Avraham Cohen

Recalibration of Mindfulness for Education

In this chapter, we the authors critically examine how mindfulness is taken up in education, and attempt to re-alibrate its use in education so as to suggest better ways to work with what mindfulness practice is truly capable of: liberating humanity from the narrow and limiting confines of reified ego consciousness and its perpetual condition of schism and conflict, internal and external.

The Circle of Leadership Integrity Within Business Organizations

In recent times, the economic crisis and associated meltdowns of companies have contributed to an increasingly negative perception of business and industry. Numerous corporate scandals and failures have motivated people to ask questions about the leaders at the forefront of these organizations, and about their integrity. The public is losing trust in leaders who are not putting their words into practice. In short, the integrity of leadership has been called into question, and integrity is considered one of the values most important to the practice of leadership (O’Toole, 1995; George, 2007; Carroll, 2007; Fairholm, 2001).

Developing the Artistry of Teaching

I am privileged to be part of a group of educators who are exploring the place of inner work in our pedagogical practice. Different threads connect me to the members of the group—interests in the arts, creativity, and exceptional human accomplishments, dedication to students and to teaching, and longstanding respect. Our paths have converged in different ways, at different times, always with pleasure in the convergence. One shared belief is that inner work is different for all of us but especially for educators.

Mindfulness for adulting

ABSTRACT This paper calls for ethical responsibility to manifest a holistic, embodied, and deeply relational vision of what it means to actualise fuller human flourishing than how we, humanity as a whole, are behaving currently. A thesis is presented that humanity is experiencing an arrest within the trajectory of species’ psychological development and that mindfulness cultivation can facilitate transformation. This thesis comes with a proviso that mindfulness needs to be taken up differently from the dominant discourse around it. A case is made that contemporary mindfulness is most often implicitly and explicitly fuelled by conventional “ordinary consciousness” whose primary function is survival supported by the fear-driven fight–flight–freeze neural assemblage. Suggestions are made that mindfulness be understood as a way of accessing non-ordinary consciousness that sees the world relationally in terms of expansive self-other integration. For this, further suggestions are made that mindfulness be placed back into a larger context, for example, practice-based Buddhist philosophy and psychology, that addresses existential suffering and proffers a comprehensive holistic educational programme. Such a programme cultivates human potential and supports relationally generous and generative human flourishing. As a concrete practice proposal for transitioning into a relational paradigm, inner work is proposed and illustrated with examples.

Inner World Learnings

This chapter is about an important truth I learned from studying my own life. Given the pain and struggle I had as a child and young person, despite the fact that I was growing up in a “regular” household with well-meaning and caring parents, I had to study my life closely to really understand why I was having such difficulties. It is no coincidence that I ended up becoming a psychotherapist.

Having Spoken of Learning

Not surprisingly, we have learned much from being members of our group. Our group has met on an ongoing basis since 2006; a rather long life for an academic group. As well, the group has emphasized the development of its culture and cohesiveness, and in particular, the sharing of the personal and human dimension of each of us has formed the container within which the two book projects have emerged.

Becoming a Daoist Educator: The Pedagogy of Wu-Wei

There is no other task but to know your own original face. This is called independence; the spirit is clear and free. If you say there is some particular doctrine or patriarchy, you’ll be totally cheated. Just look into your heart; there is no transcendental clarity. Just have no greed and no dependency and you will immediately attain certainty. (Yen-t’ou, 828–887, as cited in Cleary, 1998, p. 32)

Entering the Field of Being

Teaching necessarily happens in the intersection of the personal and the professional. The more integration we can achieve between these two realms, the more embodied, enactive, and alive our teaching becomes, which, in turn, can facilitate transformative learning in our students. This integration of the personal and the professional is supported by what our group calls the innerworkings for educators.

Having Spoken of Teaching

In order to rule the nation, you had best have able men, Naoshige said. Whereupon his son asked, Do you mean I have to pray to Buddha and the gods for the appearance of these men? The father replied, After all you pray to God for things beyond human power and endeavor. It is within our power to get talented people to appear.

Burgeo and Back! Or

I moved from my hometown in Melbourne, Australia, where I had been a high school teacher for 11 years, to attend the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Graduate school was only one reason for my move to Canada. I also enjoy the outdoors and Canada’s west coast is well known as an outdoor enthusiast’s playground. When not studying, I spent many hours cycling, sailing, kayaking, and hiking Canada’s Pacific northwest.