Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาส และปีใหม่

สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาส และปีใหม่Wishing you a very Merry Christmas 08 and a wonderful New Year 09 from the Blogger (Tuk)

Great thought for the day by Eknath:

We are celebrating the feast of the Eternal Birth which God the Father has borne and never ceases to bear in all Eternity. . . . But if it takes not place in me, what avails it? Everything lies in this, that it should take place in me.
– Meister Eckhart


The Lord of Love, immortal and infinite, comes as a divine incarnation in times of great crisis to rescue mankind from disaster. In age after age, whenever violence and hatred threaten the world, the Lord comes down to inspire and protect those who turn to him, who live in harmony with the law of unity. He comes to protect such people from the heavy odds ranged against them, and to reestablish peace on earth and good will among all.

Yet there is another level on which this divine birth can take place. Every one of us has this choice: shall I prepare for the divine birth to take place in my consciousness by abolishing my own selfishness? It is up to you and me to keep our doors open, to put up a little sign, “Ready for receiving an incarnation.” But our house must not be cluttered up. It must be empty of selfishness and self-will. Only then can the blessed child be born in our humble hearts.

Service Learning: What a fun, productive (yet exhusted) way to teach!

A reflective writing after the read of Community-Service Pedagogy(writen in 2004)

First of all, I thought I understood what Community-Service or Service learning was when I started reading the first two pages of a textbook. I thought service learning was somewhat volunteer service or an intership. Students would search for their own community nonprofit and social service agencies and assist them to meet their needs. By doing so, students also learn how to deal with all the tasks they are assigned. Like my situation, I worked for a tourist police department as an intern for a two-month period without getting paid. Therefore, I take this as a service-learning. On the contrary, I came across a paragraph at the bottom of page 134 where it said that "Service learning is not national service, community service, or volunteer service or voluntrism, not is it the same as an academic internship or field placement." This relly bewildered me; I stopped reading for a moment; and thought about the distinction between service-learning that I understood and service-learning that Waterman explained. Now, I recalled my understanding about service-learning again. I still thought that it was some kind of services such as the Martin Luther King Day of Service, or tutoring and mentoring projects, in this sense, is not just that students helping communities willingly to meet their needs and their purposes, but students also gain knowledge, skills, and perspectives that broaden their understanding in the "real world writing."

Then, I cam across a passage where Julier mentioned that "Ira Harkery and Lee Benson also see service learning as a pedagogy derived from a theory of democratic education and schooling developed by John Dewey to replace Plato's aristocratic theory of education and society" (134)

After I finished reading the chapter, I had many questions in my head about how service learning can be employed in a classroom, how teachers can assign projects to students based on their various interests, how students can manage their time working for communities, and what the class will be like? One thing that I know of is that teachers are going to have to work harder to have to carefully assign the projects based on their values and other circumstances. Also, there is one more thing that I still doubt with, which is about the outcome(s)that students will get from the "real world writing" or communities. In other words, what would students really get from service learning, and how it would benefit in their writing class?

A recent reflective writing on the project with students (2008)

To be continued!

Compare our life to a woodpecker in regard to sustainable education and development--very sad but true!

This is a reflective writing of the read Eknath's Thought for the Day. After reading Eknath's story and thought on a woodpecker, I couldn't help but agree with him on how dexterous, persevering, determined he is as just a bird! It is preposterous to say that a woodpecker conveys more valuable traits than some of us do, let alone teenagers in this generation and another generation to come. People these days seem to lack of sustained enthusiasm, desire, and passion. Perhaps, looking at the woodpecker pecking away a tree might do us any good! As for my view,talking about it in regard to my teaching avenue as a teacher, possessing a sustained enthusiasm and passion would help create a great deal of sustainable teaching and learning....

The following is a story about a woodpecker of Ekanth.

A few days ago I was watching a woodpecker, a creature I hadn’t seen since I left India. This one had a red turban. While I watched, he came and alighted on a huge tree. He was quite a small creature, and the trunk of the tree was enormous. I wanted to go up to him and say, “What, make a hole in that huge trunk with your tiny beak? Impossible. Preposterous!”

But this little woodpecker was not intimidated by size. He did not throw up his legs in despair; he just alighted and went about looking for the right place to begin operations.

It is the same with transforming consciousness; you have to look for the right spot. In some people it is a particular compulsive craving; in some it is jealousy; in some, blind fury. Some may be fortunate enough to have all three. Each person has to look for that spot where urgent work is most needed.

Let me continue with the story of the woodpecker. Once our red-turbaned chap had checked out possible areas for working, he settled down at what looked like a solid, unyielding spot and started pecking away rhythmically. He didn’t just give a peck or two and then fly off in search of a worm, not to return for half an hour. He went on pecking systematically, with sustained enthusiasm, until he was done. I was amazed at his dexterity. When he had finished, he left such a large hole that if he had gone on, I have no doubt the entire tree would have fallen.

That is the kind of work required to transform personality. For a long time, all we are doing in meditation is pecking away at what we want to change in ourselves. At best it is tedious; often it is downright painful. The problem is that we identify ourselves with the accumulation of habits and opinions, likes and dislikes, which we have developed over the years. We think this is who we are, and are not prepared to let it die.