SPIRITUALITY THE MISSING LINK IN CHARACTER BUILDING
Presented at the CTLPA Annual Conference June 2003
by Eslyn Jones
University of Technology, Jamaica
Assistant Registrar Student Service
In this paper I will examine the definition of spirituality; explore spirituality from an historical perspective in Caribbean Tertiary Institutions and discuss the merits of spirituality and its relevance in tertiary education in the Caribbean today.
A theologian at the UTC Dr. George Mulrain, in his paper on African Contribution Towards The Development of Caribbean Spirituality, s aid spirituality is a quality of life that begins with an awareness of God and is characterized by closeness to God. God is in mankind's every thought, in their waking moments, in the way they speak. God is present in their manner of interacting with others, in their every movement, offering direction to their lives. He said spirituality has to do with the way in which men and women live out their humanity in the world and it expresses itself physically or materially in order to ensure credibility.
Spirituality then has to do with the dimension wherein there is interest in human involvement in the shaping of community. Additionally it has to he reflected in our involvement in social, political and economic realities that we face today.
The Caribbean is known for its rich spiritual heritage, which started from the indigenous peoples, the Arawaks and Caribs. They were not lacking in beliefs, which were of a religious nature, nor were they lacking in a pattern of worship, which were both sustained and expressed according to Dale Bisnauth.
A part of the legacy that the slaves left was a consciousness of the spirit world. The Africans who came to this region brought with them an understanding of god. They were aware of the existence of a supreme being.
They have helped Caribbean people to appreciate that spirituality is not just a matter that relates to one sphere of activity, namely religious. They appreciate that every moment and every activity must be regarded as “sacred” since they all take place in the sight of God.
Their approach to spirituality soon changed after the influence of the missionaries whose primary aim it was to convert them to Christianity. The work of the missionaries led to the strong influence of Christianity in the region, even though there are many other religions represented in the region. These include but are not limited to: Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Bahai, Judaism, Black Jews. Jordanites, House of Israel, African Traditional Religion, Rastafarian.
Althea Prince in the book Nation Dance says, “Religion is a part of the whole of the people a part of what comes out of their belly, out of their womb, out of heir heads.” In essence it is an important part of the Caribbean experience.
I believe Spirituality is humanity's search for God and religion is the vehicle used to relate to God.
Even though many religions arc represented, Christianity has been the dominating religion in the region and the conduit by which spirituality has been expressed in most Caribbean nations, therefore we will look briefly at the role it played in tertiary institutions. However, there has been very little written on spirituality in tertiary institutions in the Caribbean. As a result we will need to explore spirituality' from a general Caribbean perspective.
In using Dr. Mulrain's definition for spirituality, which focuses primarily on journeying with God and a consciousness of God in mankind's every moment, 1 will use Jamaica to illustrate a Caribbean nation that has demonstrated a strong awareness of God. Jamaica is numbered among the countries in the world as having the most churches per square mile. There is a national awareness of God. Parliament starts with prayer and has as it 5 chaplain one of the Bishops of the Anglican Church; there is a national prayer breakfast that the political leaders willingly participate in.
In most tertiary institutions meetings begin with prayers. Many have instituted a chaplaincy which service the spiritual needs of students. Examples of such institutions are The University of the West Indies, Northern Caribbean University (which is a church institution and is very' strong in its religious teachings) and the University of Technology, which has recently introduced the chaplaincy. It should be noted here that tertiary institutions such as teacher'', colleges were first introduced by the church, and inevitably there was some form of religious instruction.
Education was essentially a religious matter in Jamaica. The church undertook that responsibility because education could then be used as a means of evangelism. It was therefore easy to blend character with spirituality at the tertiary level because most of the institutions were run by churches and the Bible was used for instruction. In fact the first higher education institution in the Caribbean was Codrington College which was established in Barbados in 1743 to train priests.
Western concepts of education brought to the region by' Europeans also tended to be religious in inspiration. Spiritual values such as respect for authority work ethics, integrity, making the right moral decisions, or simply knowing the difference between right and wrong were passed on and contributed significantly to the shaping of the character of students.
According to Dayfoot (p2 15) the contribution of the church to education was incalculable.
It is clear that the church had a tremendous influence on character development through the educational system. Some how the emphasis on teaching character development based on spirituality was dropped in most institutions including some church based institutions. This has significantly contributed to the type of students institutions are producing today.
As we look at society and the rise in white-collar crime in the last two years we see examples such as:
Enron :
In October, Andrew Fastow, former director, was charged with fraud and conspiracy. Michael Kopper, an assistant to Mr. Fastow, pleaded guilty in August to charges of wire fraud and money laundering.
WorldCom :
Scott Sullivain, ex-finance chief was indited in August on charges of securities fraud and making false filings.
Tyco :
New York prosecutors charged Dennis Kozlowski and his finance chief, Mark Swartz, with stealing more than $170 m (US) from the company and illegally obtaining more than $400m by selling shares.
Adelphia Communications :
John Rigas and his two sons have been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud.
Arthur Andersen :
The firm was convicted of obstruction of justice. One partner, David Duncan has pleaded guilty to shredding documents.
The above incidents give a clear indication that something is terribly missing from our educational system. Honesty is no longer observed by students, cheating on exams is common place in universities and colleges and there is very little respect for authority. The startling increase in crime and violence in our nations reinforces the need to go back to teaching character building through spirituality as was practiced in our institutions previously.
Just as our institutions take the lead in educating for professions I believe we have an obligation to educate for living. Character building is a human approach to learning, living and engaging core values into one's everyday life, and in the development of knowledge, skills and abilities. Character development enhances the learner's capability to make informed responsible choices.
As educators we must promote character development based on spiritual values, which must be appropriate for the information age in which we are living: truthfulness, honesty, integrity, individual responsibility, humility, wisdom, justice, steadfastness, and dependability.
Our task then as educators is to envision a whole new place, a whole new space and role for spirituality in higher education, not necessarily in the form of isolated enterprise on the margins of the academy, nor as a new form of institutional social control but as an essential element of the larger task of orienting our institutions of higher learning to respond more adequately to the challenges the world presents to us now: challenges to our teaching, to our learning to our leading, to our lives. (Chapman p115 1999 About Campus)
An African theologian, Amber Mercy says: “just as there is no separation between the sacred and the secular in communal life, neither is there a separation between the soul and the body in a person.” If there is truly no separation between the sacred and the secular and the soul and the body then it is absolutely a critical that we find a way in our institution to use spirituality as a base in character development.
It is the task of the university then to assist in preparing students to be citizens with integrity, a sense of caring, honesty, fairness, responsibility, and respect for others. Spirituality is then the foundation for character building and as Amber Mercy said “spiritual needs are as important for the body as bodily needs are for the soul”. If this is indeed true we cannot abdicate control to chance or other influences. If we do we will continue to produce students that cannot cope with life in general.
There are two ways to include character building through spirituality in the curriculum; formally as an elective or informally as out of classroom learning.
We may want examine programmes in student development such as: Leadership, Mentoring, Support groups in self - esteem building and find ways to infuse spirituality with them. Also we can look at the chaplaincy and build programmes with the chaplains. In addition we can foster religious organizations on campus. All these provide ways to help in building the character of our students.
Bibliography
Bisnauth, P. (1996). History of religions in the Caribbean. Kingston: Kingston Publishers Limited.
Dayfoot. A.C. (1999). The shaping of the West Indian church. Kingston: The Press University of the West Indies.
Dick, D. (2003). Rebellion to riot the Jamaican church in Nation Building. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers.
Howe, GD. (Ed.). (2000). Higher education in the Caribbean past, present and future directions. Kingston: The University of the West Indies Press.
Oduyoye, Mercy Amber. The Value of African Religious Beliefs and Practices for Christian Theology. In K. Appiah-Kubi & S. Torres (Eds.) African Theology en Route. Pan African Conference of Third World Theologies. Accra. 1977
Prince, Althea. How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land? Constructing the Divine in Caribbean Contexts. In Taylor, P. (Ed.) Nation Dance. Religion, Identity and Cultural Differences in the Caribbean. Indiana University Press, 2001
Taylor, P. (Ed.). (2001). Nation Dance religion identity and cultural difference in the Caribbean. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers.
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