CLASSROOM CONSCIOUSNESS


Christopher Bache (2024, orig. 2008). The Living Classroom:                                                                         Teaching and Collective                                                                         Consciousness.


Bache (PhD, Brown university in religious studies) has been a professor of religion at a state university of 13k students for 33 years at the time of this writing. He also has been on a spiritual journey most of his life, including a lengthy psychedelic journey which eventually was replaced by a long term meditation practice.

Beliefs in interconnectedness of life, consciousness is primary, psi, group/course/class mind, morphic resonance, reincarnation...all influence his writing about teaching and learning in the undergraduate classroom.

chapter 4 on "working with the fields" and chapter 5 on "cafe conversations" are the most practical parts of the book, although i resonated with, and was emotionally moved by, the student stories (last 1/3 of the book) of personal insight/transformation.


2 practices:

give students options and let them test out the ideas in their own life to come to their own truths

your intention, sustained duration, and repetition of ritual creates a collective class field--i personally use meditation of a word/phrase related to the day's class to form a class and course learning field.

 



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