They are eager to do this, I believe, because they live during a time
when it seems that more and more people are talking about topics which
seem less and less important. So much talk in America today is wasted in
vapid chitchat (e.g. e-mail and on-line chat rooms), in angry name-calling
(radio and television talk shows), in academic one-upsmanship and textual
nitpicking (college seminars), and in an endless cycle of media-generated,
self-serving political “spin.” Sadly, the kind of religio-spiritual talk I am
encouraging in the college classroom rarely occurs anywhere else in America
– not in the family, not on the therapist’s couch or even in the priest’s
confessional, and certainly not in the teacher’s room, superintendent’s office,
or college president’s suite.
At times in the classroom, this type of talk will take me and my students
on a trip through the great monotheistic religions of the world. At other
times, it will take an Eastern direction. And often it will settle for nontheistic
forms of religio-spiritual commitment as found in nature, loving
relationships, philosophy, literature, art, and music. I am growing more and
more convinced that the subject matter in a professional course that deals
with spiritual meaning can surprisingly make students better teachers, even
if they never overtly mention the words “religion” or “God” in their own
classrooms and other educational venues. I have a strong belief that absent
the opportunity to travel this inward journey – without the challenge of
creating a personal spirituality of teaching – the outward life of the educator
threatens to become desiccated and burned out