WHAT INSPIRED ME TO WRITE “THE TRANSCENDENT EDUCATOR”?

 

WHAT INSPIRED ME TO WRITE “THE TRANSCENDENT EDUCATOR”?

 

The Transcendent Educator is my first attempt to unfold my passion of planting and germinating the seeds of Spirituality, Humility, Innovation and Action in the minds of educators, because educators are agents of change in society. 

The core message of this book is to reignite that vigor and passion amongst educators who already have the passion to educate. It goes a step further, and becomes the stepping stone for disinterested educators to become enlightened ones. It propels them to take the lead and experience their profession as a calling rather than a being only a mere profession or job, while the wait for greater things to happen.  According to Simon Sinek Working hard for something we don't care about is called stress; working hard for something we love is called passion.

I remember clearly the 14th of May 2016.  It was  5:00 in the morning and I was part of a select group of professionals about to lead a group meditation session on a beach of a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya. We had all gathered together to attend a powerful learning experience “Deeper Understanding of Self”. It was for me both an exciting time with an element of nervousness; for the first time I had the opportunity to be part of the group of trainers that conduct these trainings.

Five in the morning on this particular day, we emerged from the hotel and headed to the beach. Barefoot, our feet sinking in the soft sand, expectantly, we continued to the location. Even though it was dark, we could hear the splash of the waves as they crashed on the shores. The loud crashes were eerie and scary.

We settled down sitting on the beach and started the meditation process. This was the moment that I felt a deep sense of connect. This connect felt like a dive; deep into the ocean depths. The weird and eerie sounds receded into the background as I focused and enjoyed the sense of connect as the cool breeze wafted through me, refreshing and energizing.

By the time we finished the meditation it was almost sunrise. Our facilitator asked us to follow him. I was under the impression that we were going to the hotel; instead, he led us towards the sea. Since he had told us nothing, only signaled that we should follow, the group was a little apprehensive as he walked into the sea and we followed him in. We stood at the edge, of the sea, our feet in the water, and the ebb and flow of the waves crashed around us splashing us upwards up to the waist. He then had us all stop and face eastwards. We obeyed, and what we experienced in that magical moment was the gradual appearance of light; the sun rising in front of us was a sight that is hard to explain. All I can say is that what we experienced, was a powerful moment of presence.

We focused and experienced through our feet the swirling waves gently caressing our sand covered feet. The cool morning breeze wafting soothingly around us. Amazingly, I felt the power of the rising sun starting through my feet and gradually rising higher into my entire being. It felt as though the sun was rising within me from my feet to my head, in what I realized was the experience of a lifetime; the feeling of gradual awareness of the combined effect of all the 4 core physical elements of life - Light, water, earth and air all simultaneously and in complete harmony. Rarely do we experience such moments in life of the combination of elements of life not just existing around us, but actually feeling that presence with an acute awareness of the power of each in synchronous harmony heightening our senses to this coming together of life and the elements that make up life. This was an experience of a life time and I, try if I wish to, erase this from deep within me, I will neither be able to forget it nor do I want to, because I revel in the glory of that moment. The moment when I moved from an ignorant darkness into a mode of enlightened enlightenment. I reflected on and mulled over the experience in my mind while I sought the answer to a question that was tantalizing and intriguing: the question was: 

“Are there any life elements that help in transforming humans? “

Like a passionate educator, I turned the question around in my mind seeking the answer. I reflected, I recalled experiences – of life and as an educator; soul searching and moving beyond denial to reality. Exercising intuitive thinking and exploring beyond the here and now finally resulted in the ‘Aha moment’ I needed and everything fell into place. To me it all made sense as though the answer had been staring me in the face all along. I came up with a simple formula of elements that I became excited about. I was able to come up with the 4 elements of life of any human being. These four elements are:

 

And this simple answer fired up my ignited passion for writing this book.

I always knew there was a writer in me. My instinct kept instigating and provoking me to let the writer emerge. My gut feeling was that I should go with my instinct. But then, the over-riding ego always sniggered at me and prevented me by telling me “No” you just can’t do it. The ego backed itself up with justifications like- It’s difficult and time consuming. What if you fail? These fears held me back and created writing barriers for me, until I read “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” (Maya Angelou). And I knew I had to share my ideas with a wider audience than I could reach. That’s when I decided to start narrating and reasoning out the significance of these 4 elements of life; to share my message with the world, I had to take action. With inspiration urging me on, and guidance from the Divine, I sat down to pen my thoughts, experiences and feelings in the form of this book.

This book is based on the awakening that I experienced a few years ago. I strongly believe that this awakening, shared as a framework, can enlighten educators on the process of transcending as educators and human beings. At the heart of this transcendence, it will enable those who do want to transcend, using the framework of the four (4) elements. But it is of greatest importance, that educators follow their heart and passion.

I started writing the book almost 4 years ago and strongly feel that this book was destined to be published at the most appropriate time. As we move towards the new normal with the raging pandemic of COVID 19, I am hoping that this book may inspire global academics to become “Transcendent Educators” thus changing our approach towards education and ultimately towards life. I conclude with these words of wisdom from Rumi:

“Yesterday I was clever so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise so I want to change myself”

Excerpt from his book “The Transcendent Educator” by Minhas Tejani