My crash course in understanding the soul of teaching \u2013 and in the process, my own soul \u2013 happened at an outpatient facility for adults with severe mental and emotional illnesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A community college had hired me to teach three different groups meant to help this population enter the job market. With no stipulations for what should occur in these groups, I had to figure it out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
RELATED: Spirituality & Mental Health: Is Mental Illness Spiritual Weakness?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The site director told me not to expect improvements in \u201cthis population.\u201d Adults with emotional illnesses, she said, are essentially \u201cstuck,\u201d with only their medication keeping them functional. Given this opinion, I wondered why the site provided classes.<\/strong> I\u2019d soon find out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In everything I do, though, I\u2019m led by the Baha\u2019i teachings, and this <\/a>one from Baha\u2019u\u2019llah immediately came to mind: \u201cRegard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom.<\/strong>\u201d I knew that, despite their illnesses, that all of the members of the class possessed their own gems, if I could only draw them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The room for the Clerical Skills group had several electric typewriters, an old computer and a cabinet housing some alphabetizing exercises for practice filing and lists of nouns for sorting. Although alphabetizing was too simple \u2013 having a mental illness doesn\u2019t mean ignorant \u2013 sorting was another issue,<\/strong> because one symptom of schizophrenia is an inability to categorize. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The group members comprised mostly intelligent, experienced, and even worldly adults who didn\u2019t want to waste time doing busy work. Some revealed they hadn\u2019t looked up word meanings since middle-school, so they often used words without knowing their definitions. It startled me to find that looking up a word could dissipate someone\u2019s paranoia, as in when one individual thought the denotation of a particular word was \u201csatanist.\u201d (It wasn\u2019t.) Another student loved finding errors in the vocabulary workbooks, so I encouraged him to compose a letter to the publisher to point out their mistakes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My goal: I really wanted everyone to know that they could contribute to society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each day I brought in a newspaper for the group to divide up, read, and discuss. Many complained they couldn\u2019t read because the years of symptoms, medication, and institutionalization had deadened their faculties, and they felt unable to concentrate enough to comprehend and recall what they were reading. However, with encouragement, everyone who showed up,<\/strong> read and summarized short articles \u2013 Harlan reported on obituaries, Bradley chose comic strips, Al read the shortest possible articles only if I could get him to finish his standup routines. Their work evolved into writing summaries to read and share. Sharon always chose the lead story, usually about world affairs. Larry reported on book reviews but, because he\u2019d damaged his vocal cords by screaming for three straight days, we struggled to understand him until we could. Eventually two group members developed a newsletter, and someone else later put together a poetry compilation, both of which were copied and collated by Mark who enjoyed the low stress of such work. I invited the most prolific typist to write real letters to procure donated computers for the group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All of this reminded me of the primary importance the Baha\u2019i teachings put on education. Abdu\u2019l-Baha wrote <\/a>\u201c\u2026 education is the indispensable foundation of all human excellence and alloweth man to work his way to the heights of abiding glory.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Communication Skills group I found that people had trouble articulating their feelings. I wondered if they didn\u2019t have adequate language to describe their experiences, so we spent time trying to pinpoint what emotions people were trying to describe. Those who also attended the Clerical group offered suggestions from their vocabulary learning. Overall, I tried to give space for members to exchange ideas and take each other seriously. My groups turned into a time to learn, and to laugh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The social workers on staff, a dedicated and sensitive bunch, were amused that I took the members seriously, since many of the diagnoses included delusional thinking and bizarre behavior. They didn\u2019t quite understand what happened in my groups, but knew that when I was absent, they were rejected as my substitutes. I think that\u2019s because an underlying truth about these groups was that the material had become a springboard for interpersonal relationships \u2013 we had become a community of friends thoughtfully interacting. As Abdu\u2019l-Baha<\/a> pointed out<\/a> in Some Answered Questions<\/em>, the class had transcended mere instruction by emphasizing \u201cacquiring divine perfections:\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 education is of three kinds: material, human, and spiritual. Material education aims at the growth and development of the body, and consists in securing its sustenance and obtaining the means of its ease and comfort. This education is common to both man and animal.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Human education, however, consists in civilization and progress, that is, sound governance, social order, human welfare, commerce and industry, arts and sciences, momentous discoveries, and great undertakings, which are the central features distinguishing man from the animal.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n As to divine education, it is the education of the Kingdom and consists in acquiring divine perfections. This is indeed true education, for by its virtue man becomes the focal centre of divine blessings and the embodiment of the verse \u201cLet us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.\u201d This is the ultimate goal of the world of humanity.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n