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Very interesting! And thank you for the clarity of your opinion: "NO! Never!". Kathryn ----- Original Message ----- From: "kaligrafr" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 10:58 AM Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Esoterism in the Classroom > Aloha, > > On 11/5/2007 at 4:52 PM Kathryn wrote: > > >Are spiritual techniques so private that they shouldn't be taught in > public > >institutions? I'm truly interested to hear folks' opinions on this > >question. > > As a young teenager, I did in fact learn the fundamental and highly useful > techniques which underpin a good deal of the world's magico-spiritual > practices > in a public institution, junior high school, and from a teacher employed by > > the public school system. > > This training took place during and as a part of an entirely different > overt > enterprise sponsored by the school district which had to do with young > adolescents > learning to manage and use their language skills. And, probably, become a > little more socially competent. > > The instruction that we got in magico-spiritual techniques was thorough, > sound, and doable. It had little to no ideological content, but was just > about > learning how to carry out a range of technical practices. > > Let me be honest. At the time, I wasn't interested in magic or > spirituality. > I didn't want to be in this language skills class that was overtly aimed at > > making me a better speechifier in front of the school. And I had only the > slightest clue that anything that we were being taught was odd, exotic, > or beyond the bounds of school district/community propriety. > > Nevertheless, I did do the exercises, learn the techniques, built some > skills, > incorporate all this into my growing world view, and was glad when this > class ended and I moved up a grade. > > Some years later, when I began a diligent study of meditation, revolving > around Zen Buddhism, I discovered, much to my own astonishment, that > not only did I get what the texts and teachers were talking about, but also > > I had already passed through some of the spiritual experiences involved. > > Equally true in the case of Western magico-spiritual traditions. > > Because, during that junior high school language skills class, I had > learned > magico-spiritual techniques and put them, unwittingly, into practice. > > Let me share a few more comments. > > It was clear that the teacher understood that some of the instruction was > pushed the envelope of convention. She did ask us not to blab about it all > over > school yard and home. So far as I know, nobody did. > > I grasped at the time that I was getting a chance to be slightly subversive > of > the accepted order by learning some of these techniques, but mostly in the > sense of gaining access to something the school district wanted me not to > have access to. Not with any grasp of what all that entailed. > > The only way that this happened for me is that it happened in a setting > sanctioned by the school district but involved instruction not really > acceptable to that school district. The teacher offered an opportunity to > learn more or less out of sight magico-spiritual techniques that could not > be openly provided in school. > > As I understand now but couldn't be bothered with at the time, one > of the crucial features of instruction was the teacher's determined focus > on techniques and equally determined avoidance of any ideological > context. > > This had, I think these days, the effect of making it all a matter > of technical instruction in skills that could, if necessary, be toted up > as entirely psycho-physical. On a par with gym exercises or doing tasks > to learn how to write a book report. Nothing that could ever be described > as exposing *young souls* to occulture or ideological magico-spiritual > deviance. No heavens, hells, angels, devils, or magic. > > So, having myself learned fundamental magico-spiritual skills in a > public educational institution, would I ever suggest that such instruction > become a formal or overt element of the curriculum? > > NO! Never! > > Look, the context and world view of public educational institutions is > diametrically opposed to learning worthwhile magico-spiritual techniques > along just about every axis. > > Imagine, just for a moment, the bureaucracy, ideological and > organizational, > governing public education. > > Musing Uh Oh! Magic In the Classroom! Magic In The Laboratory! Rose, > > Pitch