Exploring the Contributions of Indian Philosophy in Cultivating the Inner Potential of Educators: A School Administrator's Quest for Self-Realization
Date
2013-08-07
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This qualitative auto-ethnographic study was an exploration of the relevance of personal wholeness in my life as a teacher and an educational leader. It allowed me to further understand the ways I became “divided” from my True Self through the “deforming” processes located in many cultural contexts, which included educational institutions. This study also examined the reasons that I - a middle-class white female Canadian raised in a popular Western Christian faith - embraced Eastern (primarily Indian) philosophy on my healing journey. My story revealed the “delusion of separateness” from True Being, and the ways that I was reunited with my fundamental essence through a transformational process supported by Indian teachings and practices.
Seven other educator participants accompanied me on this journey: four from Canada and/or the United States and three from India – all practitioners of a form of Indian philosophy. This research project analyzed data obtained through participant in-depth interviews and was triangulated with other data sets including their personal narratives, and a focus group. Self-data that was analyzed and shared throughout this study include personal journals, autobiographical writings, and essays and assignments collected over a ten-year period.
This study identified three interconnected processes that were crucial to the unfolding of personal wholeness: Calling - Honoring the Call to Wholeness; Turning - Discovering Portals to Wholeness; and Walking - Living into Wholeness. This unfolding of Being, not only personally benefitted the participants, but also provided a variety of benefits for their students, colleagues, and educational institutions they served.
Description
Keywords
General, General, General, General, General, General, General, General, General, General, General, General, General, General, General, General, General
Citation
Mitchell-Pellett, M. (2013). Exploring the Contributions of Indian Philosophy in Cultivating the Inner Potential of Educators: A School Administrator's Quest for Self-Realization (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26107