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I'm hoping that we will return to this thread on spiritual practice as we develop the review phase of the seminar. If anyone has an explanation of their educational influence in their own learning and/or in the learning of others that expresses and communicates their meanings of the 'spiritual' , as a motivational/explanatory value or principle in educational influences in learning, do please add this to the archive of explanations. I know Je Kan Adler Collins is working on this issue from a Buddhist perspective and I sent on to him yesterday a piece by Joanna Macy at: http://www.dharma.org/insight/2001a/macy.htm I went into this url this morning to find the message: "What you are looking for Is no longer there. Change is like this." ! (i think you might share my mixture of frustration and laughter) i experience my own spirituality as a flow of life affirming energy. In the following addition to our archive: "Living Educational Theory and Standards of Judgement: A contribution to the debate about assessing the quality of applied and practice-based educational research", at: http://www.jackwhitehead.com/monday/c12805.htm In this account there is a visual narrative that helps me to express (and I hope communicate) my meaning of the flow of life-affirming energy. Here is the extract I'm thinking of: "Expressing and representing inclusionality I am using the following 45 second video-clips to communicate my experience and meaning of inclusionality. The clip is from a gathering on the 18/12/02 in the Department of Education of the University of Bath, to celebrate the graduation of Jackie Delong with her doctoral degree. Jackie is the person in the right hand corner. At the beginning of this video-clip Peter Mellett is setting the scene for a piece of music by Django Reinhardt and Stefane Grappelli, playing Minor Swing. He is asking the group to listen attentively to the moment after the final note when both men express themselves in a way that Peter believes is a shared affirmation of having created something that satisfies them both. Margarida Dolan, the person in the foreground with her back to the camera, asks the question, 'But how will I know if this is the final note if I haven't heard the piece before?' In the seconds that follow there is flow of energy in the laughter and expression of pleasure from individuals in the group that opens channels of communication across self-boundaries in sharing the pleasure. I characterise this energy as a life-affirming energy that is consistent with Bataille's idea of assenting to life up to the point of death. The flow of pleasure through the laughter is co-created in the sense that Margarida responds to Peter and we all share in the laughter of a group who gathered together to celebrate Jackie Delong's accomplishment of her doctoral thesis. http://www.jackwhitehead.com/pmjd181202400.mov (11.63 MB) " What Mohamed said about 'submission' in relation to spirituality resonated with me. I experience my expression of the spiritual value in the flow of life-affirming energy, as freedom that connects with compassion and pleasure. Love Jack.