Teaching Meditation to Classes in Philosophy
ABSTRACT: In alignment with the overall theme of the congress, "Philosophy Teaching Humanity," this paper proposes that teachers of philosophy consider instructing their students in simple techniques of meditation. By meditation I mean the practice of mindfulness which typically begins by paying clear, steady, non-reactive attention to the sensations of one's own breathing, and then extending this attention to embrace all bodily sensations, feelings, moods, thoughts, and intentions. I discuss how to integrate meditation practically in the philosophy classroom and then respond to three objections that have been raised to that practice. I then discuss the potential benefits of the practice, arguing first of all that meditation has academic benefits, especially in courses in Asian philosophy. But of much wider application is the wisdom of non-attachment which the mediation naturally evokes primarily through the experience of impermanence. The potential benefits of the paradigm are then briefly indicated as related to our experience of body, mind, society and nature. I conclude by commending the proposal as a small but important practical step philosophy teachers can take to help our fellow humans navigate the challenging transformation of our time.
I. A Proposal: Situating the Need and Proposing a Response
The grand theme of our Congress is "Philosophy Educating Humanity". It is heartening to see philosophers from all over the world pondering how we can be of service to our species; refocusing on the root meaning of "philosophy" as "love of wisdom", we seek to be of real help in a world in the throes of many transformations. Those of us who teach philosophy in formal academic environments are already in a position to make a direct difference in the lives of our students; like it or not, we are at some level opinion leaders in our communities--what we teach and how we teach matters. And so we ask ourselves how can we best use the power that we have?
Clearly we can help our students and fellow human beings by teaching them skills of discursive rationality; when we can define our meanings precisely, use our terms consistently, argue coherently, and adhere to high standards of evidence, then we are better able to avoid dogmatism and bring an effective intelligence to bear on the problems of living that face us. These skills will always be a precious resource philosophy can offer humanity.
And yet there is much more to philosophy than this.
In the “rational approach” of knowing, knowledge is “not worth lingering over, meditating upon, remembering, and returning to” (Jardine, 2008, p. 1). In the previous paragraph, one example I brought up is the idea od research and I brought up a question of “why are we doing this”. I think teachers are using this kind of learning approach because it is efficient, saves time and easy to manage. In the article, Jardine emphasises the idea of whiling, which is taking time and making relations. However, whiling takes up too much time and it is less efficient. While pondering with this idea, I asked myself: why are we rushing learning? I think that teachers use rational approach because they were pressured by the government with a static set of curriculum standards. Ultimately, knowledge is political, never innocent and always has a purpose. I asked my self, what is the purpose of education in rational approach of education? By combing the previous readings and this article, I concluded that education is to achieve the final outcomes set by the society and to prepare the future work force (Bloch, Swadener, & Cannella, 2014). This way “measuring time” is about the accumulation of knowledge and measuring empty singularity (Jardine, 2008,
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"Inaugural Address by President Barack Obama." The White House. The White House, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. .
Menn, Stephen. “The Problem of the Third Meditation.” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly. Edited by Robert E. Wood. Volume 67. American Catholic Philosophical Association: Washington DC. 1993. 537-559.
Obama, Barack. "Address to Joint Session of Congress." The White House. Office of the Press Secretary, 24 Feb. 2009. Web. 5 Apr. 2014.
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05 May 2014. Barbor, Cary. " The Science of Meditation.
OK. So you’ve heard, that meditation is beneficial for you, maybe you’ve read lists about the advantages of meditation. A ton of different kind of meditations are on-line, and you found several resources, articles, blog posts about the theme to select from. These articles state, that the meditation has countless benefits, which are also proven by scientific research. You can believe them, since eminent scientists carried out extensive research on this subject. And they suggest, you should try them, and of course you should practice it each day. Every day - or you won’t have those benefits.
Deleanu, Florin. "Agnostic Meditations On Buddhist Meditation." Zygon: Journal Of Religion & Science 45.3 (2010): 605-626. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
Story, Francis. "Buddhist Meditation." Access to Insight: Readings in Theravada Buddhism. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
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