Dates: 8/20/2010 - 8/22/2010

Time: 7pm - 2pm

Location: University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, ON
N2J 4C1

When and Where?

Start Time:             Friday, August 20, 2010 at 7:00pm

End Time:              Sunday, August 22, 2010 at 2:00pm

Venue:                   Conference Centre (located in Ron Eydt Village)

University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West

Waterloo, Ontario, N2J 4C1, Canada

General Information

Spiritual Heritage Education Network Inc. (SHEN) is an organization based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It is dedicated to the promotion, development and delivery of education in the spiritual heritage of humanity with a view to engendering global unity.

Modern science and technology has turned the world into a global village, but the human mind is still out of sync with this development. To close this gap, SHEN is proposing that an all-inclusive universal spiritual education curriculum be incorporated in the global educational systems. SHEN hopes that such an initiative will help integrate fragmented humanity into one human family living in the wider world community.

SHEN is of the opinion that the present educational systems, whether secular or religion-based, have not only failed to globalize the human mind but also, in many cases, contributed to an exacerbation of human fragmentation. For humanity to realize ‘the global village metaphor’, the educational systems worldwide must change to incorporate the following:

1. Recognize that the peak spiritual discoveries of all prophets, sages and seers testify to one ineffable spiritual reality underlying the universe and all its beings, animate or inanimate.
2. This reality defines the spirituality that lies at the core of every religion (core spirituality) and is inclusive and unifying, excluding none.
3. Spirituality is the ability to perceive this underlying reality and celebrate our differences in its light.
4. Understanding of this reality is didactic in nature and well within the scope of today’s humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and life sciences when taught with spiritual meaning and purpose.
5. Understanding and living in awareness of our core spirituality will help address the grave human and environmental crises of global proportions that humanity faces today.
6. The fragmentation of humanity results from the historically exclusive development in isolation of cultural and linguistic communities with their particular imagery and metaphors, social and legal organizations, and political and economic aspirations.

Education to globalize the human mind involves integration of knowledge and understanding of all disciplines, whether secular or religious, to clearly highlight the principle that this universe, comprised of the animate and the inanimate, is one indivisible whole as a result of it being the manifestation of one unseen reality which pervades it through and through.  In addition to promoting its understanding conceptually, the curriculum must include contemplative and meditative theory and practices for its insight and discovery, and for its assimilation in order to lead spiritual lives.

Towards this end, SHEN plans a series of meeting-workshops to focus on the promotion, development and delivery of the curricula with unifying objectives. This first meeting is timed to mark SHEN’s 10th anniversary year.

The Purpose

The workshop aims to reach beyond a mere spiritual dialogue in setting the stage to seek educational solutions for the grave human and environmental crises of global proportions facing humanity today. The specific purpose is to develop ideas for inclusive spiritual education in general and for post-secondary curricula in particular, for the education of a cadre of teachers required to teach it at the secondary and the primary levels.

Expected Outcomes for Participants

1. Understand how religions are simultaneously unifying as well as divisive,
2. Build a better understanding of core spirituality,
3. Understand the commonality of core spirituality across religions,
4. Explore together how the unifying core spirituality can be harnessed for better education,
5. Build a network of like-minded people,
6. Grow spiritually,
7. Be inspired, and
8. Make a difference by cooperating in related research and curriculum development.

Expected Outcomes for SHEN

1. Explore together education to develop an over-arching global human identity,
2. Raise awareness of the need and relevance of SHEN’s goals in today's global environment,
3. Build a network of parties with shared interest in propelling the SHEN goals,
4. Contribute to mutual spiritual development, and
5. Foster cooperation in related research and curriculum development.

The Process to Achieve the Purpose

This event is meant to achieve a specific purpose; it is not merely a forum for intellectual discourse and scholarly debate. We collectively will not be able to face the grave human and environmental crises humanity faces today if we do not deeply understand and absorb that we are one world. This defines the recurrent theme of the event.

We plan to keep focused on the theme by organizing each working session to include diverse traditions and disciplines. The stage is set with a keynote address to all delegates followed by a choice of concurrent presentations in small groups. Formal presentations are followed with a period of silent reflection and recollection. The session then concludes with an hour of interactive learning by mindful listening to the ideas, feelings, and insights of individual delegates on what they heard earlier in the session.

This process, we hope will highlight that we are essentially one world interconnected by and to serve our shared reality. That is what every religion truly teaches in its core spirituality.

Contact: Graham Engel