Early Childhood Spiritual Education

Essential to a comprehensive education is understanding how we know what we know. This is called ‘epistemology’. Teaching this basic subject should begin in early childhood, to enable children to better learn what they know and to distinguish what they know from what they don’t know.

A comprehensive education similarly includes history of the world, of life, of human history, their families and their life. It includes poetry which expresses their human condition and how they may respond to their human condition. It includes their values and principles for behaving. It includes these topics which are included in our Christian bible as history, as psalms, as proverbs and other parts of the old and new testaments. Unlike the Christian bible, people continually modify and enhance their understanding of these topics as they go through life.

Since epistemology and these other topics are so basic to human education, they should be taught to children from early childhood and throughout their education, increasing in sophistication as their education progresses. This spiritual education should be taught in ways that correspond with our understanding of our world and yet allow children freedom to develop their own values and principles stemming from these values. They should be taught in ways that do not violate our principle of separation of church and state.

Epistemology

Like most other animals, humans, have brains which enable them to identify patterns among their sensations. From birth or before, children begin to make sense of their sensations, by hypothesizing that certain combinations of sensations coupled with memories of previous sensations, enable predictions of still other sensations. For example, they hypothesize that when they see, smell and feel certain combinations of sensations, their mother or other woman caretaker is present and perhaps that she will provide milk.

We never experience things directly. We experience sensations, from which we hypothesize that things are present. These hypothesizes include that if we experience certain sensations that we identify with the thing, and sensations that we identify with our environment and sensations that we identify with ourselves, then the thing is present.

If we sense that our eyes are open, that light is present and that we see certain patterns of color, there is a door, or even a particular door. Even if we experience the light becoming dimmer, or we move such that the patterns of color change, we still hypothesize the same door. That is, a large number of combinations of sensations will lead us to hypothesize the presence of the same door.

Our hypotheses are fuzzy at their boundaries. Experiencing certain sensations, we will hypothesize that a particular person is standing across the street, or be unsure whether the person across the street is that particular person. We may hypothesize the presence of the person, then upon coming closer, realize that the person is someone else. Our hypotheses are probabilistic, such that we may be unsure and seek further sensations to verify them.

Once we hypothesize the presence of a door or person, our memories come into play, such that we hypothesize that the door or person has many other characteristics, that we can’t presently sense. We hypothesize that the door has a certain weight, hardness, ability to swing or slide; that certain other things will be behind the door, etc. Again these hypotheses are probabilistic, such that further evidence may reveal that the door is locked shut, that things behind the door have changed, etc. We may even realize that we have just been dreaming or hallucinating and that the door doesn’t exist at all.

With other people (and animals), we hypothesize based upon our own experiences, that they have certain experiences, thoughts, tendencies to behave in certain ways, a certain personality, etc.; even though we can never sense these aspects of other people.

As we learn to hypothesize a world of things, we virtually lose the ability to simply experience sensations. We unconsciously hypothesize things and experience these things as our basic reality, instead of our sensations. Our hypotheses become complex and abstract, such that many of our thoughts about our world may be quite separated from our basic sensations and hypotheses. Our abstract hypotheses may conflict with what a more careful examination of them would reveal.

This analysis of how we know is simplified, omitting many questions about how we know. Even so, it may seem complex, because we so seldom think about how we know. Yet if you carefully re-examine the epistemology presented above, you will understand that it truly describes how we know and is not really very complex. It simply distinguishes between our sensations and the things that we hypothesize, and describes these hypotheses. For a more precise analysis, read Gustav Pergmann, Philosophy of Science.

This epistemology can be taught simply to preschoolers. They can be shown a toy. It can be moved, turned, the lights changed, etc. and the children asked if it is the same toy. They can be asked why they think it is the same toy. Other objects can be similarly displayed and conditions, changed. They can then be asked what else they know about the toy and why they think so. They can be shown that sometimes they are right about the toys other characteristics and sometimes wrong. And again asked why.

As the children become older, they can be presented with more complex questions and analyses. They can be taught to question the reasoning behind many of their beliefs and values. Does this seem an important educational component? Does our current education include it? How would we benefit with its inclusion? Can it be taught in a way that increases the student’s freedom rather than reducing it through imposing some particular ideology?

A Personal Journal (Bible)

A child can begin a personal journal as soon as he or she learns to write. Teachers can ask the child questions about their understanding of the history of the world, life, humans, Americans, their family, their own life. They can ask about principles (remember the book, entitled something like Lessons I learned in Kindergarten). They can be asked about what challenges a human faces in life and how to respond. They can be asked to describe poetically some aspects of the world to which they respond emotionally.

This journal can be updated each year as the child learns more. My journal is now many years old. For history, it includes a few chronological charts and references to books. I have written numerous auto-biographical essays, including reflections which might be considered psalms. Many years ago, I made a list of principles (proverbs) and another list of short humorous statements, which I occasionally modify and extend. You have read some of my reflections upon being human and responses to being human, including my daily office, which rehearses my life understanding.

It is never too late to study epistemology and begin a personal journal. I think if more of us learned epistemology, we would better understand how to think, especially about making and distinguishing clear evidence-based statements. If we began journals early on and continued updating them, we would have a clearer conception of ourselves and our relationships to the world and other people. These would certainly enhance our freedoms, opportunities and responsibility.