Problems Old, Problems New: Reconciling Heart and Mind

There are today numerous voices calling for a sec-ular education that caters for the whole person,irrespective of background and religious stance (Dalai Lama 1999; Glazer 1999; Miller 1999; Orr 1999;Palmer 1999; Gatto 1997; Neville 1989). It is a call forschooling that is able to unify the apparent discon-nection in contemporary Western society: believerversus nonbeliever, conservative versus liberal, fun-damentalist versus moderate, spiritualist versus ma-terialist (Glazer 1999, 1). The struggle, as Glazer putsit, comes down to a split about how to deal with thepainful and personal sense of separation that threat-ens to tear apart not only individuals and schools,but “...the living fabric of our world as well.” To healthis struggle, Glazer argues, education must neitherbe rooted in church, state, nor politics, but in the in-ner experience where the apparent duality of “sides”meet.