Mindful inner attention lets teachers stop mistaking abstract models for lived reality
Evidence
When opened to these questions, while attending to one’s inner sense of self, the meaning of teaching is freed from our “habituated tendency to attribute meaning to that which is out there” (Ergas, 2015, pp. 206–207). In other words, the teacher will no longer confuse “the map for the territory” (Ergas, 2017b, p. 151). This discovery means that a teacher can begin to see herself as a “transformer of reality,” and the primary “subject” in her own transformation (Freire, 1970, p. 174). — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 684
Categorization
- XREF: The map-territory confusion and freeing meaning from the ‘out there’ echo the Alfred Korzybski / Bateson map-territory distinction and echo a theme running through this reader’s mediation/silence material. — connects to: Mindfulness for teachers can be an act of liberation, not just stress relief. — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed:…, 660; Mindful self-awareness is the first step toward a teacher’s liberation from external control — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed:…, 680; Teacher inner-outer self friction persists even with mindfulness practice — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed:…, 656 (+4 more)
Broader Connections
- The capitulation-versus-rigor teaching debate can be reframed by attention ecology
#responds-to(0.80) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 262 - Teacher inner-outer self friction persists even with mindfulness practice
#qualifies(0.78) — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 656 - Mindful bidirectional attention produces the critical consciousness Freire described.
#expands(0.75) - Problem-posing education transforms how people perceive reality as changeable
#expands(0.72) — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 15 - Mindfulness allows for nonjudgmental observation of thoughts.
#expands(0.72) — Dan Harris, 10 percent Happier, 513