Bogosity

I’ve posted before about the question of children’s spirituality. Last week on Encounter the program focussed on the topic of spirituality in children . It’s really worth a listen if you’re involved in RE or have children of your own.

There is some discussion of child development and a need to place yourself within a framework of culture and belief. They discuss the difference between spirituality and religion. They put forward the idea that spirituality is about ‘relational consciousness’ or a natural search for meaning and context of life. Where as religion is seen as methods for embedding this search in social culture.

This is not really a new idea – the argument of ‘natural’ consciousness of God has been raging for thousands of years. But considering whether children can have a capacity for it is pretty interesting.

The program discusses ‘spiritual education’ and it’s importance for children’s development. And also goes into some effective methods which don’t necessarily involve indoctrination.

Carol Dittberner:One of the things I notice the most is their capacity for prayer. And its one of my favourite times when we have community prayer. We open it up to the young children. And they pray for everything – including Cinderella, and Tom the Train. And in the next breath, someone will pray for the world. And for peace. And for the sun and the moon and the stars. So, you have to take them where they are – they might be praying for many different things at the same time – but when you are least expecting it, they’ll surprise you and say, you know, “I thank God for the whole world”, or “I thank God for everything made.”

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we teach children to meditate because we had this gift inbuilt into us, we have this capacity to share in the divine mind and the divine consciousness – but of course we lose that capacity or it becomes suppressed. For example, I remember as a child once, waking up in the middle of the night…well – to me it was the middle of the night, I think it was about nine o’clock – and I was just filled with the most overwhelming, almost painful, experience of love. I mean, that how I describe it now. And it was so great that I had to run out to the sitting room where my mother and father were and I can remember them laughing. And there was no way of explaining what I had experienced. And I think many children have similar types of experience. Whether it’s something they see or their experience of nature or their experience of play or music. They have this capacity. But that experience of God cannot be conceptualised, a child can’t conceptualise that or describe it.

meditation is experiential. The reason they can come to it is because they don’t have to think about it. They don’t need to conceptualise it or explain it or prove it or justify it. They just experience it.

It’s also amazing to hear some of the children speaking about their spirituality:

Child: First we were really still, and then we read a section out of a meditation book, and then we closed our eyes, and said a mantra in our head, which is “Maranatha.”

And – you felt really calm afterwards. And – um, I can feel God’s presence, when we were meditating, you can feel it really strongly. When you’re quiet and still. But I don’t feel like God’s actually talking to me, as such, yeah (giggles).

Our own diocese of Brisbane has a lot of strengths in this area which is recognised nationally. They interview Rev Carol Roth who is the Children’s Ministry Coordinator in our diocese. I’ve also read in the Focus some good stuff that Jonathan Sergeant is doing with RE.