What's Next?
“Today, human evolution is at a turning point where an old paradigm and a challenging new awareness are uneasily trying to coexist. We are wedded by habit and tradition to an outmoded view of the Universe, and yet civilization is pregnant with a new, exciting and optimistic understanding of life. ~ Bruce Lipton, Spontaneous Evolution
It’s been a year full of lessons, inner and outer adventures and major paradigm shifts. Many of us have gone through large changes in our personal lives which have deeply affected our emotions, families, careers, homes, views and spirituality. Society as a whole is shifting into a state of higher consciousness.
Through the unfolding of Enlighten-Ed, we have discovered that a new curriculum or methods within the classroom or even an entire educational reform are not evolutionary enough to deal with the challenges the next generation is inheriting.Even practices such as mindfulness or meditation in the classroom, while helpful, can serve as a distraction from the fundamental issues of a school system designed to turn learners into workers.We came to understand that in order to educate the whole being the new paradigm would (will) have to be self-directed and centred around self-awareness, sustainability, curiosity, compassion and cooperation.Recently, we came across this website: http://www.sixdimensionmodel.org, a model that includes self-discovery, inquiry, sustainability, innovation, communication and empathy. This online community is the product of yet another disillusioned teacher who went through a personal and professional process of unlearning and then developed this platform, which includes a built-in forum for a dialogue on a new paradigm:What will this new educational system look like? What changes are already happening within various alternative and homeschooling learning communities? We are destroying our earth, that much is obvious. Can we turn it around? It’s already too late for the species that have gone extinct. Will we wake up and change our ways? In his book, Education Revolution, Will Stanton outlines his six-dimension model for education. But most of the book is a case for why we need a new system and how to go about creating it. He writes:
“Every single one of us has the power to bring about immense change. Every action we take affects something else. … We are now living in a critical time in human evolution. A great shift is taking place. The wheels of change are in motion. People are not falling for the same lies, the same broken promises, the same fake smiles and the same deception. We are starting to realise the game being played against us.”
We don't believe one new system will replace the old; many will. In fact, many already are and while they will have similar components, they will function differently within each region, within each community, within each learner.“I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think.” ~ SocratesNo matter what our methods and ways of life may be, no matter what culture we come from or live in, we are beginning to wake up to the fact that we are all intertwined in this one field of time and space, waves and particles.There is no me separate from you. There is no us separate from nature. We are animals, and we breathe because of plants. We are of the same stuff as the land and the ocean, the stars and the sandcastles.Yet our culture of corporations and elitism, corruption and capitalism has taught us otherwise. Our conditioning has taught us to be either competitive or passive, cutthroat or carefree and, most definitely, consumers of media, marketing and stuff.Babies don’t need to go to day care so that their moms can go back to work in two weeks. That is worse than unnatural; it’s borderline abusive for both the baby and the mother. And this is just one example of the countless ways our society mistreats its citizens.“Those who tell the stories rule society.” ~ PlatoIt’s time for some new stories. It’s time for the poets to rise up and weave some new tales, revise all the no-longer-needed parts out. No more happily ever after. Once upon a time is now. Here we are now. But we’re no longer seeking mere entertainment. So, what do we do? How do we evolve? How do we unite? Do you feel the sense of urgency?We bow a deep, heartfelt bow of gratitude to 2015 as its holy days whirl to completion and welcome the new energy of these questions for the coming year.For us, the question is no longer what needs to happen, it is how do we want to be involved in this change that is already occurring going forward? What insights and skills do each of us have to contribute to this new paradigm, a new world?