The Zen Bull Metaphor: Reflecting on the Search for Moral Literacy as Spiritual Educational Leaders

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Spirituality in Educational Settings: The Importance of Relational and Nurturing Connections

Abstract

Modern metaphors of school administration fail to capture the complexities of the relations and tensions between spirituality and moral leadership in educational practice. Also, the metaphors currently and historically embraced do little to re-culture or re-define the thinking and doing required to confront the dynamics and dilemmas of a moral praxis for spiritual leaders in today’s educational systems. Ongoing modern motifs of management in schooling and disciplinary practices tend to reify the status quo, rendering inept efforts to foster transformative experiences for learners. This study investigates an old metaphor in a new way, examining spiritual leadership with a heuristic grounded in arts-based inquiry. As such, we offer a lens for spiritual educational leaders as moral agents of justice and care.

Authors

• Charles L. Lowery, Ohio University

• Chetanath Gautam, Delaware State University