Recently
a student wrote these compelling words in a Case Study:
The fact is that I could not control this
thought that came into my mind, and that made me realize that this subconscious
negative stigma of addiction is
deeply ingrained in me, even when I can vocalize a standpoint that is
contrary….I cannot change how I initially felt in the situation, but I can use
those feelings to change how I act in the future. (Lang,
2013, p. 4)
This
student made a startling discovery. Our
biases, our prejudices, can go deep, so deep that they inhabit us beyond our
conscious will, even when we “can vocalize a standpoint to the contrary.” (Lang, 2013, p. 4) While this particular Case Study addresses
bias against those with addictions, we can easily substitute negative stigmas
of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or disability, and the list
goes on.
Such
encounters with the self can lead to the despair of “I’ll never be good
enough”, or they can be opportunities to be real, to be transparent with one’s
self and with the Holy. Howard Thurman,
in Meditations of the Heart, writes
of the second possibility:
There is a great virtue in the cultivation of
silence, and strength to be found in using it as a door to God. Such a door opens within. When I have quieted down, I must spend some
time in self-examination in the Presence of God. This is not facile admission of guilt for
wrongs done or a too quick labeling of attitudes in negative terms. But it does mean lifting up a part of one’s
self and turning it over and over, viewing it from many angles and then holding
it still as one waits for the movement of God’s spirit in judgment, in honesty
and in understanding. (Thurmond,
1981, p. 19)
Silence – where do you find
silence in your life? In a Facebooked,
Twittered, texted,
e-mailed, Internetted,
Instagrammed, flickred, cell phoned 24/7 culture, where do our
students find silence? Where do we find the silence to sit in
self-examination with the
Holy, so that we may feel “the
movement of God’s spirit in judgment, in honesty and
in understanding”? (Thurmond,
1981, p. 19)
This student found that silence in
engaging the case study methodology, in taking the
experience out and looking at it “from
many angles and holding it still as one waits…”
(Thurmond, 1981, p.19)
I would love to hear from
you. How do you cultivate silence? How do you encourage
your students in the ways of
silence?
Trudy Hawkins Stringer
Lang, L. (2013) Subconscious
Stigma. Unpublished Case Study.
Thurman,
H. (1981) Meditations
of the Heart. Boston, MA: Beacon Press
