Journal Article
4 May 2026
Current Issue: TheComplementary Convergence of Science and Spirituality: Expanding the Spectrum of Education in Theory and Practice (Special Issue)
Volume 4, Issue 2 (2026)Read More
Featured Content
Journal Article4 May 2026Reimagining Masculinities through Australian Indigenous Pedagogies
In the face of intersecting ecological crises and persistent gender inequality, this paper explores how dominant norms of masculinity—marked by control, detachment, conquest, and other ideals rooted in Western, hegemonic paradigms—contribute to environmental degradation. Drawing on ecofeminist theory, Australian Indigenous pedagogies, and contemplative education, we examine how relational, place-based approaches may offer transformative alternatives for boys in schooling contexts. Central to this inquiry is the Learning from Country framework, which positions land as teacher and emphasizes practices of deep listening, reciprocity, and ethical engagement with the more-than-human world. We argue that this pedagogical approach challenges dominant masculinities by fostering care and interconnectedness. Through a classroom-based vignette from a Grade 1 setting in Metropolitan Sydney, which is situated on the ancestral lands of the Dharug People, we illustrate how subtle shifts in pedagogy—such as foraging for natural art materials and ritualized return to place—can create meaningful opportunities for boys to engage in relational learning. These moments are framed not only as ecologically responsive, but as spiritually and ethically significant, echoing recent calls for the cultivation of ecological virtues and interiority in education. By weaving together theoretical analysis and lived experience, this paper highlights how educators can play a critical role in supporting boys to resist masculinist norms and instead inhabit more relational and sustainable ways of being.
Current Articles
- Journal Article28 August 2026
The Thousand Mysteries that Bind Us: The Multiverse as Spiritualverse and the Holism of Mystery
While we exist historically within evolving worldviews, we live amid the paradoxical necessity of mystery; one shared by scientists and non-scientists, theologians and atheists, and artists and philosophers alike. A thousand mysteries bind us with their imperative presence. While pre modern astronomers pondered the mysterious randomness of the night sky, today our sense of cosmological awe is fuelled not only by its randomness, but by a new scientific theory that says multiple skies inhabit the creation. The multiverse — a thesis emerging from cosmological science, wherein parallel worlds are posited to coexist — augments mystery. In this paper, I explore the emergence of multiverse theory as a contributing presence in the formation of a “new worldview,” as outlined in the call for papers for this special issue. The paper is guided by the thesis that multiverse theory is deeply and necessarily entangled with spirituality; and motivated by the thesis that if there are infinite universes, then by extension there are infinite spiritualities - Journal Article28 August 2026
Bridging the Abyss: Reclaiming Spirituality in Academic Knowledge Production
Over recent decades, Western academia has shown a growing interest in spirituality, accompanied by methodological innovations and epistemological expansion. Nevertheless, spiritual inquiry continues to be subtly subordinated to scientific rationalism, with Western science often presiding as gatekeeper over what is considered legitimate knowledge. Drawing on Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ concept of abyssal thinking, this article argues that spiritual and experiential forms of knowing remain largely relegated to the far side of an epistemic divide, valued only insofar as they can be reframed within scientific norms. Despite increasing institutional recognition of spirituality in fields such as education, psychology, and medicine, these validations frequently rely on criteria set by the dominant paradigm, thereby reinforcing the hegemony they purport to challenge. To explore the possibility of a more equitable dialogue between science and spirituality, this article looks at the life and work of Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), whose spiritual science (Geisteswissenschaft) offers an early example of first-person inquiry grounded in rigorous cognitive training. Steiner’s anthroposophy represents an integrated onto-epistemology that seeks to bridge the Cartesian divide by cultivating enhanced faculties of perception through disciplined practice. I examine how Steiner’s contributions have been, in part, validated in educational and agricultural contexts, while also noting the discursive vacuum around his spiritual methodologies. Ultimately, the article calls for a reconceptualisation of research into spirituality, one in which inner experience is not merely documented by others but is recognised as a valuable site of knowledge production. It suggests that meaningful convergence between science and spirituality will require researchers who are also spiritual practitioners, and spiritual practitioners with a grounding in research practices, inhabiting both epistemic domains with rigour and integrity. Only then might we move beyond the entrenched schism between soul and science, one born of Western rationalism’s claim to epistemic supremacy, and begin to imagine-–and practise-–a more inclusive and integrative vision of knowledge. - Journal Article28 August 2026
When Quantum Physics Meets Laozi
This paper explores the profound convergence between quantum physics and Laozi’s Daoist philosophy, proposing a quantum-Daoist cosmology as a transformative foundation for reimagining education. Drawing on core principles of quantum physics—such as wave-particle duality, entanglement, and the observer effect, and Laozi’s teachings on Dao and De, the paper argues for a cosmology in which reality is energetic, relational, and morally ordered. While quantum science reveals the unseen, interconnected nature of existence, Laozi advances this view by emphasizing the role of virtue as an energetic and ethical force that sustains the universe. The paper proposes that meditative practice and the cultivation of virtue open access to the deeper dimensions of the cosmos and ourselves, revealing education as a moral and energetic process. Within this paradigm, learners are seen not as passive recipients of knowledge, but as co-creators of reality and participants in cosmic harmony. Educational spaces are envisioned as energetic fields (Qi fields), where healing, transformation, and love become central to learning. This work calls for a radical reorientation of education: from materialist accumulation to spiritual attunement, from fragmented knowledge to integrated wisdom, and from individualism to interbeing. - Journal Article28 August 2026
Toward a Post-Modern Daoist Pedagogy: Bridging Complexity and Dao through Inner Cultivation and Autopoietic Currere
This article first critically examines the call to reenchant the world as it resonates within a middle space between science and mysticism and then connects key ideas from complexity theory and systems thinking on complex adaptive systems with two seminal Daoist texts: the Neiye (《內業》, Inner Cultivation), a proto-Daoist chapter from the Guanzi anthology (4th–3rd century B.C.E.), and the Huangting Jing (《黃庭經》, Yellow Court Scripture), a later Daoist classic (3rd–4th century C.E.). Through this dialogue, the article advocates a post-modern Daoist pedagogy through inner cultivation and autopoietic currere—an autopoietic process wherein curriculum emerges organically through participatory dialogue between structure and spontaneity, embodied as a cosmic dance with(in) the transcendent Dao. - Journal Article28 August 2026
Ancient Wisdom & Its Cultural Relevance: Reimagining Deeper Learning in Science Classrooms Through the Lens of Yoga and Vedānta
Contemporary calls to reconceptualize how science is taught and understood have brought deeper learning to the forefront of education at-large for its emphasis on critical perspectives, creativity, and student-centered inquiry. Yet this paper argues that its prevailing framework remains constrained by Cartesian dualism, a materialist foundation that disassociates the individual from self, other, and nature, and falls short of addressing the mental health, environmental, and cultural challenges facing youth today. To address this limitation, this paper proposes a complementary convergence between deeper learning and the contemplative traditions of Yoga and Vedānta, whose ancient paradigms of self-inquiry, interconnectedness, and well-being offer a pedagogically generative and culturally relevant foundation for education. Drawing on neuroscience, contemplative psychology, and the philosophical underpinnings of said traditions, the paper examines the ontological differences between these perspectives and the Cartesian assumptions embedded in current STEM pedagogy, arguing that wisdom must serve as the foundation for deeper learning rather than remaining external to it. The paper traces how 20th-century educationalists, such as Tagore and Athavale, translated these traditions into contemporary contexts and outlines a collection of classroom practices emerging from this curricular reorientation. Ultimately, this paper contends that the lens of Yoga and Vedānta cultivates the awareness, empathy, and existential inquiry that deeper learning promises but has yet to fully deliver–-thus offering a pathway toward science classrooms that are not only intellectually rigorous but humanistically whole. - Journal Article28 August 2026
The Calculus of Difference: Pluralism and Integration through Education in India
This paper introduces a calculus-based conceptual framework to examine how India sustains pluralistic integration across its extraordinary religious, linguistic, and cultural diversity. Drawing on mathematical principles of integration, continuity, and the Infinity Principle, the analysis demonstrates how social cohesion emerges from sustained attention to the infinitesimal: the localized communities, languages, and practices that constitute India's complex social fabric. The framework positions education as the primary integrative mechanism, functioning analogously to the mathematical process of integration by decomposing social complexity into comprehensible parts and reassembling them into collective understanding. Through historical analysis spanning from the Indus Valley Civilization to contemporary India, the paper traces how successive eras have added new dimensions to pluralistic coexistence while also generating social discontinuities, particularly through caste hierarchies and communal tensions. These ruptures, like mathematical discontinuities, reveal underlying structural tensions that demand pedagogical intervention. The paper argues that education, grounded in dialogue, reconciliation, and constitutional principles, serves as the restorative practice that smooths social fractures and approaches the limit of harmonious integration. By examining India's Three-Language Formula, constitutional provisions for minority rights, and peace education initiatives in conflict-affected regions, the analysis illustrates how educational policy and practice enact pluralistic ideals. The calculus metaphor illuminates that perfect social harmony, like a mathematical limit, may be continually approached but never fully attained. Nevertheless, India's persistence as a diverse democracy reflects an ongoing ethical commitment to inclusion, recognition, and the integration of difference. This framework contributes to scholarship on diversity and social cohesion by offering a novel lens for understanding how complex societies sustain unity through continuous engagement with their constituent parts. - Journal Article28 August 2026
Nurturing the Spiritual Core in Teachers within the Nexus of Science and Spirituality
This reflective essay explores the intersection of science and spirituality in nurturing teachers’ inner lives as a foundation for supporting student well-being. Against the backdrop of a global mental health crisis, it integrates insights from neuroscience, Indigenous wisdom traditions, and values-based education to advocate for a holistic mind–body–nature connection. Emerging research on neuroplasticity, heart–brain coherence, and self-transcendence has shown the physiological and psychological benefits of spiritual cultivation for educators. Drawing on Indigenous epistemologies, this essay highlights contemplative and heart-centered practices that foster self-transformation, resilience, and authentic relationality. Practical applications for teacher education, curriculum design, and community engagement illustrate how spiritual and scientific perspectives can coalesce into pedagogies that sustain both teachers and students. This work calls for a paradigm shift from Cartesian dualism toward an interconnected worldview, positioning inner transformation as an essential pathway to collective flourishing in education. - Journal Article28 August 2026
International Students and Spiritual Capital: Meditation as a Tool to Support Student Well-Being
In a new academic environment, international students often face more than just academic challenges, as they also navigate cultural adjustment, identity shifts, digital overload and emotional stress. These multidimensional challenges are further intensified by performance pressures and rapidly evolving educational technologies. This article explores the role of meditation as a contemplative practice that may support international students’ adaptation within the American higher education system. The article focuses on how international students draw upon inner strength, purpose, and resilience to navigate and sustain themselves through periods of transition and difficulty. Using autoethnography as a primary methodological approach, the authors analyze their individual and collective experiences of meditation in relation to existing research on mindfulness and neural regulation. Drawing on frameworks of spiritual capital and spiritual intelligence, alongside insights from neuroscience, the study examines how meditation cultivates internal capacities such as attentional stability, emotional regulation, expanded perspective, and meaning-making. The research invites educators, teachers, policymakers, and universities to recognize and support international students by integrating similar practices into student life and academic support systems. - Journal Article28 August 2026
In the Problem Lies the Solution: How Digital Mindfulness Can Address the College Students’ Mental Health Crisis and Support Holistic Education
The mental health of today’s college students remains a serious concern. The alarming trend of greater psychological distress among undergraduates shows no signs of slowing. Excessive smartphone usage, screen time, and social media have been attributed as partial factors. However, what if forms of digital mindfulness and technology-assisted contemplative practices are the key to assisting students with stress, anxiety, depression and other problems? In this article, the author posits that innovations, such as neurofeedback-loop meditation platforms that dramatically increase focus, virtual reality platforms featuring in depth-meditation instruction, and Artificial Intelligence have the potential to address the crisis, establishing a refreshed form of holistic education, where science, spirituality, and whole-person education coexist. - Journal Article28 August 2026
Can One Learn From Dreams?
This reflective essay explores the educational significance of dream-based and intuitive knowledge through the lens of a field experience in the Peruvian Amazon. While participating in a course on sustainability and Indigenous knowledge, I encountered a member of the Ese Eja community who described how medicinal plant wisdom once came through dreams—through spiritual connection with the forest. This moment prompted a personal and scholarly inquiry into how non-rational, subjective ways of knowing have historically shaped both scientific and cultural breakthroughs, from the structure of chemical element benzene to Indigenous learning systems. Drawing on examples from physics, neuroscience, and Indigenous epistemologies, I argue that dreams are not irrational outliers but powerful, embodied ways of knowing that Western science is only beginning to understand. Through a combination of autoethnographic reflection and literature across disciplines, I suggest that intuitive and contemplative knowledge may have a rightful place in education. In contrast to dominant rationalist paradigms, Indigenous worldviews—such as those of the Ese Eja and the Anishinaabe—foreground relationality, interconnection, and the importance of inner experience, which closely align with emerging insights from neuroscience and systems theory. I conclude by considering how education might shift to honor these ways of knowing, proposing that rest, reflection, and connection with the natural world are not just pedagogical tools, but ethical imperatives. By reclaiming space for dreams and inner knowledge, educators can move toward a more integrated, holistic paradigm—one that embraces both science and spirituality not as opposing forces, but as complementary partners in the pursuit of understanding. - Journal Article28 August 2026
Poetry as Liminal Inquiry: Illuminating Complexity, Mysticism, and Embodied Knowing
This paper explores poetry as a form of liminal inquiry, positioning poetic practice as an embodied, intuitive, and relational mode of meaning-making within the complexity of teaching and learning. Drawing on a reflective collection of poems written during a doctoral course on Mysticism and Activism in Education, the author revisits this work from a current perspective as an educator and scholar, using complexity theory to understand both the poetic process and classroom learning as nonlinear, emergent, and relational systems. Rather than yielding to linear thinking or single answers, the paper argues that poetic inquiry mirrors how insight develops in complex educational contexts through cycles of return, pause, revision, and surprise, much like the day-to-day work of teaching. In dialogue with scholarship on mysticism, contemplative pedagogy, and complex systems, poetry is framed as a way to engage epistemological pluralism by honoring subjective, embodied, and intuitive ways of knowing alongside theoretical understanding. Organized across three interpretive phases inspired by mystical traditions (Underhill, 2020), the World of Becoming, the Metaphysical World of Being, and Divine Reality, the poems are offered not as conclusions but as invitations to dwell within uncertainty and emergence. Ultimately, the paper suggests that poetry functions as a complexity-attuned pedagogical and inquiry practice that reflects how meaning arises through interaction, attentiveness, and relationship, echoing Theise’s reminder that “we hunt for words to give flavor of the experience of the ineffable, even if the experience is, by definition, beyond description” (p. 153). - Journal Article28 August 2026
Geopoetics: Expanding the Philosophy of Teacher Education
Amidst our accelerating ecological crisis, this essay argues for a fundamental reimagining of teacher education through Kenneth White's theory of geopoetics. Drawing on complexity science and Whitehead's process philosophy, I trace a paradigm shift from mechanistic models of education - characterised by fixed knowledge transmission and neoliberal performativity - toward a relational, orientation grounded in emergence and becoming. Geopoetics offers a transdisciplinary framework that dissolves boundaries between science, poetry, philosophy, and spirituality, positioning education not as content delivery but as participation in the creative unfolding of life. Through an exploration of Nan Shepherd's The Living Mountain as geopoetic spiritual practice. I demonstrate how embodied, place-based engagement cultivates ecological awareness and relational consciousness. The essay concludes by proposing a framework for transitioning teacher education towards a geopoetic stance, one that cultivates planetary consciousness, ethical-ecological responsibility, and teachers as facilitators of poetic, embodied and transformative learning. This reframing responds to UNESCO's call for a new social contract for education while addressing the philosophical and practical dimensions of preparing educators for our planetary emergency. - Journal Article28 August 2026
Reimagining Education through Intuitive Interspecies Communication: Listening, Learning, and Belonging Beyond the Human
Conventional educational paradigms have long been shaped by worldviews that centre human rationality, and exclude the agency, intelligence, and communicative capacity of non-human beings. While holistic and contemplative education movements have begun to open space for alternative approaches, a broader reconceptualization is needed – one that embraces the living world as intelligent, interconnected, and full of meaning. This submission explores intuitive interspecies communication (IIC), described as the direct, non-verbal exchange between humans and other animals that draws on intuitive capacities. IIC is widespread and growing rapidly as a global professional practice, and academic interest in this topic has expanded in recent years across multiple disciplines, including communication studies, anthropology, animal geographies, agriculture, and parapsychology. Although still emerging, conversations around IIC are beginning to surface in educational research, especially as more children speak of meaningful, intuitive connections with animals - experiences that are often overlooked or dismissed in formal learning environments. Recognizing and nurturing children’s intuitive capacities invites a fundamental shift in how we understand learning and communication. It also challenges dominant paradigms that equate knowledge with verbal, visual, or measurable forms. Instead, IIC invites us to honour relational, experiential, and intuitive ways of knowing - expanding not only who counts as a learner, but also who counts as a teacher. As part of a broader move toward a biocentric worldview, IIC opens pathways for students to experience deeper connection, meaning, and belonging beyond the human. To explore these possibilities, we convened a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary panel with three panelists whose work spans education research, professional animal communication, and wildlife conservation. Megan Tucker is a PhD student in Philosophy of Education from Canada, whose work explores how children experience IIC and the meanings of those experiences. Anita Vallala is a professional animal communicator and educator based in India, who teaches IIC to children and adults. Cathrine Nyquist is the co-founder of Panthera Africa in South Africa, a large cat sanctuary, where IIC is an integral component of animal care and welfare. Together, the panelists examined a central question: What becomes possible when we take IIC seriously in education? This submission highlights key insights from the conversation and offers a set of themes to guide further reflection and practice. At its core, it invites educators, researchers, and practitioners to listen more deeply – to children, to animals, and to the world around us – and to reimagine education as a space of connection, compassion, and belonging beyond the human.
Most Popular Articles
- Journal Article2 May 2023
Holistic Learning Theory: More than a Philosophy
Abstract. An educational philosophy identifies and clarifies a set of values and understandings with respect to education that are based on a set of beliefs. A theory is a way to explain a set of facts and understand phenomena. Philosophies are conceptual. Theories are practical. Holistic education is a philosophy of education; however, it is also a robust theory of learning that should be included with the other theories of learning. This article describes holistic education as an educational theory. - Journal Article30 April 2023
Becoming the Imperfect Friend: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and Contemplative Pathways to Healing and Reconciliation in Higher Education
Throughout this reflective essay I explore Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Indigenous philosophy and contemplative education as ethical pathways to healing and reconciliation in higher education. I put forth the idea of becoming the imperfect friend in a world ethos of death by a thousand cuts as a response to the violence of colonialism perpetuated in academia. I reflect on the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh values of eslhélha7kwhiws and stélmexw as contemplative dispositions that lend themselves to the process of becoming the imperfect friend. I conclude by describing a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh -led program hosted by Simon Fraser University (SFU) in 2022-2023, named Moving Together In The Ways of The People. The program is captured in a documentary film following a dedicated group SFU educators, graduate students and staff endeavouring to take meaningful action towards reconciliation by embarking on a sacred learning journey led by Sḵwx̱wú7mesh elders and knowledge carriers on traditional, ancestral, unceded Coast Salish territories. - Journal Article4 January 2025
The Laughing Buddha: The Education of Compassionate Leaders through Improvisational Play
With an urgency to build a generative future, educational systems do not have a choice but to pay attention to how and what we train our future leaders. Yet there is still a gap as leadership studies are often relegated as a “soft” skill, rather than integrated as technical knowledge critical to the holistic effectiveness of a tertiary education. As a result, there is often a disconnect between students immersed in the idealistic bubble of the academy and graduates navigating life outside. Inquiry- and reflective-based methods of contemplative practices may be critical for leaders to avoid short-term, short-sighted decisions that ill prepare people and communities for continuous change and upheaval. With human, more than human, and planetary health at risk, the need for wise leadership is necessary to discern the paths forward for a more generative future. Fortunately, there has been increased attention of and call for leadership rooted in compassion as a strategic approach to leadership. Research around contemplative practices, such as gratitude and mindful meditation, offer evidence that they help strengthen the capacity to lead with and for compassion. This article explores another, often overlooked, contemplative practice: improvisational play and humor. Indeed, compassion and humor have been inextricably linked across many knowledge traditions. This article examines how the applied contemplative practice of improvisational play and humor offer an untapped opportunity for institutions of higher education to close the gap between theory and practice and to fulfill its responsibility of cultivating wise leaders of tomorrow. - Journal Article10 February 2024
Well-Being in Response to Gratitude Interventions: A Student Elicitation Approach
Various methods exist to invoke gratitude, such as gratitude lists, acts directed towards others, and gratitude contemplation (Rash, Matsuba, and Prkachin, 2011). This study, through student perception elicitation, examines a gratitude list intervention in a professional development undergraduate class which tests the gratitude and enhanced well-being connection theory. Results suggest various reasons why students perceive a connection between gratitude lists and mental and physical well-being, although there was an overall belief among participants that gratitude lists help more with mental health than physical health. Also, the gratitude and enhanced well-being connection theory was not fully supported as overall respondent sentiment shifted after the gratitude intervention with fewer respondents believing than beforre the intervention that a gratitude list can help with mental and physical well-being. While the current results show a lower frequency of the belief that gratitude lists can help with well-being, students overall still enjoyed the exercise and recommended more contemplative practices in the classroom. - Journal Article30 May 2025
Healing in Relation: Honoring Post-Graduate Grief as an Opportunity for Relational Scholarship
This paper is a three-way conversation about grief that follows a graduate program. We explore our experiences with post-graduate grief in community, attending to each other’s sense of loss following separation from supervisors, theses, and graduate programs. In committing to slow scholarship, processes—such as navigating feelings and living—have been valued over producing a manuscript quickly. Slowness, including long gaps between meetings, enabled us to follow the diverse contours of quiet alchemical processes such as grieving, opening up to emptiness, self-acceptance, being enough, and letting go. After years of compression and dialogic friction with her mentor, Tanya confronts feelings akin to postpartum depression, an anticlimactic melancholy accompanying the completion of her doctorate. Chris is haunted by his inability to recognize the authenticity of repeated invitations from his committee to engage following his Master’s degree, finally breaking his 16-year silence through narrative inquiry into losing what he never knew he had. Anna admits to filling emotional and intellectual gaps following her Master’s degree by pursuing her doctorate. She honors wholeness of herself that encompasses ruptures of grief, confusion, and her journey towards self-acceptance. Emerging from our collaboration is something entirely unexpected: healing. We share our private experiences of post-graduate mourning and re-emergence as an invitation to students to honor what comes unbidden following a graduate journey and an opportunity for relational scholarship. - Journal Article4 May 2023
From Without to Within: Inner Transformation as a Pedagogy for Social Activism
Change has become the urgency of our time, as the harrowing Anthropocene and ongoing socio-political crises are challenging the future of humanity and our planet. While systemic structural forces are often (and rightfully so) the target to blame, social activism is as much about our own path of inner change as it is about attempting to create a better world externally. This aspect of social activism can easily become misunderstood as inertia, while more traditional forms of resistance aimed at subverting macro-structures are favored. In this essay, I draw from literature on spirituality and consciousness, new biology, quantum sciences, as well as nature studies and education, to shed light on a new form of social activism that calls for each person to recognize our role in co-creating the world, and emphasizes spiritual awakening as the most vital feature of human flourishing. Social change in the external domain will not last unless we have done the inner work to weed out misconceptions, biases, and wrong thinking that led us to contemporary crises in the first place. The essay discussed the elevation of human consciousness through the aid of nature and yogic sciences as the need of the hour, and as the most crucial aspects of social activism in the new era.