Contemplative Learning and Inquiry across Disciplines

15 Contemplative Disciplines in Higher Education: Cutting through Academic Materialism

15 Contemplative Disciplines in Higher Education Cutting through Academic Materialism Daniel Vokey The essential political problem for the intellectual . . . is not changing people’s consciousness—or what’s in their heads—but the political, economic , institutional regime of the production of truth. —Michel Foucault, 1977 Cutting through Spiritual Materialism is the title of a book by Chögyam Trungpa published in 1973. The book is based upon a series of talks he had given in 1970 and 1971 to provide his students both with an overview of the spiritual path (as understood within his lineage), and with a description of the traps into which the inexperienced or unwary spiritual seeker might fall. He published these talks so that Westerners exploring Buddhist and other contemplative traditions in the 1970s would be forewarned of, and so more likely to avoid, the self-centered agendas that are commonly mistaken for genuine spirituality. If Buddhists agree on one point, it is that spiritual disciplines properly serve to interrupt the functioning of ego, defined as the collection of habitual patterns of perceiving, feeling, thinking, and acting that reflect and reinforce a false belief that we are each a permanent, independently existing subject or “self.” However, precisely because interpreting experience through an “I-exist-as-a-separate-self” framework is such a deeply ingrained habit, it is all too easy to stray from the spiritual “straight and narrow.” Even with the best of intentions, it is hard not to mistake spirituality for a selfimprovement or personal immortality project. 253 254 Daniel Vokey Walking the spiritual path properly is a very subtle process; it is not something to jump into naively. There are numerous side tracks which lead to a distorted, ego-centered version of spirituality; we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are developing spiritually when instead we are strengthening our egocentricity through spiritual techniques. This fundamental distortion may be referred to as spiritual materialism. (Trungpa, 1973, p. 3) In this chapter, I am concerned with what I perceive to be an analogous phenomenon, academic materialism, meaning the sidetracks that result when certain features of our modern universities deflect transformative educational initiatives away from their emancipatory ends. By identifying some of the dynamics that can create and perpetuate academic materialism, I hope to increase the chances that efforts to integrate contemplative disciplines within higher education will yield the benefits they are meant to produce. The contents of this chapter are presented in four sections. The first section establishes my points of departure for this project; that is, the assumptions that I ask my readers to accept provisionally if they do not already share these beliefs. The second section introduces Alasdair MacIntyre’s account of the internal and external goods of practices, and of the tension between them, because his analysis illuminates one important way in which conflicting motivations are endemic to organizations, including institutions of higher education. Some of the competing intentions visible in contemporary universities are described in section three in light of the broader social dynamics that influence academic priorities. Section four invokes Parker Palmer’s analysis of social movements to offer ideas about how institutions of higher education could become more hospitable to contemplative disciplines oriented toward transformative ends. I. Points of Departure Whatever insight I might have into what it means for an activity to be contemplative , and into how different forms of contemplative practice can contribute in complementary ways to spiritual development and other educational aspirations, I owe in largest part to Shambhala Buddhism. For my purposes here, however, I need not assume that my readers and I share a common understanding of contemplative education. I need only assume agreement on the three basic claims that are my points of departure. The first claim is that the benefits (or harms) that result from the practice of any contemplative discipline depend to a significant degree upon the view and the intent of the practitioner. 255 Contemplative Disciplines in Higher Education Whether we pray, meditate, chant, paint, dialogue, feast, write, or dance, it is important that we have an appropriate understanding of what we are doing and why we are doing it. This is a teaching common to many traditions, Buddhism included: If one has the right mental attitude, all activities, bodily action, and speech can be religious. But if one lacks the right attitude—that is, if one does not know how to think properly—one will achieve nothing, even...