, it focuses more on ritual and not personal inquiry. We cannot analyze spirituality, so we avoid it. Yet we misconstrue it to be worshiping external deities and statues rather than focusing on self, where our spirituality resides.
Descarte’s Folly
If we are to redesign our education system we have to get away from the traditional Cartesian mind – matter divide which has been the focus of our global education system for the last 500 years.  This system promotes IQ based rational, target based learning. It has done well to develop science and technologies to make some of our lives comfortable.
Yet, to put it bluntly, this system has the entire planet on the edge now, with the social challenges of a divided world of ‘haves and have nots’, steeped in insecurity, fear and violence for the ‘have nots’ and the environmental challenges we all face – both the rich and poor.  Only a few fortunate of the 6 billion people on this earth live life of dignity for now. The disparity is outrageous, when one thinks that 80% of the world’s wealth is held by a mere 5%.  Something has to give and we may lose it all.
Sri Lanka is no different in our disparity, but we are fortunate that our foundation is spiritual, based on a focus on self emancipation through mindfulness and meditation.  Yet, the entire nation has gone far away from this practice.
The other day, when a lay friend told me that he had been teaching Buddhist monks meditation, I was surprised. I have spoken to so many since who agreed that many of our monks do not meditate.
I am still trying to get my head around this. I do not want to jump to conclusions here, but it is worth a discussion.  I have taken for granted that monks are synonymous with meditation.  I have had the benefit since I was young to associate with monks like Ven. Nyanaponika, Piyadassi, Sobitha theros who were my father’s friends and later in life with Banthes Punnaji and Vannasara in Canada who made meditation their fundamental practice.
In his book “The Heart of Buddhist Meditation” Nyanaponika Thero states, “This ancient way of mindfulness is as practicable today as it was 2500 years ago. Right Mindfulness is in fact, the indispensable basis of Right Living and Right Thinking – everywhere”.
If some of our Sanga have dropped this practice, I am not sure where we stand as a Buddhist nation today.
Leaving that aside, let me ask how do we bring this kind of spiritual development into our education system ?
Spirituality and Education
This will be a challenge as our nation is multi religious and spirituality has been equated with religion. Maybe we should look at spirituality in a more secular manner, from the human psychology point of view.
Spirituality is a way of facilitating a dialogue between reason and emotion, between mind and body. This provides a base for growth and transformation from our ego centered material self to an active, unifying, meaning-giving centre.
Spirituality is about a transpersonal vision of goodness, beauty, perfection, generosity, graciousness, and sacrifice. It hinges on dignity for self and others and the foundation is true integrity. Love and compassion is its cornerstone.
It is now universally accepted that the focus on the breath and meditation is a way to rid of the ego. Ego clouds our perceptions as it gives us deceptive messages about our sensory encounters.  It inflates our self worth and is driven by fear.  Meditation focuses our mind to see things clearer as they are and not clouded by the ego centered self importance.
Now there is scientific research using electroencephalogram (EEG) technology proving that meditators have a higher gamma activity (25 – 40Hz frequency in neural oscillations) and increased synchronization across the entire brain. This integrates the brain function, resulting in a confidence arising from clearer perception of the realities. (Research is done at the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior, University of Wisconsin, USA).
Better understanding of self and the surrounding world takes away fear.  When fear is taken away, we become more skillful and centered to deal with the suffering that life is. We do not need the ego to protect us. This will help us to become inquiring and mindful and to follow a path of moderation.
As such, meditation, yoga and martial arts as a practice should be introduced to children from a young age in schools. It will center them and provide a power of balance that will make them skillful in life, see other beings and nature around as collaborators rather than adversaries. Unconditional loving-kindness and compassion, the natural way of our being will surface and they will become fearless about suffering and change.  They will be more creative to complement the logical left brain and emotionally better balanced through a foundation of spirituality.
Knowing the Realities of the World
Seeing the world clearly will enable the realization of the folly of a world dominated by the oil industry, protected by a weapons industry making puppets out of politicians and controlled by a handful of people.  Emotional and spiritual intelligence will enable them to see that and IQ based world founded on reductionist science is not sustainable.  Fearlessness coupled with benevolence will give them the courage to get together to act against these corrupt, power hungry, ego centered forces not with violence but with skillful compassion.
Together it may become easier to convince those few Narcissists to see the folly of their ways through skillful dialogue and crucial conversations to help them get free from fear, the high walls and the guards that are needed to protect them and their wealth.
We have failed our Children
All I know is our generation and the many previous ones have failed our children. We are leaving them a mess of a world. The least we could do is to equip them to now clean up this mess, to help them see clearly who the real adversaries are and that they are not out there but within us first and our selfish ego centered natures have to be tamed first.
This focus on self will help us to live and love in this world differently. It may mean tumultuous change for the way the world is now or are we too scared to make those changes. It just may be that the tumultuous change is foisted on us by nature anyway. I do not think so, as we humans are more knowing than that as benevolence and compassion pervades the basic nature of our being. We just need to become skillful to find it and nurture it.
May all beings be well and happy !!!