Spirituality In Higher Education

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The Need for Spiritual Learning in Higher Education B. Williams University of Blah Blah Abstract Spiritual learning has been something that was once considered a principle in higher education, yet has since become a social taboo. The secularization of colleges and universities gave rise to the principle of neutrality in terms of religion. Rather than simply maintaining this neutrality, higher education has instead become almost completely silent in terms of spirituality—an important component to human development. Embracing spiritual learning in a way that maintains the principle of religious neutrality, while at the same time encouraging spiritual development, will have long lasting effects on humankind and the issues facing today’s world. The Need for Spiritual Learning in Higher Education Know thyself. This has been a maxim in higher education virtually since the beginnings of its existence. In fact, it is said that the motto was carved in stone and placed at the entrance of a school founded by Plato. Throughout the early years of higher education, schools viewed self-understanding as a sign of wisdom and intelligence. “Self-examination, then, was an essential component of higher education,” (Sharma, 2001). Over time, however, the secularization of schools and changes to the mainstream paradigm of life has largely silenced and even shunned spiritual learning in the American educational system. Daryl Gilley (2005) indicated, “with the exception of adult religious education, spirituality has been given little attention in mainstream academic adult education.” It is obvious that colleges and universities have tried to take the stance of neutrality when it comes to religion, but the unfortunate reality is that over time, higher education has become spiritually silent. Does this spiritual silence come as a detriment to today’s students, faculty, and to the
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