A unique work is the proposal of a new educational vision of Doctor Ramón Gallegos Nava pioneer in Holistic Education in the world; an educational model for a planetary society, a novel proposal whose spiritual center is the heart.
An integral unitary perception experience from childhood to date; During all spheres of her life, she has been one of a total encounter with the absolute, which she beautifully describes in the prologue of her book "The Path of Perennial Philosophy." From this experience he obtains the certainty that we are all gods but we have forgotten it, we are asleep, but we can wake up and transform ourselves into that truth. To be a unit, all together, with the planet, with the kosmos, with the infinite, with the absolute.
Broadly speaking, this previous summary defines the historical foundations of his work, and then a reflection of some of his books will be given, of his proposal of his educational model in holistic education.
The Book "Holistic Education", this is a synthesis of the holistic proposal in education, the principles that support it, as all its books are explained with great simplicity, clarity and coherence, with very fluent language.
He begins by talking about the 4 paradigms that have occurred in the way of seeing the world, the two great changes of the time - not the only ones in history - that are most important in education and in the way of seeing reality and that go from the Middle Ages to our days, that is, it places us in time and space, contextualizing the origins of this holistic vision of education, referring mainly to the field of knowledge, the formation of scientific thought, its influence on the construction of reality, of conceptualization and subsequent development of the human being as well as the way of seeing and living the world.
It relates the interconnection of the whole, frontier science explains it through the 4 spheres of knowledge: physiosphere, biosphere, noosphere and theosphere, which allow us to understand the spiral dynamic of unity, called in perennial philosophy "great chain of being".
Taking into consideration that the central point of the holistic vision is the development of the human being's consciousness of his own essence, it defines and places in its right place two important concepts: thought and intelligence, both qualities of consciousness, one is for mechanical, practical learning, the other, has the ability to penetrate the unknown, allows us to realize the totality as a unit, composed of holons and holarchies, is the holistic vision of reality, which perceives it for what it is: an integrated whole interdependent, it is spirituality itself.
Name the characteristics that the emerging society takes, according to various authors, focused from the holistic vision of education.
It declares the five levels of totality: The human being, The community, The society, THE planet and The Kosmos. That allows us, structurally, to land a little more what has been proposed so far, is like a first vision of totality regarding the field of educational action.
Parallel with the explanation of wholes within wholes, it tells us that holistic education as an interdependent process indicates 7 fundamental principles, present in the entire educational process, and 4 areas or dimensions that are given for purely methodological purposes through 4 fundamental relationships.
It deals with three key concepts in the educational process, always under the holistic vision: Intelligence, learning and knowledge. It reveals the evolution of each one and how its traditional mechanical definition is transcended and integrated by this novel proposal. It points out the multiple intelligences, the 4 strategic learnings for the present century, the 3 eyes of knowledge, which is very important in the construction of the new vision of reality and the fragmentation of reality due to mechanism, as well as categorical errors knowledge has incurred, and also important in the explanation and understanding of the various epistemological relationships that it has used in its journey.
It externalizes the heart of holism and obviously that of holistic education: spirituality, the difference from religion, highlights its importance in education and in the integral development of the human being. The achievement of internal order, the reason for its confusion with religion, as described by the perennial philosophy, which is what gives meaning and guides to the life of every human being.
In "The Spirit of Education" exposes that statement of the main points of holistic education. That begins with the four levels of Kosmos, speaks of 4 levels of increasing complexity, intensely important for the understanding of the evolution of the planet, of human evolution and especially of the evolution of consciousness, of societies, of cultures, of nature itself and of the human being's relationships with its environment, the holarchic process of wholes / part is clear, avoiding confusing premodernity, modernity and transmodernity, clearly defines, avoiding misunderstandings, premodern, modern, postmodern thought and transmodern; giving an evolutionary historical framework of tradition and marks the direction of the development process of the holistic vision of education.
The need to start a new evolutionary concept, keeping track of this process mentioned the confusion, fragmentation and errors of human beings in their walk around the world. The holarchic evolution of kosmos and spirituality arises naturally as the center and at the same time part of this holistic educational proposal, which allows the integration of plurality, creating new epistemological relationships, methodologies, representations, such as the multi-dimensional multi-level model that coherently integrates the dimensions and levels of reality, giving us a global image of said educational proposal.
The base of the pyramid is spirituality, it explains in depth how it is, what it is confused with, what it is not and its importance in the teaching-learning process, how it provides integrity, diversity and flexibility in this educational journey and It is forming, at the same time that the individual enters into self-inquiry a new way of acquiring and transmitting knowledge, respects and recognizes the different learning styles and the multiplicity of intelligences, suitable for a spiritual-sustainable society, transparent, organized in terms multilevel-multidimensional, and in holistic learning communities.
The Principles, models, etc., that determine holistic education are shared and enriched in the dialogues that Dr. Gallegos holds with various educators of international stature.
They are expert educators interested in the subject, whose interests are focused on education: they come from different latitudes of the planet and are concerned with the development and implementation of this holistic vision of education, these conversations are presented in three of their books.
The following book: "An Integral Vision of Education" just as its title indicates, deals with the integral condition of holistic education.
According to history, the education of the human being has gone through many stages and entire generations have participated in a mechanistic, fragmenting, dosing education, based on determinism, positivism, objectivism and reductionism, four realities product of mechanistic thinking that has limited education leading it to object to life and with it to the individual, putting education at the service of the economic and materialistic development of the world.
As a natural object of the decadence of this old scheme, the holistic vision of education arises that leads the subject to freedom, to break his conditioning, from individualism to being universal, from competition to cooperation, from fragmentation to the integration of separation to unity, from a subject-object relationship to a subject-subject relationship, from fusion or dissociation to differentiation
The multi-dimensional multilevel model gives the framework of action and level of depth of this new educational proposal through a scheme, explained simply by its author.
It is essential to understand why being holistic, in the penultimate chapter explains the levels of appropriation of holistic education, which not only provides the basis for a holistic educational practice but does not give rise to confusion, misleading or not understanding that this proposal is not theoretical, that is to say, you cannot be a holistic educator from your desk, only by learning the theoretical-conceptual approaches of holistic education, it is necessary to put it into practice in your entire life, primarily in your own life and I am not just referring to practice academic, if not to individual life, external and internal, to self-questioning, to self-knowledge.
The book "Learning Communities" abounds in the characteristics of these areas, their philosophical bases, principles, concepts, types of communities, their specific spaces and levels of action of each one. The twelve principles explained in "The Education of the Heart" are retaken, referring to practicality, in a learning community, also, with small modifications for didactic purposes, the map that Wilber provides on the historical development of consciousness in the human being and the corresponding culture, the need for spiritual awakening is evident in the quantum leap of consciousness that the human being needs to carry out in his experience on the Kosmos.
Learning communities are usually channels where the individual recovers his dignity and his condition of subject, for him and for his fellow man. In the integration of this community he speaks of the four quadrants, where he integrates subjectivity and objectivity in the kosmos and in the individual. The 4 areas of reality that the four quadrants give us allow us to properly integrate, not confuse, or mix the subjective with the objective, the external with the internal, either, reject, merge or fragment them, if not integrate them into the whole that they are, locate and properly use techniques, methods, concepts, epistemologies, evaluations for each quadrant, etc., and avoid categorical errors; communities are the space required for truly meaningful learning,product of the integration of the three spheres of reality of the individual: classroom, street and home.
"Pedagogy of Universal Love" in this book first of all talks about holistic education as the new proposal that the world needs in the evolutionary transition of humanity at this turn of the century, then shows as an alternative to the answer of a search for societies sustainability, the way to return and recover the lost home, the way to repair the planetary damage caused, the fertilizer for the flowering of universal love.
How it is that our umbilical cord shows us with our peers, our connection with nature, with the planet, with the Kosmos, It is the guide or transport that takes us inside ourselves, to inner spirituality, it is the pedagogy of love universal that we require to return to the source, is the way of being, of being, of feeling, of acting, of fully relating ourselves, internally and externally, in the different spheres of our reality and at all levels, individually and universally in everything the development of our life.
"Learning to Be" is a book that illustrates what is the heart of holistic education: spirituality.
Learning to be returns us immediately to the knowledge we have acquired throughout our lives; Well, this is what determines the vision we have of the world, the way of seeing and living our reality and ourselves, if what we have learned is structural, mechanical, then our vision of reality will be the same, it is probably not a problem for we kill an animal, destroy nature, throw garbage in the street, have competitive interpersonal relationships, live in constant stress, subjectivity is not important, in the face of a depressive series it can be compensated by buying something that we want to lift our spirits, conflicts within and outside of life are part of existing.
On the contrary, if the knowledge we assimilate is one of love, respect, attention, care, communication and dialogue; It means that we have been respected and guided in the expression of our emotions, our questions about existence have been adequately addressed, the relationship of the school, the home and the environment are explicitly linked, in such a way that they help me favorably in this journey for life, they favor ethical, cordial, respectful, mutual cooperation relationships, with myself, with my fellow men, with different ecosystems and with the Kosmos.
In "The Path of Perennial Philosophy" we again enter the enriching dialogues with different academics, from various branches, national and foreign, supporters of holistic education.
Starting with the dialogue between him and Isabella Colalillo, with her he talks about the fact that horizontal development clouded our knowledge and walk of the perennial philosophy, of the need to return to unity, of consciously reflecting that the other is myself, the primary importance of education regarding the individual to learn to integrate their three bodies, the role of politics and Isabella's way of working to promote the awakening of consciousness, the free will to choose to walk through the light or through the shadow.
In the dialogue with Vicky Damián they talk about the fundamental reasons that led him to carry out his work this vision of holistic education for Mexico, and love referring to the central point. Ramón Gallegos recognizes factors that influenced this vision was his sensitivity to suffering, and injustices, they were combined with the contradictory circumstances that life put in his way, such as being a witness to the economic abundance of Californians, on the one hand, and on the other, total misery.
In Tijuana, he was able to see with his own eyes the anguish, mortification, confusion, chaos, desolation, hunger and prolonged suffering that Mexican emigrants suffer in their desire to cross the border in order to improve their economic situation, to achieve the American dream, to The pair witnessed the solidarity and compassionate action of the compatriots who, with deep respect and tolerance, offered their support to immigrants, within their possibilities, and were also naturally integrated into the community; In these circumstances, for him and his fellow men, daily work was natural, the struggle to get ahead and to achieve a better future; active openness to change was another of its strong pillars in the construction of the vision of reality.
"Education and Spirituality" is a book, widely recommended for those who like to read, especially, about the manifestations of being, the practical expression of spirituality, called holistic education.
There are three devices with which we have to learn reality, the so-called eyes of knowledge, which by living them separately, have altered the three great problems of humanity, explains each of them and frames them in 4 historical periods of the human being, of which it explains, of each one: characteristics, assumptions and religion, these periods are: pre-modernity, modernity, post-modernity and transmodernity, period, the latter, to which we are arriving, integrates and transcends the previous ones and whose primary characteristic is spirituality.
Describes the realities that permeate current education and therefore the three major areas that articulate the new educational paradigm, explains that holistic integral practice has three fundamental components that constitute the triple path of being: wisdom, devotion and compassion.
"Spiritual Intelligence" is an extraordinary book. Reading begins with what marks the beginning of the journey, the search. This search is determined by our intelligence, which in turn is marked by our vision of reality. In advance it is known that intelligence was synonymous with a coefficient, reduced to IQ, later, multiple intelligences are recognized, emotional intelligence is added later, currently we are going for the integration and transcendence of these towards the development of spiritual intelligence.
Spirituality cannot free human beings from suffering. But the universal being, always alert, watches over itself, and awake and active in a few, restarts its rescue work, with a soft and loving voice, along with a firm and bold walk, sowing peace and radiating without reserve its light, walk safely, without responding to injuries, illuminate, feed and integrate those little flames that have finally found it.
Holistic education is not just another educational proposal, it is a modifying vision in all areas of reality, it is an opportunity for change at the level that you want to apply, it only demands openness and a genuine need for transformation.
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) Aprender a ser.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.
