Report of the Expert Committee on the Transpersonal Model of Education

Members of the Committee:

Tanna Jakubowicz-Mount, Poland, Initiator
Andrea Batorfi, Hungary
Gerhard Breidenstein, Germany
Marie-Rose Fritz, Luxembourg
Margret Frosch, Luxembourg
Ulrich Lange, Germany
Fausto Sergej Sommer, Switzerland
Dorothea Zimmer, Germany

MOTTO: When you really become yourself, you embrace the Sky and the Earth!

After long discussions and experiential work our Committee, a team of experienced psychologists, teachers and educators, came to the following conclusions:

Transpersonal education is the ongoing process of transmitting the knowledge and delivering the experiences that support the integration of body, mind, soul and spirit.

The root of the word "education" is the Latin "education", meaning to bring out, to unfold. In this sense the basic aim of education is like that of gardening: cultivating what wants to grow naturally. Thus education should not be based on hierarchy, enforced discipline and fear, teaching us how we should be. Transpersonal education should be based on love, mutual respect, freedom, spiritual quest and initiation, helping us to realise who we really are. Its purpose is to foster the following processes:

• Searching for the inner sources of wisdom, strength, freedom and love;
• Awakening the heart and soul;
• Expanding consciousness by transcending the separation between me and not-me and the rest of the world, to experience communion with all creation, and as a result
• Transforming the energies of fear, hostility, anger and violence into feelings of belonging to the abundance of the Universe, basic confidence, safety, the joy of creating one’s life and serving the life and growth of others;
• Honouring both individuals and the community.

The role of educators as initiators:

Initiation is the process of restoring our true identity and calling.

In the course of their development many people ask basic questions, such as: Who am I? What is the nature of my relationship to the world and to other beings? What is my calling, my special task in this life? The role of the educator could be to help children, young people and others of all ages to ask these questions and inspire them to search for answers. If we want to nurture certain values in people, they may need to experience them with our support. We need to embody wisdom, dignity, freedom and love, helping others to own these values and reach the point where they are ready to embark on their own life’s journey.

The teachers, educators or facilitators involved in Transpersonal education should act as initiators and embody the qualities of the Warrior, the Lover and the Visionary. They need to be:

• Firmly grounded in their own being,
• Openhearted, compassionate,
• advanced in consciousness-widening spiritual practices,
• able to envisage clearly what is evolving out of the chaos of transformation.

As educators we need to have enough integrity and clarity to convey to young people that we are all interwoven in the wide web of life, and that everyone’s choices and actions have a great impact on everything else. It is good to realise that through proper education we are making an investment in the leaders of tomorrow who will have new visions and create new communities, new lifestyles, new relationships between people and the Planet. The new generation brings with it a tremendous potential for change.

The next steps:

1. Developing a network of friends and colleagues interested in Transpersonal education and establishing a dialogue with them,
2. Drafting a training programme for Transpersonal education based on the model of the learning-teaching process,
3. Developing a strategy for introducing the Transpersonal vision of education to a wider public,
4. Obtaining programmes and curricula from alternative educational communities and organisations,
5. Applying for grants and scholarships to support an active exchange between our Committee members to cover travel expenses.