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M. Barreto: Address to Summit 2022, Session VIIIa
Written by Dr. Maribel Barreto, education psychologist, Brazil
Saturday, August 13, 2022
Address to Summit 2022 and Leadership Conference,
Seoul, Korea, August 11-15, 2022
This paper is the result of theoretical studies and experiences on consciousness and its development that took place over 34 years. Consciousness is an innate faculty of the human being which allows us to walk closer and closer towards depth, virtuosity, integration, harmony, peace, and finally, the dimension of the essential and the sacred, the divine. “It is like a compass to guide the human being towards the good and the divine,” in the words of Ferabolli.
This is possible thanks to the quality of reasoning that consciousness makes available to the being and allows him to base his life on what the divine laws establish, the universal laws, in short, the natural laws that govern the universe, which favor him to feel and discern between what is real and illusory, what is useful and futile, what is noble and vulgar, what is right and wrong, what is good and bad, or, even what is just and unjust.
The development of consciousness, based on such laws and which occurs through the daily exercise of living in a state of mindfulness, constant vigilance and unshakable perception, causes the being to surpass the stage of the human being, which is built from knowledge, which still generates fragmentation, to the stage of the undivided being, which is built from knowing and feeling and self-knowledge, which no longer generates fragmentation, and finally, to the stage of the divine being, which is the fruit of knowing, feeling and being in unison. It refers to self-realization, which involves the total being, the full being, the being identified with its greater identity.
Such an understanding is based on the teachings of great masters, such as Jesus, who said: “Seek first the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 6:33); “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (Corinthians 3:16); and “Ye are gods, and ye are all sons of the Most High.” (Psalms 82:6).
From this perspective, the search for a connection with the divine, which constitutes us, is very important, as it makes us responsible and launches us towards fullness, the greater good and our virtues, helping us to know how to deal with the challenges of living in a state of harmony and balance, in short, a state of peace.
Faced with this possibility, the value of attitude should be highlighted, because theory without practice is like knowledge without conscience. The consequence of that is that humanity is left more than confused, often without believing, being who it is and having faith, and therefore, with difficulties in understanding the whole that inhabits it.
In a broader reflection, while we have already gone through several individual and social experiences and have already embraced several theories, the problem of the integration of the human being persists, inciting us to identify the insufficiency of an approach that prioritizes the exterior, superficial, intellectual, material of the human being.
However, this does not mean, in the field of knowledge, that we should abandon science and technology. Rather, we should seek to integrate both with the support of ethical, aesthetic and moral principles. We cannot be naive in believing that a transformation of this nature will originate from outside to inside or from society to the individual. Such a process will occur from within each human being to the point of becoming capable of maintaining universal peace. After all, we, the world and humanity, are one and the same.
We live today, in this great school called planet Earth, confronted with great challenges, mainly due to growing and dangerous fragmentation, demonstrated by the existence of several conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, which was declared this year, 2022; remains the main headline in news throughout the world; and was motivated by historical connections between Russia and Ukraine and current sociocultural, economic and political issues.
Faced with this scenario, it is evident that we need to do something very specific and urgent, starting with each one of us, because the greatest heritage of the planet is its humanity. The notions of individuality and totality need to be practiced harmoniously, remembering that it is not possible to talk about the world or the universe, except in relation to the consciousness that perceives it, considering, the consciousness’ role in making us capable of transcending any and all conflicts.
It seems clear to us, in this line of reasoning, that there can be no end to conflict, fragmentation, in short, war, in the world without conflict, fragmentation, in short, war, ending in ourselves. And this cannot be achieved without educating ourselves enough to assume being who we are, whether at the individual, family and/or societal level.
In this tireless movement of being, naturally, life will give us the opportunity to recognize our divinity; amplify the strength of our humanity; alleviate possible discomforts, disagreements and discouragement; knowing how to deal with problems in a balanced way; accentuate the value of duties and rights; overcome addictions; and identify the virtues. With that, we will no longer be instruments of any kind of fragmentation, whether in the individual dimension or collective dimension, demonstrated by poverty, hunger, misery, anguish, afflictions, or by war.
Our task, therefore, is not small, but let us do our part—which represents, in itself, the totality, because everything is one—as the best part. Thus, our movement of self-transformation has repercussions on the transformation of the universe.
To appease the war is undoubtedly a consequence of the appeasement of the human being, because he, deep down, seeks peace, although it was not sought for this purpose. For this, a new education aimed at the formation of a new human being who can overcome conflict and avoid war, starting from oneself, is needed. The human being is, therefore, a source of peace and war, and the challenge of our educators is to promote an education that helps students in their pacification process, in their own individuality; after all, everything starts in education.
On the other hand, we invest more in war than in peace. We invest more in conflicts than in approximations. It is necessary to reverse this logic of fragmentation through a genuine education in which science is practiced, but with awareness, as the educator and exponent of transdisciplinary thinking, Edgar Morin, showed in his 1982 book, "Science with Consciousness," which highlights the limits, possibilities and social responsibilities of science.
Morin, now 101 years old, tirelessly continues to alert humanity to the need for a new consciousness for science, realizing that current science has led us far more to catastrophe, through atomic weapons and genetic experiments, than with a perspective of a world at its best.
It is necessary to recognize the importance of teaching about the values of the natural laws that govern the universe, through the study of consciousness and meditation, with the objective of building the character of the student. It is also necessary to teach about self-knowledge, with the aim of awakening human potential and building serenity. Therefore, those who invest in consciousness, meditation and self-knowledge soon see themselves as the landmark of a new humanity.
In this sense, we can systematize in the school curriculum for early childhood education through to higher education the pragmatic study of meditation, consciousness and self-knowledge, keeping ourselves as peacemakers and not as warriors, from the recognition of the divine idea that dwells in us and supported by the national curriculum body of each country.
In Brazil, we have the National Curricular Common Base (BNCC), which was made official in 2018. The BNCC is explicit about its commitment to the integral education of children and adolescents, young people and adults, breaking with views that privilege both the intellectual (cognitive) dimension and the affective dimension, which involves feelings. This implies the challenge of educating considering that integral action supports the development of a dynamic balance of the qualities of feeling, thinking and acting in students.
Thus, it is important that we know that we are triune beings composed of three dimensions: feeling, thinking and acting. We know well the dimension of acting; from the dimension of thinking, it is up to us to educate our mind and our thoughts; from the dimension of feeling, we need to understand our causal, original part, where our feeling is the one that directs thought.
According to this comprehensive understanding, if a student is led to build knowledge only from thinking and acting, he will not feel the reason to drop or not an atomic bomb on the population. Therefore, it is not enough for us to offer through the educational process and material culture, a science of exteriority, which involves the intellect. It is not enough to study Portuguese, physics, geography, mathematics, history, chemistry, to name a few. We need to go further, because it is necessary to develop a spiritual culture, a science of interiority, which involves the virtues, the dimension of feeling.
In this direction, the work with the feeling should be emphasized. To this end, we remember the value of the systematic study of meditation, consciousness and self-knowledge, with their different degrees of depth and approaches, in formal education.
As for meditation, students should be invited to meditate every day to learn how to pay attention to what they feel. Meditation’s value is already scientifically proven, and just as weight training strengthens muscles, meditation strengthens the mind in what it needs and should do. The entire planet knows this. So, when someone argues with us, if we are attentive to ourselves and to that person, as Jesus taught us, “pray and watch,” we will understand what he or she feels, and thus will be able to relate to him or her better, and not simply impose our thinking. With this, what is being said is that we need to practice a lot of meditation, so that we can know what we feel, because formal education has led us, mainly, to know what we think.
In addition to meditation, we suggest educational work with consciousness, with regard to the study of the natural laws that govern the universe. This subject is already known to us, through Isaac Newton and the law of action and reaction he came up with. He proved that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If we don't teach this in school from an early age to develop an understanding of human behavior, and we just stick to the physics part, we are going to lose a lot.
To clarify this law, it should be emphasized that a child should not be taught by the parents the maxim, "if someone hits you, hit back," for it is teaching intolerance. This is a lack of feeling. We have to teach our child, “get better, because every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” What is being suggested with this approach is to awaken feeling, including the study of consciousness, at its different levels.
In early childhood and elementary school education, it is proposed there be the subject, initiation to consciousness; in high school, the subject, consciousness; and in higher education, the subject, conscientiology, so that students can learn discernment, to the point where they can live in individual and collective balance.
Moving on, if we invest in meditation and consciousness, we will enjoy the study of self-knowledge. Otherwise, when we are tempted, pressured and/or teased by someone, instead of going in and getting to know one another, we will focus on criticizing the person.
All this leads us to is intolerance and this only generates an intolerant society, especially nowadays when no one can give a contrary opinion to the other, because confusion reigns. In turn, with self-knowledge, we will learn from the maxim that the ignorant are not those who have not been educated, but those who have not yet invested in self-knowledge.
The study of self-knowledge, also in turn, indicates the need to reveal the human being as a whole, covering the physical, psychic and spiritual dimensions, with emphasis on the knowledge and practice of virtues.
In this way, students will be able to observe themselves, realizing what they feel, what they think and how they act in their daily lives, to the point of becoming more and more aligned with their divine essence.
Therefore, with the systematic study of meditation, consciousness and self-knowledge, we tend to reap peace, harmony and true love, which is related to the fulfillment of our duties towards ourselves, our neighbor, humanity, the planet, as well as with the universe, in short, with God.
Finally, based on the ideas shared here, it is undoubtedly necessary to educate at a total level, with the aim of building a new human being, the landmark of the new humanity, the conscious being, the peacemaker of planet Earth, fruit of the recognition and identification with the divine nature that constitutes it.
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