Research in Education
The Significance of Pure Consciousness for Education
Christopher H. Jones
Fairfield, Iowa, U.S.A.
This article presents the seminal contributions that intellectual understanding and experience of pure consciousness make to education. This knowledge of consciousness, which has been brought to light by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and systematically presented in his Vedic Science(SM), supplies a missing fundamental to education that deeply transforms the way we understand all aspects of the field, including foundational concepts, educational practices, and educational outcomes.
This paper is divided into four parts. The first lays the foundation for the paper by examining the concept of pure consciousness, as presented by Maharishi, and providing experiential and scientific evidence for its existence. The second demonstrates that the knowledge and experience of pure consciousness transform our understanding of basic educational concepts, including knowledge, development, learning, and human potential. The most important implication of this more complete understanding is that enlightenment—higher states of consciousness—should be the goal of education.
The third section examines the implications of pure consciousness for educational practice. These implications include: new courses for giving experiential and intellectual understanding of consciousness; new approaches to the teaching of traditional subject matter that emphasize wholeness of awareness and refinement of the emotions; and care for the physiology because of its role in supporting deeper experiences of consciousness. The final section of the paper examines implications of pure consciousness for individual and social life—the key outcomes of education. Drawing on experience in Consciousness-Based educational institutions and empirical research, this section demonstrates that incorporation of knowledge of pure consciousness into education can significantly enhance academic outcomes, structure enlightenment in students, and contribute directly to the realization of the highest ideals of society—peace, economic growth, and social progress.
Reference: Grant, J.D., & Jones, H.J. (1998). “The Significance of Pure Consciousness for Education.” Modern Science Vedic Science 8:1
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Department of Education, Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, IA 52557
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