| Chapter 2: | The Shadowy Edges of the Path: Shifting Power From the Teacher to the Students |
|
|
The following story from the Native American tradition was told to me by a Métis Medicine Man, Mechuskosees (personal communication, c. 1989):
A medicine man has the ability to find out what is wrong in the inner world. She or he does not give in to the pressures to conform to the everyday consciousness and pressures that are not consistent with a drum beat that is resonant with her or his soul and the soul of the universe. In this story, there is someone who is unwell. The medicine man and the one who is unwell meet and agree to investigate. From this inner work, it becomes clear that the young man will die and that healing will still be facilitated. Looking inside and being with the medicine man is endemic to the healing process. We humans need a sufficient number of healers to look “inside” to facilitate substantial and meaningful transformation in education.
My integrated engagement with life and studies has led to a series of ruminations and discoveries. In my many years of work as a psychotherapist where I see and feel the open psychic wounds of those who seek refuge in my office, I have had the realization that the educational system has contributed significantly, even decisively, to the wounding experience of my clients. My clients speak of alienation, feelings of despair, and loneliness. My students and colleagues also speak of these experiences. I have lived these experiences in my own life. My work as an educator of students who are studying for certificates or graduate degrees in counselling has been to look into the processes and structures that have contributed to these wounds and to provide an alternative and generative experience in an educational environment.