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Ignatian Contemplative Pedagogy

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Tim Muldoon explores how Ignatian pedagogy, rooted in the 475-year tradition of Jesuit education, promotes a form of contemplative pedagogy especially apt for what this journal describes as the VUCA world

Image courtesy of interviewee. August 14, 2024

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In a discussion about Ignatian pedagogy held on June 13, Tim elaborates on its historical and philosophical significance. This video educational approach, rooted in the teachings of Ignatius of Loyola and practiced by the Jesuits for over 450 years, focuses on the holistic development of individuals—intellectually, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. Tim emphasizes the importance of self-knowledge and self-care, particularly through practices derived from the spiritual exercises created by Ignatius, which encourage individuals to reflect deeply on their lives and purposes.

The conversation transitions to contemporary educational challenges, particularly a tendency toward an objectivist approach that prioritizes knowledge of external subjects over understanding oneself as a knower. Tim and other thinkers advocate for a more integrative approach that considers the emotional and personal dimensions of learning. They highlight the value of contemplative practices, such as mindfulness and gratitude, in fostering greater awareness and personal growth.

Tim also discusses the implications of contemplative pedagogy for building character, suggesting that engaging deeply with one's studies and fostering gratitude can transform individuals and their approaches to education and life in general. He concludes by encouraging both educators and individuals to embrace contemplative practices, suggesting that they lead to a greater sense of love, service, and positive impact in the world. These practices, whether spiritual or secular, aid individuals in achieving meaningful self-awareness and interpersonal connectedness.

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X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

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Short answer is it is a 400

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and 50-year-old educational model.

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Uh, so that's, I think the, the,

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the starting point for thinking about it.

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And it's rooted in the, the work of Ignatius of Loyola,

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and specifically those that follow him.

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Uh, they're, they're known as the Jesuits,

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but the Society of Jesus is their formal name.

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And, and they got into education,

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in the late 16th century, almost by accident.

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But, but very quickly, they developed this really,

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very systematic, very thorough approach to education,

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which really any thorough treatment of the history

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of education globally today is gonna make reference to.

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Because, you know, you could argue that it is the longest,

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continual, program

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or method of, of education in the world.

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So, you know, it's, it's certainly got an important

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footprint and it's characterized by,

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a, a number of factors.

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But I'll just, for the sake of, of,

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simplicity right now, mention that it's, it's rooted in,

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the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius, to the extent

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that is about forming the whole person.

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And I'll say more about for what,

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but, the affective, the intellectual, the social,

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the spiritual, all the dimensions of,

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human personality are part of this educational paradigm.

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And, and, and it's very widespread.

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We're talking about thousands

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and thousands of educators across the globe, hundreds

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of thousands of students.

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So it has quite a significant footprint globally.

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I wanna start by saying a little bit more about the

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spiritual exercises, because I mentioned that,

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that it was ignatius's own work in developing

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what you could argue was a, a, a foundation for a retreat

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or a, you know, kind of a withdrawal from the world

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for the sake of self-knowledge, for the sake of, of coming

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to know God more deeply.

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Uh, that foundation

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provided the basis for what we can describe as the,

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Ignatian pedagogical paradigm.

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So the spiritual exercises, initially were a 30 retreat,

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or they, they were designed by Ignatius

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to be a 30 day retreat.

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They've been adapted to be, done in daily life,

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so over a year, year and a half.

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But the, the focus, as I mentioned is,

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is on self-knowledge, but,

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but specifically with an eye to a, a big question,

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which is, what am I here for?

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What has God placed me here for?

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And I, and I, and I ask it those two ways, by the way,

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because obviously it's, it's a tradition

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that's rooted in Christian spirituality.

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And, and so there's a, there's a theological language,

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which many people, of course,

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who are coming from the Christian tradition are gonna be

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particularly familiar with.

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But more and more in recent years, this has been a tradition

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that people who are not religious, who are not Christian,

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have, have come to realize, look, this is,

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this is good hygiene, this is good. Um,

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You know, these are good practices of,

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of self knowledge.

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And, and so in this day

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and age when, when many people are interested in,

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for example, mindfulness practices

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and then just purely, you know, contemplative practices,

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they're recognizing that Ignatius was onto something,

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you know, 450 years ago.

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So if, if that's the basis, then that the pedagogical

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paradigm draws from, it just means

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that these early Jesuit educators were trying to recognize

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that to be human is, is to be a complex being that

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that is ordered towards some good in the world.

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And so the formation process

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that we call education is ultimately about trying to

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invite the person into these practices of self-knowledge,

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but also knowledge of the world, again, so

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that they can do some good in the world.

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This is a, a really fascinating area

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of contemporary research.

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And so what I've observed is that some

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of the interesting movers in this area are,

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are not coming from a spiritual background, per se,

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at least in the specific sense of, for example,

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coming from a religious tradition.

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Rather, many of the researchers are,

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are simply recognizing that there is a, a significant

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problem with our approach

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to education in the contemporary context.

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And, and that problem is that it can be, and, and,

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and the specific term is it can be too objectivist.

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Um, and, and in this context, that word objectives means

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that it focuses, it focuses too much on the,

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the object of knowledge.

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So I wanna understand, let's say this plant,

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or I wanna understand this biological process,

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or I wanna understand, you know, this medical issue.

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Okay? So, so obviously when we are,

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when we're seeking the know things, we wanna know the,

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the object of our knowledge.

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But, but those who critique this approach say something

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that, that that interests me.

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And they say, look, that's good.

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Okay, seeking an object of knowledge is good,

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but we also wanna attend to ourselves as knowers, you know?

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So in any act of knowledge, there is a knower

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and there's a known, and,

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and so if you focus only on the known,

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you may be missing something.

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Now, I'll, I'll add by the way, that one

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of the key movers in this movement, is a scientist.

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Many of them are scientists,

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and they're recognizing, look, good science,

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absolutely follow scientific method, do the work,

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but do not ignore the fact that there is a human element.

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There is a personal element in coming to know anything.

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And that's true. Whether it is, you know,

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strictly speaking science in this, in the way

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that we understand it today, or in the maybe broader

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philosophical sense of science as a, as a, as a way

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of knowing in the world.

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You know, so, so again, the, the movers,

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in this field are, are simply saying, look,

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let's pay attention to the knowing subject as well as

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to the object of knowing.

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And then let's practice attentiveness to our practices

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of knowing so that we don't fall into our, our own biases.

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Well, again, come back to that word contemplation.

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So, even if you approach that, you know,

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with no religious background whatsoever, you can kind of,

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you know, get your hands around the idea that

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to contemplate is to attend to something

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to really pay attention, right?

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So I can contemplate a sunrise,

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I can contemplate, a poem.

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Um, and, you know, importantly for

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what I was saying just a moment ago, I can contemplate,

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let's say, this plant that I'm very interested in or, or,

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or this animal or this species, I can,

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I can attend to it, alright?

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And, and what the scientists that,

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that have done this work are, are trying to observe is

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that it's one thing to, you know,

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almost dissociate oneself from the object of one study.

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So I could, you know, take an insect, let's say,

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and I can pin it against a wall like

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you see on some museums.

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And, and, and so the critique is, okay,

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you might understand things about the insect

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because you're paying close attention to it,

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but what you're not doing is asking yourself basic questions

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like, what's moving within me when I am stirred

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to raise important questions about things in the world?

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You know, so, so the contemplative practice, and,

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and here I wanna draw more specifically from the religious

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tradition and specifically from the Ignatian tradition.

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The religious practice is a way of saying that we want to

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attend to ourselves as knowers, and,

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and even ask the question, why is it

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that I want to know this thing?

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What am I hoping to learn from this thing?

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And, and is there a way that, that I can appreciate

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this thing in a way that doesn't, as it were,

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dissociate myself from the thing, you know, from the object

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of, of my knowledge?

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And, and I'll just add one last point, which is that I,

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I think as it were, the price of

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that question raises when you start

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to move into other areas of knowledge.

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So it's one thing to, you know, look at an insect

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and say, this is very, very interesting.

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It's a different thing altogether to look at.

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For example, if I'm a psychologist and I'm not,

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but if I, if, if I were a psychologist, I might look at,

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my clients and, and,

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and observe, you know, things that I, you know,

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can draw from my knowledge, to understand

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behavior patterns, disorders, whatever.

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But if, if there's a part of me that, that seeks

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to distance myself from the person

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and just treat the person as an object of study,

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then something is lost, would, would say the critics of,

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of this objectivist model that

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to contemplate is ultimately to behold

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and to recognize something, really,

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valuable in the object of my knowledge,

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whether it's a person, whether, it's,

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it's a text, whatever it is.

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But in a sense, what they name is that, that that's

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to entering into a movement that I,

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I think is properly described as a form of love, a form

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of loving what it is that I'm seeking

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to understand all the more, when it's a human being

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or a human community.

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And, and, you know, we can then talk about, for example,

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social questions and those that really get us into the realm

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of, of thinking,

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more specifically in a contemplative vein, I'm changed

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by the work that I do, and particularly if the work

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that I do is eliciting from me these movements

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that I'm describing as love.

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So look, anybody that that chooses to get a degree has to,

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on some level, love what they're studying.

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You know, I, I, I teach to undergraduates.

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I've, I've taught graduate students.

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Um, and, and yes, you can sort

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of get tired of what you study.

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I mean, we've all fallen prey to that from time to time,

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but on some level, we give ourselves

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to whatever it is that we're studying.

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So, so this contemplative move is a way

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of simply inviting us to pay attention

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to what's going on in us

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when we are studying the objects that, that we study.

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All right? So, that's

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where we can talk about contemplative practices.

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Alright? And I'll just use very one,

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I think very obvious, example.

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Um, and it just happens.

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I, I, I happen to be married to a therapist,

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and we were talking about practices of gratitude, which,

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which are absolutely, you know, part of the currency

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of the movement of positive psychology

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that has developed over the last 20 years.

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And, you know, I read this as a philosopher

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and as, as a theologian, and I say, I can get on board

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with this a hundred percent.

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I mean, this makes a ton of sense to me, right?

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So here's the idea. When I do practices of gratitude,

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when I, for example, start my day

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and name five things that I'm grateful for

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or that I'm looking forward to, it, it affects me.

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It affects my mind, you know, I, I'm not starting with,

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it's early, or, I'm tired,

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or, I've got all these things to do.

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If, if I'm actually disposing myself to enter into the day

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with gratitude, then that's going to affect me.

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And the science is there. I won't quote the, the,

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the studies, but the science is there, that, that practices

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of gratitude absolutely, influence our thinking.

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Uh, not to mention our physical health

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and other longer term things,

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which we could talk about also.

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Um, but, but that would be an example

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of a contemplative practice to do that in a mindful way,

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in a thoughtful way, in a rational way, and to,

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and to, as it were, develop one's character by virtue

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of the fact that I do this not just once,

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but let's say over the course of, you know, many days,

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months, years, I'm gonna become a more grateful person.

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And, and that's certainly going to impact the way

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that I approach my work as well.

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I'm gonna answer that in, in two ways.

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One is gonna be the, the broader answer,

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and one is gonna be the more discreet answer.

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The broad answer is that

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the research on contemplative pedagogy, remember th this is,

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this is not confessionally based.

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This is not religiously based.

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It's, it's based really, I think in, in good psychology,

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and good philosophy.

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I mean, I, you know, I, there there's a, there's a very

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definite Aristotelian tinge to this research,

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and I just simply say that to, to refer to the way

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that Aristotle wants us to pay attention to our habits

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and how they affect our character.

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Okay? So, so I would certainly encourage educators to,

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to learn about contemplative practices, and I'd l

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and encourage anybody,

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to learn about contemplative practices.

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They are good for us, okay?

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So, practices of gratitude, practices of stillness,

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putting down our devices, getting off screens,

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entering into anything habitual that sort

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of puts our mind into a place, of, of positive thinking,

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gre, anything like that.

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And, and by the way, that would be my hinge

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to the more discreet answer,

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because I'll say that prayer is one of those practices,

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you know, prayer can be conceived of as a way

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of entering into a form of a form of mindful practice.

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And the way I, I talk about this with my students is

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to say something like this, you know, I, I,

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I don't necessarily wanna start with what you believe

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or don't believe about God or anything like that,

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but I do wanna invite you into prayer and,

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and be, you know, at least attentive to

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what may unfold in prayer.

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Okay? So the, the more discreet answer now is that within

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the Jesuit tradition,

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and again, we're talking about 50,000 plus educators

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around the world, okay?

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Who've had this, you know, participation in, in this long.

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And, I, I think, you know, really, striking,

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educational trajectory, I myself have been part of it

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for, for decades now.

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Um, so the more discreet point is let us lean into this

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tradition that gives us, not only a,

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a philosophy of good pedagogy, but,

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but even specific practices.

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And, and I'll mention one being the prayer that's known

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as the examine, which is a prayer

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of recollection over the course of one's day,

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asking effectively, where has God been in those experiences,

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you know, and, and, and again, that can be conceived of

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as a, as a particular form of a contemplative practice.

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So, so again,

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the broad point is let's all develop

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these contemplative practices.

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And, and for those of us that, that are open

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to the possibility of this kind of religious turn,

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let us allow maybe ourselves to be attentive to the question

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of is God there is God to be found in, in these practices?

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And if so, what might the direction of those practices be?

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Last point, I think that the direction

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of those practices is towards greater love, greater service

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to others, greater good in the world.

00:00 - Short answer is it is a 400 and 50-year-old educational model. so that's, I think the, the, the starting point for thinking about it. And it's rooted in the, the work of Ignatius of Loyola, and specifically those that follow him.

00:16 - they're, they're known as the Jesuits, but the Society of Jesus is their formal name. And, and they got into education, in the late 16th century, almost by accident. But, but very quickly, they developed this really, very systematic, very thorough approach to education, which really any thorough treatment of the history of education globally today is gonna make reference to. Because, you know, you could argue that it is the longest, continual, program

00:50 - or method of, of education in the world. So, you know, it's, it's certainly got an important footprint and it's characterized by, a, a number of factors. But I'll just, for the sake of, of, simplicity right now, mention that it's, it's rooted in, the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius, to the extent that is about forming the whole person. And I'll say more about for what, but, the affective, the intellectual, the social,

01:19 - the spiritual, all the dimensions of, human personality are part of this educational paradigm. And, and, and it's very widespread. We're talking about thousands and thousands of educators across the globe, hundreds of thousands of students. So it has quite a significant footprint globally. I wanna start by saying a little bit more about the spiritual exercises, because I mentioned that, that it was ignatius's own work in developing

01:46 - what you could argue was a, a, a foundation for a retreat or a, you know, kind of a withdrawal from the world for the sake of self-knowledge, for the sake of, of coming to know God more deeply. that foundation provided the basis for what we can describe as the, Ignatian pedagogical paradigm. So the spiritual exercises, initially were a 30 retreat, or they, they were designed by Ignatius to be a 30 day retreat.

02:14 - They've been adapted to be, done in daily life, so over a year, year and a half. But the, the focus, as I mentioned is, is on self-knowledge, but, but specifically with an eye to a, a big question, which is, what am I here for? What has God placed me here for? And I, and I, and I ask it those two ways, by the way, because obviously it's, it's a tradition that's rooted in Christian spirituality.

02:39 - And, and so there's a, there's a theological language, which many people, of course, who are coming from the Christian tradition are gonna be particularly familiar with. But more and more in recent years, this has been a tradition that people who are not religious, who are not Christian, have, have come to realize, look, this is, this is good hygiene, this is good. You know, these are good practices of, of self knowledge.

03:02 - And, and so in this day and age when, when many people are interested in, for example, mindfulness practices and then just purely, you know, contemplative practices, they're recognizing that Ignatius was onto something, you know, 450 years ago. So if, if that's the basis, then that the pedagogical paradigm draws from, it just means that these early Jesuit educators were trying to recognize that to be human is, is to be a complex being that

03:33 - that is ordered towards some good in the world. And so the formation process that we call education is ultimately about trying to invite the person into these practices of self-knowledge, but also knowledge of the world, again, so that they can do some good in the world. This is a, a really fascinating area of contemporary research. And so what I've observed is that some of the interesting movers in this area are,

04:02 - are not coming from a spiritual background, per se, at least in the specific sense of, for example, coming from a religious tradition. Rather, many of the researchers are, are simply recognizing that there is a, a significant problem with our approach to education in the contemporary context. And, and that problem is that it can be, and, and, and the specific term is it can be too objectivist. and, and in this context, that word objectives means

04:32 - that it focuses, it focuses too much on the, the object of knowledge. So I wanna understand, let's say this plant, or I wanna understand this biological process, or I wanna understand, you know, this medical issue. Okay? So, so obviously when we are, when we're seeking the know things, we wanna know the, the object of our knowledge. But, but those who critique this approach say something that, that that interests me.

04:58 - And they say, look, that's good. Okay, seeking an object of knowledge is good, but we also wanna attend to ourselves as knowers, you know? So in any act of knowledge, there is a knower and there's a known, and, and so if you focus only on the known, you may be missing something. Now, I'll, I'll add by the way, that one of the key movers in this movement, is a scientist. Many of them are scientists,

05:23 - and they're recognizing, look, good science, absolutely follow scientific method, do the work, but do not ignore the fact that there is a human element. There is a personal element in coming to know anything. And that's true. Whether it is, you know, strictly speaking science in this, in the way that we understand it today, or in the maybe broader philosophical sense of science as a, as a, as a way of knowing in the world. You know, so, so again, the, the movers,

05:52 - in this field are, are simply saying, look, let's pay attention to the knowing subject as well as to the object of knowing. And then let's practice attentiveness to our practices of knowing so that we don't fall into our, our own biases. Well, again, come back to that word contemplation. So, even if you approach that, you know, with no religious background whatsoever, you can kind of, you know, get your hands around the idea that to contemplate is to attend to something

06:22 - to really pay attention, right? So I can contemplate a sunrise, I can contemplate, a poem. and, you know, importantly for what I was saying just a moment ago, I can contemplate, let's say, this plant that I'm very interested in or, or, or this animal or this species, I can, I can attend to it, alright? And, and what the scientists that, that have done this work are, are trying to observe is

06:46 - that it's one thing to, you know, almost dissociate oneself from the object of one study. So I could, you know, take an insect, let's say, and I can pin it against a wall like you see on some museums. And, and, and so the critique is, okay, you might understand things about the insect because you're paying close attention to it, but what you're not doing is asking yourself basic questions like, what's moving within me when I am stirred

07:12 - to raise important questions about things in the world? You know, so, so the contemplative practice, and, and here I wanna draw more specifically from the religious tradition and specifically from the Ignatian tradition. The religious practice is a way of saying that we want to attend to ourselves as knowers, and, and even ask the question, why is it that I want to know this thing? What am I hoping to learn from this thing? And, and is there a way that, that I can appreciate

07:40 - this thing in a way that doesn't, as it were, dissociate myself from the thing, you know, from the object of, of my knowledge? And, and I'll just add one last point, which is that I, I think as it were, the price of that question raises when you start to move into other areas of knowledge. So it's one thing to, you know, look at an insect and say, this is very, very interesting. It's a different thing altogether to look at.

08:05 - For example, if I'm a psychologist and I'm not, but if I, if, if I were a psychologist, I might look at, my clients and, and, and observe, you know, things that I, you know, can draw from my knowledge, to understand behavior patterns, disorders, whatever. But if, if there's a part of me that, that seeks to distance myself from the person and just treat the person as an object of study, then something is lost, would, would say the critics of,

08:34 - of this objectivist model that to contemplate is ultimately to behold and to recognize something, really, valuable in the object of my knowledge, whether it's a person, whether, it's, it's a text, whatever it is. But in a sense, what they name is that, that that's to entering into a movement that I, I think is properly described as a form of love, a form of loving what it is that I'm seeking

09:03 - to understand all the more, when it's a human being or a human community. And, and, you know, we can then talk about, for example, social questions and those that really get us into the realm of, of thinking, more specifically in a contemplative vein, I'm changed by the work that I do, and particularly if the work that I do is eliciting from me these movements that I'm describing as love. So look, anybody that that chooses to get a degree has to,

09:30 - on some level, love what they're studying. You know, I, I, I teach to undergraduates. I've, I've taught graduate students. and, and yes, you can sort of get tired of what you study. I mean, we've all fallen prey to that from time to time, but on some level, we give ourselves to whatever it is that we're studying. So, so this contemplative move is a way of simply inviting us to pay attention

09:52 - to what's going on in us when we are studying the objects that, that we study. All right? So, that's where we can talk about contemplative practices. Alright? And I'll just use very one, I think very obvious, example. and it just happens. I, I, I happen to be married to a therapist, and we were talking about practices of gratitude, which, which are absolutely, you know, part of the currency

10:16 - of the movement of positive psychology that has developed over the last 20 years. And, you know, I read this as a philosopher and as, as a theologian, and I say, I can get on board with this a hundred percent. I mean, this makes a ton of sense to me, right? So here's the idea. When I do practices of gratitude, when I, for example, start my day and name five things that I'm grateful for or that I'm looking forward to, it, it affects me.

10:41 - It affects my mind, you know, I, I'm not starting with, it's early, or, I'm tired, or, I've got all these things to do. If, if I'm actually disposing myself to enter into the day with gratitude, then that's going to affect me. And the science is there. I won't quote the, the, the studies, but the science is there, that, that practices of gratitude absolutely, influence our thinking. not to mention our physical health and other longer term things,

11:07 - which we could talk about also. but, but that would be an example of a contemplative practice to do that in a mindful way, in a thoughtful way, in a rational way, and to, and to, as it were, develop one's character by virtue of the fact that I do this not just once, but let's say over the course of, you know, many days, months, years, I'm gonna become a more grateful person. And, and that's certainly going to impact the way that I approach my work as well.

11:34 - I'm gonna answer that in, in two ways. One is gonna be the, the broader answer, and one is gonna be the more discreet answer. The broad answer is that the research on contemplative pedagogy, remember th this is, this is not confessionally based. This is not religiously based. It's, it's based really, I think in, in good psychology, and good philosophy. I mean, I, you know, I, there there's a, there's a very

11:58 - definite Aristotelian tinge to this research, and I just simply say that to, to refer to the way that Aristotle wants us to pay attention to our habits and how they affect our character. Okay? So, so I would certainly encourage educators to, to learn about contemplative practices, and I'd l and encourage anybody, to learn about contemplative practices. They are good for us, okay? So, practices of gratitude, practices of stillness,

12:27 - putting down our devices, getting off screens, entering into anything habitual that sort of puts our mind into a place, of, of positive thinking, gre, anything like that. And, and by the way, that would be my hinge to the more discreet answer, because I'll say that prayer is one of those practices, you know, prayer can be conceived of as a way of entering into a form of a form of mindful practice. And the way I, I talk about this with my students is

12:59 - to say something like this, you know, I, I, I don't necessarily wanna start with what you believe or don't believe about God or anything like that, but I do wanna invite you into prayer and, and be, you know, at least attentive to what may unfold in prayer. Okay? So the, the more discreet answer now is that within the Jesuit tradition, and again, we're talking about 50,000 plus educators around the world, okay?

13:22 - Who've had this, you know, participation in, in this long. And, I, I think, you know, really, striking, educational trajectory, I myself have been part of it for, for decades now. so the more discreet point is let us lean into this tradition that gives us, not only a, a philosophy of good pedagogy, but, but even specific practices. And, and I'll mention one being the prayer that's known as the examine, which is a prayer

13:53 - of recollection over the course of one's day, asking effectively, where has God been in those experiences, you know, and, and, and again, that can be conceived of as a, as a particular form of a contemplative practice. So, so again, the broad point is let's all develop these contemplative practices. And, and for those of us that, that are open to the possibility of this kind of religious turn, let us allow maybe ourselves to be attentive to the question

14:21 - of is God there is God to be found in, in these practices? And if so, what might the direction of those practices be? Last point, I think that the direction of those practices is towards greater love, greater service to others, greater good in the world.

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