Thursday 5 September 2013

OSHO : Five Dimensions Of Learning

Our education system ought to teach us how to live, says Osho. Here are a few suggestions from him.

Education that has prevailed in the past is very insufficient, incomplete and superficial. It only creates people who can earn their livelihood but it does not give any insight into living itself. It is not only incomplete, it is harmful too, because it is based on competition. Any type of competition is violent deep down, and creates people who are unloving. Their whole effort is to be achievers — of name, of fame, of all kinds of ambitions. Obviously, they have to struggle and be in conflict. That destroys their joys and that destroys their friendliness. I divide education into five dimensions. 

The Five Dimensions

The first is informative, like history, geography, and many other subjects which can be dealt with by television and computers together. The second part should be sciences. They can be imparted by television and computer too, but they are more complicated, and human guides are more necessary. 

In the first dimension also come languages. Every person in the world should know at least two languages; one is his mother tongue, and the other is English as an international vehicle for communication. They can also be taught more accurately through television — the accent, the grammar, everything can be taught more correctly than by human beings.

We can create in the world an atmosphere of brotherhood: language connects people and language disconnects too. There is right now, no international language. This is due to our prejudices. English is perfectly capable, because it is known by more people around the world on a wider scale. 

But it is absolutely necessary to create two languages — first, the mother tongue, because there are feelings and nuances which you can say only in the mother tongue. One international language is absolutely necessary as a basis for one world, for one humanity. The second is the enquiry of scientific subjects, which is tremendously important because it is half of reality, the outside reality.

The third will be the art of living. People have taken for granted that they know what love is. They don’t know...and by the time they know, it is too late. Every child should be helped to transform his anger, hatred and jealousy into love. 

A sense of humour is important, too. Our so-called education makes people sad and serious. And if one-third of your life is wasted in a university in being sad and serious, it becomes ingrained; you forget the language of laughter — and the one who forgets the language of laughter has forgotten much of life.… A reverence for life should be the foundation of the third dimension and the realisation that life is godliness and there is no other god than life itself. 

The fourth dimension should be that of art and creativity: painting, music, craftsmanship, pottery, masonry — anything that is creative. All areas of creativity should be allowed; students can choose. There should be only a few things compulsory — for example, an international language should be compulsory; a certain capacity to earn your livelihood should be compulsory; a certain creative art should be compulsory. You can choose through the whole rainbow of creative arts, because unless a man learns how to create, he never becomes a part of existence, which is constantly creative. By being creative, one becomes divine; creativity is the only prayer.

And the fifth dimension should be the art of dying. It will include meditations, so that you can know there is no death and you can become aware of an eternal life inside you. This should be absolutely essential, because everybody has to die; nobody can avoid it. And under the big umbrella of meditation, you can be introduced to Zen, to Tao, to yoga, to Hassidism, to all kinds and all possibilities that have existed, but which education has not taken any care of.

The Golden Future, courtesy Osho International, www.osho.com 
 
 

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