Ramón Gallegos Nava is the creator of holistic education, he is our spiritual teacher and he tells us that education throughout history has had different world views; "Four hundred years ago, a vision of the world that we can call dogmatic predominated, and refers to the time when the vision of the Catholic Church dominated the interpretations of the world, from the Middle Ages until approximately the 17th century."
The church monopolized knowledge based on dogma, tradition, authority and faith, this institution dictated the validity of ideas or knowledge; Those who did not sympathize with this dogmatism were considered enemies, being punished or sacrificed at the stake.
In the 17th century, the second vision of the world emerged, the western paradigm that was the scientific one, and was born from a criticism of the dogmatic paradigm, stripping it of all divine or sacred vestige (Gallegos, 2002); This paradigm considered the universe as a great watch machine with a mechanism where it was possible to predict and control its operation.
In this mechanistic scientific paradigm empirical information had its greatest presence obtained through the senses or apparatus to expand their capacity, its philosophical principles were positivism, reductionism, materialism, dualism, etc.
Knowledge ceased to be monopolized by the church and became monopolized by science at the university, which went on to validate ideas and knowledge, this scientific paradigm culminated in the late twentieth century.
We are currently transitioning from the mechanistic scientific paradigm to a holistic vision (GALLEGOS, 2002); Just as the mechanistic scientific paradigm had difficulties for growth, so also the new holistic vision currently faces certain resistances to overcome scientism, however the emerging vision is growing gradually in various countries of the planet, mainly in Mexico, they have been taught diplomas, seminars and master's degrees, coordinated by Dr. Ramón Gallegos Nava
The essence of the holistic vision is spirituality, considered this as the promotion and practice of the internal order of the human being, in the search for truth through exercising various practices that promote the evolution of consciousness. This vision is scientifically based on the new sciences.
Matters related to the spirit were dealt with in the dogmatic paradigm mainly by religious institutions such as the church through belief and faith; until they lost power from the emergence of the scientific mechanistic paradigm strengthened by science. Since the religious groups were evidenced as lacking proof of their spiritual practices with the limited parameters of science, they lost political and spiritual power; religion being relegated and practiced with less intensity in less formal spaces.
But the instruments with which the ancient science sought to see and measure spiritual phenomena was through the eye of reason; This is impossible, since a higher development of consciousness is required to observe spiritual phenomena; this can only be verified through the eye of contemplation.
During the seventeenth century in which the scientific vision of the world developed, machines were built and many men were replaced by factories, leaving them unemployed, exacerbating a socio-economic crisis that generated the industrial revolution.
From this century, a flat or fragmented vision of reality is being built, the education that was in charge of the church came to be in the hands of the state and the university; promoting a reductionist education by canceling the spirituality of educational centers and based solely on cognitive aspects and the objective advances of science, considering valid everything that was measurable and quantifiable. This new mechanistic vision focused education on cognitive aspects, mainly the logical-mathematical and linguistic dimension, leaving aside other important dimensions; such as the 8 multiple intelligences that Gardner considers, and the spiritual intelligence of Gallegos (2006).
The holistic concept is considered as a totality, that is to say, an integral vision of the universe, it considers the cosmos as a great system, a single entity, composed of other smaller totalities, each linked to form larger totalities; However, each totality, no matter how small it is, is a miniature representation of the cosmos itself and is part of it, nothing is separated from anything, everything is interrelated with everything through a great universal system, when a part is affected, it is affected to everything.
The dominant education that we still have, has its bases in the world view of the 17th century, a mechanical vision of the universe that was transferred to the educational field, forming self-centered human beings considering themselves independent of the universe; based on instrumental rationality for technical control of the world. Mechanistic education has its origins with the Industrial Revolution, where the production and operation of machines was taken as a basis to produce students in a homogeneous and serial way, that is, the operation and production of machines was a model transferred to the field of education.
This paradigm generated a fragmented rational consciousness, promoting the egocentrism and separatism of individuals, that is, considering the human being separated from nature, as if he did not need what surrounds him and that he would suffice by himself; acting selfishly in their natural and social environment; however we can find positive aspects.
Today this mechanistic paradigm has shown signs of exhaustion; he neglected the aspect of conscience and spirituality, but advanced on other important aspects of science within objectivity; in the things or phenomena that were possible to measure through its parameters; neglecting subjective aspects such as conscience and spirituality, which generated human beings lacking sufficient love and compassion for the whole.
Education in the school has been and still is the vast majority mechanical, rote, homogeneous and dehumanized; and not only in the school context but also in other social institutions such as the family, the church, political parties and society. This mechanical education has generated two great problems that affect humanity, such as hedonism and Nihilism.
Hedonism has generated internal conflicts in human beings themselves, when seeking pleasure and happiness through the senses, "true happiness does not come from pleasure but from knowledge, it is ignorance that confuses us and leads us to mistakenly assume the hedonism as a philosophy of life, it is also ignorance that keeps us in the obfuscation and in the illusion of the ego ”(Gallegos, 2006)
Inherited culture has generated this problem of being, which fosters self-centeredness, fosters the ambition of wanting to have, of submitting to one's neighbor, of dominating nature, which ultimately produces unhappiness, because material things can never fully satisfy egocentric man., who will suffer suffering from the conditioning that the mechanistic culture has generated.
In everyday life, there are people who seek pleasure and happiness, affecting the interests and rights of others or suffer unhappiness for not obtaining the pleasures that their ego demands;
The need to satisfy these needs incurs immoral actions; They seek to win and dominate both the individual and nature, through living on the pleasures of the senses, praise, recognition, having property, practicing corruption, injustice, dishonesty, etc.
Another important problem is nihilism "defined… as a moral relativism, it is a philosophy that proclaims that nothing is good or bad in itself, that everything is relative and culturally depends on how the subject or community in question defines it." (Gallegos 2006). This interpretation fosters a state of disorder, of anarchy, both within the human being and in society itself, by imposing their own values of their actions, without considering universal values as rules that maintain social and natural harmony.
Modernism is the main cradle of these two problems mentioned, which cause the suffering of humanity, seen in social insecurity, anxiety, stress, anguish, violence, wars, which generate both a social and natural crisis by destroying nature unconsciously.
Ramón Gallegos Nava tells us The low levels of spirituality is reflected in the low development of consciousness by neglecting evolution in the intrinsic and subjective aspects of the human being; spirituality is considered as the internal order of the individual, manifested in love, compassion, peace, happiness, joy, justice, in discernment and wisdom; the holistic vision considers the human being a spiritual being living a human experience (Gallegos)
One of the aspects that mechanistic education fosters is self-centeredness, when the subject is considered as the center of attention and that he must first satisfy his needs and interests while ignoring the needs of others.
In the mechanical scientific paradigm, students are considered as objects or containers that must be filled with information that they must memorize, without attending to spiritual development and consciousness. The relationship is subject-object, as if the student were an object lacking capacities, feelings and emotions, and needs for affection and love.
In the old paradigm, the student is considered an object that requires obedience, repetition, and memorization, as if it were a container that must be filled with information.
This model promotes a mechanical and cold education that does not consider some important conditions that arise in the educational process, such as sociocultural and economic conditions, learning rhythms and styles, multiple intelligences, and emotional and spiritual states of the students.
The teachers did not have spiritual training, so they lack this spiritual knowledge and practice, they tend to adopt authoritarian, undemocratic attitudes, little love and understanding of the students' behaviors and little responsibility in the delicate and important function that they exercise.
Holistic education emerges as an alternative to the mechanistic scientific paradigm, which starts from a vision of totality or integrity of reality, leaving aside the fragmented vision.
It promotes self-knowledge, the evolution of levels of consciousness in both the first and second degrees (Gallegos, 2003), and spirituality as the order and internal peace of the individual.
Holistic education promotes through the teacher the education for the life of new citizens, since the curriculum of this model is the life of the students, the teacher-student relationship is dialogic, where the teacher becomes one more member of the group, while guiding the educational process in learning communities.
Holistic education promotes the well-being of the human being and educates him for life, to be a citizen that makes it possible to be happy despite the circumstances that surround him.
In holistic education the epistemological relationship is subject-subject, where teachers and students have an intrinsic and extrinsic value that are recognized and respected by both, the environment is one of camaraderie and brotherhood, recognizing oneself in the other. In learning communities, it is no longer just about transmitting academic information to the student and developing cognitive skills; now, the educational mission is that the entire organization must learn permanently, comprehensively and throughout life (Gallegos, 2003).
In this new vision, students are the most important protagonists of the educational process, it promotes a warm environment where confidence, love, peace and encouragement to live and share experiences are breathed.
Schools are transformed into learning communities, where students decide the things they want to learn for life, those that will help them to be a better citizen, a better son, a better professional, a better father, those topics that allow them to end suffering, attachments as a consequence of conditioning. Being a better human being involves a whole process of raising consciousness, practicing spirituality, improving attention and breath control, leading a meditative life and healthy habits.
The mechanistic paradigm does not guarantee that the great intellectuals and scientists are integral beings who conduct themselves ethically; there is an example of this; Approximately 5 years ago, it was revealed on television that the leader of a criminal gang had been learned, who had the degree of Doctor and was a Master of Ethics from a prestigious University.
This shows us that to have spiritual growth, it is not necessarily necessary to have high academic degrees, it can be observed in some people who have little or no academic training who possess great equanimity, discernment and wisdom.
Holistic education does not reject any contribution of humanity, and does classify and order them in their correct dimension; not everything that has happened has been negative, there are things that in their time served the old paradigm; now it is a question of ordering and classifying all the cultural baggage to preserve what responds to the needs of the new paradigm; This is summarized by Dr. Ramón Gallegos Nava in his Vision of Holistic Education, in the multilevel-multidimensional perspective. A holistic model (Gallegos, 2003).
When speaking of holistic education, we speak of a comprehensive education that incorporates all the dimensions of the human being's experience (bodily, emotional, social cognitive, aesthetic and spiritual). The essential dimension of holistic education is the spiritual one, which was relegated by mechanism for three centuries; Currently it is gradually becoming relevant in the different social fields.
Especially in the field of business, spirituality is being projected on various business leaders, and they have observed the health and productivity benefits that their practice such as meditation and yoga has brought. The holistic education of Ramón Gallegos Nava is being promoted in various parts of the world, which implies that other practices may be entered into the educational work that help overcome conditioning and attachments, to raise levels of consciousness and decrease suffering through meditative practices.
The lack of self-knowledge has fostered a void in the human being, a lack of meaning and meaning in life, answers to fundamental questions such as Who am I? Where do I come from ?, Where am I going ?, etc. There is no exercise in discerning these questions.
Currently spirituality is promoted through holistic education in different countries, although even in a limited way but with tendencies to grow gradually, thanks to the transcendent work carried out by Dr. Ramón Gallegos Nava, world creator of holistic education, disseminating the vision spiritual internationally.
Bibliography
- Gallegos Nava Ramón (2000) The spirit of education. Integrity and importance in holistic education. International Foundation for Holistic Education, Guadalajara.Gallegos Nava Ramón (2001) The education of the heart. Twelve principles for holistic schools. International Foundation for Holistic Education, Guadalajara.Gallegos Nava Ramón (2001) Holistic education. Pedagogy of universal love. International Foundation for Holistic Education, Guadalajara.Gallegos Nava Ramón (2001) A comprehensive vision of education. The heart of holistic education. International Foundation for Holistic Education, Guadalajara, Gallegos Nava Ramón (2001) Holistic dialogues. Holistic education and perennial philosophy I. International Foundation for Holistic Education, Guadalajara.Gallegos Nava Ramón (2003) Learning to be.The birth of a new spiritual awareness. International Foundation for Holistic Education, Guadalajara.Gallegos Nava Ramón (2003) Learning communities. Transforming schools into learning communities. International Foundation for Holistic Education, Guadalajara, Gallegos Nava Ramón (2003) Pedagogy of universal love. A holistic view of the world. International Foundation for Holistic Education, Guadalajara, Gallegos Nava Ramón (2004) Wisdom, love and compassion. Holistic education and perennial philosophy II. International Foundation for Holistic Education, Guadalajara, Gallegos Nava Ramón (2004) The Path of Perennial Philosophy. Holistic education and perennial philosophy III. International Foundation for Holistic Education, Guadalajara.Gallegos Nava Ramón (2005) Education and spirituality. Education as a spiritual practice.International Foundation for Holistic Education, Guadalajara.Gallegos Nava Ramón (2007) Spiritual intelligence. Beyond the multiple and emotional intelligence. International Foundation for Holistic Education, Guadalajara.
