Spirituality, Philosophy and Education

At a time when there is so much focus on the meaning of spiritual and moral development within the National Curriculum in the UK, this volume is a significant contribution to the continuing debate. Many readers of this Review will subscribe to some degree to the distinction between religion and spirituality, or, as one essay here puts it, to that between 'tethered' and 'untethered' spirituality. To what extent should spiritual development be embedded in traditional formats or proceed independently from such perceived constraints? And if free of constraints, does this mean that the notion of spirituality is vacuous?

As one would expect, there is a wide variety of definitions and approaches to spirituality. The editors caricature a New Age variant in the introduction: 'Much of what passes for spirituality seems an encouragement to indulgence and self-satisfaction: "stop being self-critical; find time for yourself; attend to your own personal needs; celebrate being you; don't let yourself feel guilty; don't let others determine your values; share the pain"'. This is what Joseph Dunne has in mind in his essay 'Spirituality and its Counterfeits' when he comments that contemporary spirituality is pervasively aesthetic and therapeutic with a focus on the connoisseurship of experiences that 'somehow enhance, intensify and express the self'. He then adds, tellingly, that 'spirituality is now the opium of the affluent middle classes'.

This remark, however, brings the reader to a more substantial issue, namely what Dunne calls 'philosophy's evacuation of spiritual substance'. A number of contributors draw on Pierre Hadot's 1995 book on Greek philosophy, Philosophy as a Way of Life, where he draws a distinction between philosophy as formation of the soul - reflective practice - and discourse about philosophy as investigation into the nature of things where the former denotes the cultivation of wisdom and the development of the spiritual life. The spiritual exercises are, for Hadot, a return to the self in which one is liberated from a sense of alienation: the truth will make you free. It is curious that none of the contributors, even when talking about different ways of accessing truth, make any reference to the tradition of gnosis or direct knowledge, which is the result of a transformation of being. In this respect, too, the work of Peter Kingsley on Parmenides (In the Dark Places of Wisdom, Reality) would have added to the argument.

According to Hadot, a by-product of philosophy being emptied of its spiritual exercises is that these were relegated to Christian mysticism and ethics and have not even now emerged back into the mainstream of our culture. This left philosophy with the purely conceptual role with which we associate it today, and which is the direct descendant of mediaeval scholastic inquiry. So in a culture characterised by an absence of spiritual substance, where is spirituality to be found and how is it to be taught? The answers proposed in this volume fall into three parts: philosophy and spirituality, aspects of spirituality, and spirituality and education.

The first part provides many refinements of the notion of spirituality and its relationship to spiritual values, science, meaning, morality and virtue. The authors do not try to simplify the notion or reduce it to the expression of feelings rather than will and intellect, as can so often be found in New Age circles. They acknowledge that it is perhaps best thought of as a mode of being (Haldane), and that the development of character is a key. This entails relating spirituality to ethics and conduct, as well as the development of attentional practices like meditation. Indeed, discipline rather than indulgence is central to the transformation or transcendence of the ego that is the goal of spiritual practice.

The second part considers some aspects of spirituality in more detail. I appreciated Dunne's discussion of the importance of truth, goodness and love as criteria of spirituality: 'the quality which is subject to the discipline expressed by these terms is love. This is a quality of our own being only insofar as we are drawn by the good. Truth arises here as a form of the good which is the object of our love, and the love itself is already informed by the spirit of truth.' Then John Sullivan's discussion of scholarship and spirituality is highly instructive at a time when universities are so focused on RAE outcomes and so little on the underlying assumptions behind scholarship and indeed education itself. The scholar needs to develop inner as well as outer tools. Sullivan quotes Aristotle 'as we are, so we shall see', and backs this up with some inspiring words from St. Bernard of Clairvaux and St. Bonaventure. Wisdom, he asserts, is an intellectual achievement that depends on character.

The third part addresses practical applications and contains an excellent piece by John Keast, recently at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). He quotes an SCAA (predecessor to the QCA) report that spirituality includes 'the development of the inner life, an inclination to believe in ideals, a propensity to foster particular attributes such as love and goodness, the quest for meaning, truth and values, and a capacity to respond to the "ultimate" or God. The essential factor in cultivating spirituality is reflection and learning from experience.' This last sentence exactly captures the intent of the Network 'Practical Wisdom in Education' Project supported by the John Templeton Foundation and based on Sir John's idea of Laws of Life where students are encouraged to reflect on the meaning of their experience. Another form of language advocated by Daniel Vokey defines spirituality in terms of connectedness: to a deeper self, to others, to nature and cosmos and to larger purposes.

This important book forms a symphony of approaches to spirituality and education, and benefits from the multiplicity of views. It is not possible to tie spirituality down to one set of views, but many useful avenues are opened up to sustained critical reflection. Although the volume is more especially concerned with education, it can be read with much profit by anyone seriously interested in the nature and shortcomings of contemporary spirituality.