Reflecting together on spiritual possibility

The importance of spirituality for teachers’ reflection is explained in this chapter. Specifically, spirituality represents the process by which one’s life is given a greater sense of ultimate meaning and purpose and can occur initially in an existential sense but can be extended through a shared sense of community. By examining literature from the UN and from Dewey, democracy itself can be understood to depend on a particular spirit animating citizens to embody a democratic life, which enables people to learn ‘to live together’ and ‘with others’ in order that global peace might be possible. This is considered so important that the neglecting of the spiritual by teachers impoverishes experience in all its manifestations. Dewey’s notion of ‘the religious attitude’ is understood to involve reflections which ‘go over again’, ‘consider carefully’ and ‘pay attention to things’ to enable what the authors refer to as a three-stage process of growth. This involves first feeling isolated or even lost, then secondly attaining existential responsibility and thirdly understanding ourselves as social beings who ought to enable classrooms and communities to grow together spirituality, as this is what contributes to a worthwhile life which is shared throughout communities.