By Kari Kloos
As I write, I am teaching from my home, as I do every day now. Most universities in the country have moved their courses online in response to the coronavirus. It is an unprecedented interruption in higher education that has demanded that all of us, with little notice, quickly adjust our pedagogy. Daily, I receive emails about teaching tips for this pedagogical shift. But what of Jesuit mission? How might principles of Ignatian spirituality inform how we respond to interruption and crisis, faculty and students alike?
From Ignatian spirituality, I embrace two things — openness and desire. What Ignatius called indifference, I understand as a foundational attitude of openness, being willing to choose different options to meet one’s goal and to adapt in any circumstance. Desire, on the other hand, is the motivator of our choices. The problem is that not all desires are the same: some are transient and shallow, while others are sustaining and life-giving. The goal, then, is to sift one’s desires to identify what is primary, which Ignatius identifies as deeper life with God and in right relationship with others.
Photo courtesy of Levin Ginsburg.
In interruption and crisis, then, how do we cultivate openness and desire? In two courses — one on vocation, the other on ecotheology — I ask students through reflection and experiential learning to discern what is life-giving for them, where their obstacles are, and how to reasonably and emotionally work through them using Ignatian discernment. Fear is usually their biggest obstacle, leading them to limit their vision of what is possible and even what they might desire for their lives. Empowered, reflective, and active learning is critical for this; I can’t answer these questions for them.
As a teacher, I need to identify my primary desire for students and be open to different ways to best achieve it, even to the point of giving up some of my pre-designed plans and content. I also need to stay rooted in my desire to be in right relationship with students and to help them imagine their lives more boldly. While I did not choose these interruptions, they gift me with the opportunity to re-imagine what is most important to my vocation as a teacher.
Kari Kloos is Assistant Vice President for Mission and professor of religious studies at Regis University.
The featured cover photo (above) is courtesy of Busted Halo.