Mindful Scholarship: Contributions from the Journal for Contemplative and Holistic Education

• In Event: Groundbreaking Venue to Publish Your Manuscripts: Introduction of the Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education (JCHE)

Abstract

This presentation introduces the Journal for Contemplative and Holistic Education (JCHE), an academic platform promoting "mindful scholarship” emphasizing intentionality, presence, and a holistic understanding of knowledge, integrating intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and ecological dimensions. JCHE publishes diverse works, including traditional articles, reflective essays, arts-based pieces, interviews, and book reviews. This presentation showcases selections from the first three issues, demonstrating JCHE's unique contributions to holistic and contemplative education.
Articles in JCHE address several critical themes central to holistic education, including, challenging conventional Western rationalistic approaches to knowledge by exploring alternative, transrational, and intuitive ways of knowing, fostering deeper connections to place and nature, and proposing educational approaches to address environmental challenges with wisdom and compassion, integrating mindfulness, meditation, and other contemplative practices into educational settings to cultivate presence, self-awareness, and ethical action, exploring the interconnectedness of individuals, communities, and the more-than-human world, emphasizing love, empathy, and relational understanding, and valuing subjective experience, autoethnography, and creative expression as legitimate and powerful forms of scholarly exploration.
The first three issues of JCHE immediately set a unique tone, embracing diverse forms of inquiry and challenging conventional academic boundaries:
• "Knowing the Unknowable: Visions of Troubled Lands" by Estella C. Kuchta delves into "transrational knowledges," sharing personal clairvoyant visions and arguing that such understandings, often dismissed by Western rationality, are valid and accessible. Kuchta suggests that an "illuminating love" connects us beyond materiality, countering the illusion of separation that contributes to crises.
• "‘How to be here?’, dialoging into climate-change: an interview with Tim Lilburn" features Canadian poet and philosopher Tim Lilburn in conversation with Cary L. Campbell. This interview explores the profound challenge of connecting to land as a settler and inhabiting the acute climate crisis, offering a contemplative perspective on ecological and existential questions.
• "Toward Pedagogies for the Future to Address the Climate Crisis" by Edward J. Brantmeier proposes contemplative learning exercises to foster adaptive intelligence and anticipatory knowing for navigating the climate crisis. Brantmeier suggests "everyday revolutionary acts" like slowing down and practicing humility can effect meaningful change, emphasizing ecological connection and the need to "harm less, love more."
• "Tales of a Contemplative Academic: Lessons Learned from Integrating Meditation in the College Classroom" by Steve Haberlin is an autoethnographical essay detailing his experiences integrating meditation with undergraduate students. Haberlin shares challenges and "micro-victories," offering practical insights for other faculty, exemplifying mindful scholarship through personal reflection and practical contribution.
• "The Craft Store" by David W. Jardine is a poetic piece focusing on "beingness," attention, and how our perceptions shape understanding and relationships, particularly concerning human interconnectedness. Jardine's arts-based contribution resonates with JCHE's commitment to diverse forms of mindful scholarship.
This presentation will offer attendees a tangible sense of the research and reflective practices JCHE publishes, inviting them to explore how JCHE contributes to a more expansive, compassionate, and ecologically conscious understanding of education. We aim to foster new pathways for inquiry and transformation in our complex world.

Author

• Deepa Srikantaiah, American University