Envisioning the Future of Education: Contemplative Learning of Unity in Diversity

Knowledge is based on perception. Our organs of perception have a limitation, one of reductionism. Knowledge and understanding based upon reductionist perception can only be reductionist. Though necessary for survival, it is not sufficient for showing us how we should relate and behave with each other and the planet on which we live. It is limited to “this or that” duality. It lacks “this or that” and “this and that” inclusion or holism. For knowledge to be holistic, we need to use our organs of perception and a cultivated mind. The ordinary state of mind is distracted by a random and quick recall of memory associated with physical sensations resulting from our inescapable response to sense perception. The process of cultivating the mind must calm the speed of the characteristic mental fluctuations resulting in their elimination to enable one-pointed focus on an object of attention penetrating deep to discover its hidden secrets. The future of education lies in a judicious blend of the reductionist and the holistic.

Presenter: Shiv Talwar