HOLISTIC EDUCATION FOR WORLD PEACE

Future Schools and the Practice of Freedom:

Education for Human Development or 'Holistic Education'

HOLISTIC EDUCATION : A NEW PARADIGM FOR TEACHING

A rational approach to our human problems depends on the intelligent

implementation of a universal education for human development or 'holistic
education'. Holistic education (or 'peace education') aims for the development of
the individual as a complete and therefore rational and moral (or 'spiritual')
human being.

"There is only one problem, and it is human development in its totality; once
this is achieved in any unit - child or nation - everything else follows
spontaneously and harmoniously." (Dr. Maria Montessori. To Educate the Human
Potential. Adyar, Madras, India: Kalakshetra Publications, 1961. p.13)

Failed education is ultimately due to the basic mistrust of the 'human

personality' or 'human nature'.

Human nature is a peaceful nature which depends on development of human

potential Continuous hindrance to human development results in frustration and
violence. Therefore it is only logical that education for human development or
'holistic education' is the same as education for peace or 'peace education'. As
peace education, holistic education is the necessary prerequisite for a culture
of peace and the basis for true democracy. True democracy depends on democratic
thinking and democratic education... 'democratic' in the largest sense, that is,
based on the affirmation of human dignity.

Today there is urgent need for positive social change and this depends on
the right kind of education... instead of the traditional authoritarian education
for control of the individual we need a humane education for development of the
individual as a complete and rational or 'moral' human being i.e. 'holistic
education'. Holistic education aims for the development of moral consciousness or
'conscience' of 'morality' required for effective human socialisation or 'peace'.
As peace education, holistic education depends on conditions of freedom in an
environment which allows for development of moral intelligence or 'creative
intelligence'. This depends on the practice of freedom to discover one's human
potential as the source of self-control or 'self-empowerment' i.e. moral freedom,
inner freedom or 'true freedom'. True freedom or 'responsible freedom' is a
function of the proper development of the moral or 'spiritual' dimension of the
human personality or 'human nature'. The human organism is a social organism and
human nature is a social nature. Human instincts for socialisation depend for
their development on education which allows for spiritual development or
'spiritual emergence'.

"In the most general terms, spiritual emergence can be defined as the movement of
an individual to a more expanded way of being that involves enhanced emotional and
psychosomatic health, greater freedom of personal choices, and a sense of deeper
connection with other people, nature and the cosmos. An important part of this
development is an increasing awareness of the spiritual dimension in one's life
and in the universal scheme of things. Spiritual development is an innate
evolutionary capacity of all human beings. It is a movement towards wholeness or
'holotropic state', the discovery of one's true potential." (Stanislav Grof)

The paradigm of traditional education as 'schooling' is based on a basic

mistrust of human nature - a mistrust which perpetuates suffering, oppression and
destruction because it leads to the fallacious notion that the interests of the
individual and those of society are mutually exclusive. This dichotomous view of
the social reality inevitably results in unresolvable pseudo-problems which cannot
be dealt with effectively unless they are approached from the more accurate
perception of human nature as a social nature with natural instincts for
sociability the 'social instincts'. Consequently the needs of the individual and
of the society are mutually dependent and interrelated. So what are the
implications for education? The development of civilised societies depends on the
complete development or 'civilisation' of the individual. Individual human
development depends on education which provides the right conditions for the
facilitation of learning which engages the person as a whole and their instinctive
motivation for growth through learning or 'intrinsic motivation'. Intrinsic
motivation engages development of the spiritual dimension of human nature... a
function of consciousness of the higher self or 'Self' as the source of personal
power or 'self-empowerment' required for the ability to adapt to changing social
conditions i.e 'adaptability'. Consciousness of the Self is equivalent to
consciousness of moral values for living... moral consciousness or 'conscience'.
Development of conscience depends on education which provides the optimal
conditions for complete human development... development of the individual and
their potentialities... physical, psychological, emotional, intellectual and moral
or 'spiritual' development. i.e. 'holistic education'. Holistic education
involves the planning of learning environments which respect human dignity as it
is naturally manifest in meaningful creativity and productiveness or 'work'.

For children growing up in the complex world of the 'global village' effective
educational practice is based on an appropriate philosophical framework or
'paradigm' for educational theory which involves the understanding of learning as
a natural process of functioning of the human brain. Insights into the
physiological mechanisms underlying the natural learning process i.e. 'biology of
learning' provide evidence for the validity of education for personal development
or 'holistic education'. Holistic education is based on respect for the
instinctive motives for learning or 'human needs' which define the human
personality or 'human nature'. "Holistic education is more concerned with drawing
forth the latent capacities and sensitivities of the soul than with stuffing
passive young minds full of predigested information. It is an education that
prepares young people to live purposefully, creatively, and morally in a complex
world." (Ron Miller ed. The Renewal of Meaning in Education: Responses to the
Cultural and Ecological Crisis of our Times) (What is holistic education?see
Introduction to Holistic Education www.infed.org/biblio/holisticeducation.htm)

The key to human development and schools for humanity is recognition of the
psychological value of meaningful work which is crucial to development of moral
consciousness or 'morality' of 'conscience'... a concern of 'moral science'. The
morality of conscience is the source of guiding values or 'human values' required
for accurate evaluation of changing environmental conditions, effective decision-
making and behaviour which is adaptive because it is creative i.e. ‘creative
intelligence’. The cultivation of creative intelligence depends on the freedom to
engage in active experiential learning motivated by natural curiosity of inquiry.
Such learning is meaningful because it engages the individual’s instinctive
responsibility for their own growth and development. Meaningful learning for human
development depends on freedom in education as the practice of theory which is
informed and effective because it is based on natural law and guided by rational
conscience. Freedom in education is responsible freedom because it aims to provide
the right conditions required to free the human spirit in order to develop
conscience as rational conscience or 'free conscience'... freedom to think,
freedom to learn, freedom to engage in personal growth and development of one's
human potential for creativity and productiveness or ‘work. Freedom in education
is freedom from dogma, freeedom from ignorance, freedom from from conflict...
'inner freedom', 'spiritual freedom', 'moral freedom' or 'true freedom'. True
freedom is obedience to rational conscience... a function of human development as
'moral development'. Freedom in education engages children's integrated
development in harmony with their instinctive sense of responsibility for their
own spiritual growth and development i.e. 'human nature'. Natural principles of
human nature are foundational to education of the person as a whole or 'holistic
education'. Holistic education is the practice of freedom for creativity and
productivity or 'work'. Freedom to work is the basis for self-empowerment and
self-determination which is foundational to understanding, to social
responsibility for peace, cooperation and real democracy.

Holistic education is natural education based on principles of human

development. The human organism is a social organism which depends on the
development of human potential for effective adaptation to changing environmental
conditions (physical and social). Human 'adaptability' depends on complete
development as a function of the integrated functioning of the human brain as a
social brain specialised for understanding of the significance of experience i.e.
'experiential learning' or 'natural learning'. Natural learning is active learning
of 'creative intelligence' and results in meaningful 'knowing' or 'knowledge' as
'real knowledge' or 'truth'. As a truth finding process natural learning engages
the individual as an integrated whole incorporating the spiritual dimension and
representing the human personality or 'human nature'. Human nature is a social
nature and the human organism is a social being which can be characterised in
terms of human motives for learning or 'human needs'. Human needs include the
basic psychological needs for security and self-esteem ('ego needs') and the so-
called 'higher' needs for psychological growth beyond the 'ego' level of
consciousness or 'self-transcendance'. These are the spiritual needs or
'metaneeds'. Motivation by the metaneeds or 'metamotivation' engages growth
through learning and development of human potential for 'self-actualisation'.
Self-actualisation depends on education which provides conditions for self-
empowerment or 'freedom' as 'freedom of thought' or 'inner freedom'... freedom for
growth through learning, freedom from fear and conflict, freedom from dogma,
freedom for personal development, freedom for a life which is guided by universal
human values or 'virtues'... source of virtues is moral consciousness or
'conscience'.

The formulation of logical and reasonable educational theory is based on the

fact that children are natural learners who can participate in the planning of
learning environments which will foster their natural growth into mature and
responsible adults living by universal human values. The function of education is
to provide the conditions to free the human spirit in order to cultivate the
intuition of natural human intelligence i.e. 'creative intelligence' . Educational
theory based on natural law is rational theory which can be implemented as
informed and effective practice guided by the 'morality' of developed
conscience... moral practice or 'educational praxis'. Rational discourse of
educational praxis depends on meaning of freedom as the awakening of true human
intelligence or 'inner freedom'. Inner freedom based on natural biological
principles is 'responsible freedom'. (The practice of theory which is not based on
natural principles results in perception of false dichotomies and unresolvable
'pseudoproblems'). The aim of education, in the fullest and deepest sense of the
word, is the integrated development of the person as a whole... variously known as
'free education', 'libertarian education', 'libratory education', 'progressive
education', 'new education', 'open education', 'cosmic education', 'child-centered
education', 'person-centered education', 'problem-centered education', 'humanistic
education', 'integral education', 'integrative education', 'confluent education',
'peace education', 'transformative education', 'democratic education' and
'holistic education'. Holistic education is for development of rational
conscience which is required for the mastery of life and respect for the lives of
others... 'education for life'. All children have the right to educational
experiences through which they can recognise the psychological value of their
learning experiences... in building self-confidence, self-respect, creative
intelligence and moral courage... a philosophy consistent with the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (article 26 paragraph 2) "Education shall be directed
to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of
respect for human rights and human freedoms".

Holistic education is highly motivating because it is based on the

stimulation of natural curiosity.

"...It is in fact nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of

instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiostiy of inquiry; for
this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of
freedom; without this it goes to rack and ruin without fail." (Einstein)

The 'paradigm' of holistic education has larger scope than the traditional
paradigm based on the assumption that the learner is a passive recipient who needs
to be motivated by external factors provided by the 'teacher as instructor'. In
fact, effective learning is a function of active engagement in a process of
adapting to the environment. Human adaptability is a function of the capacity to
create meaning from experience or 'learn'. Natural 'experiential learning' is a
function of the brain’s capacity for perception of connections between systems of
wholes and the parts which make them up i.e. 'holistic perception'. Holistic
perception actively engages the person as a whole in their instinctive striving
for mature growth or 'self-actualisation'. Self-actualisation depends on natural
education which engages the individual's sense of responsibility for their own
growth i.e. 'intrinsic motivation'. Intrinsically motivated learning depends on
the provision of conditions which integrate learning with life and allow for
development of human potential and human empowerment as self-determination or
'freedom'. "Real freedom is a consequence of development; it is the consequence of
latent guides, aided by education. It is the construction of the personality,
reached by effort and one's own experiences; it is the long road which every child
must take to reach maturity". (Dr. Maria Montessori)

Holistic education is 'humanistic' because it is true to the social nature of

the human personality or 'human nature'. Human nature can be defined in terms of
the evolutionary significance of freedom of thought or 'creative intelligence' and
moral consciousness as moral reasoning of 'morality' or 'social intelligence'.
Social intelligence is characterised by the 'social values' required for survival
of the human species as a social species i.e. moral values or universal spiritual
values - moral justice, compassionate wisdom, universal love, knowledge,
understanding and social responsibility or 'peace' i.e. 'human values'. Human
values are experienced as the moral freedom of 'self-transcendance' i.e. 'true
freedom'. True freedom is freedom of self-empowerment or 'responsible freedom'.
Responsible freedom is fundamental to the integration of learning with life. "The
organization of human communities and the establishment of freedom and peace are
not only intellectual achievements but spiritual and moral achievements as well,
demanding a cherishing of the wholeness of the human personality." (Ivan Ilich)

In the paradigm of holistic education the role of the teacher is defined in

terms of the 'facilitation of learning'. The teacher's function is to understand
the psychological value of creativity and productiveness or 'work'... to
facilitate the construction of conscience through development of human potential.
The teacher is a 'facilitator of learning'. The facilitative teacher designs
learning environments which are compatible with respect for the instinctive
motives for human learning behaviour i.e. 'human needs'. Human needs include the
'lower' psychological needs for self-esteem- the 'ego needs' - and the 'higher'
psychological needs for spiritual growth - the 'spiritual needs' or 'metaneeds'.
Motivation by the metaneeds is 'metamotivation'. Metamotivation engages personal
development in terms of all the interrelated aspects of the complete human
personality - physical, emotional, intellectual, psychological, social, political,
creative, artistic, philosophical and spiritual i.e. 'holistic growth'. "The
highest function of education is to bring about an integrated individual who is
capable of dealing with life as a whole." (Jiddu Krishnamurti; Education and the
Significance of Life)

Holistic education is education with conscience... education for responsible

freedom or 'self-empowerment' as the pre-condition for creative and effective
adaptation to changes in the social environment i. e. 'adaptability'. Human
adaptability depends on 'true freedom'... the freedom to interact with the
environment... to inquire, to discover, to think... to make personal meaning of
experience or 'learn', the freedom to understand the realities of nature and human
nature while attaining the highest levels of awareness or 'self-knowledge', the
freedom to engage in meaningful creativity and productiveness or 'work'.
Meaningful work is a function of curiosity, cognition and the wisdom of
'compassion'... engages development of 'moral consciousness' or 'conscience' - the
human 'soul'. Holistic education aims to cultivate intelligence – not only
mechanical intelligence of conditioned learning but also 'intuitive intelligence'
or intuition... creative intelligence which allows for social cooperation and the
creation of humane societies. "The only means to a world of peace and
understanding is through the proper education of children into emotionally and
intellectually mature and thinking adults, respectful and tolerant of other
cultures." (Norman Goble. The Function of Teaching UNESCO Paris 1977)