THE KEY DIFFERENCE

THE KEY DIFFERENCE

SSEHV’s holistic approach to education aims at the blossoming of the global personality of the child, by taking into account the overall interplay of human makeup, from the physical to the spiritual level. What does a spiritual outlook imply? Is it feasible to incorporate this level into a normal education process?

“Spirituality”, says Sathya Sai, “calls for the recognition of the inner capacities emanating from the Spirit and not from the mind”. This means that in addition to the customary tendency of education to provide information for “the mind”, there are latent abilities in the individual that can be drawn forth by cultivating the Spirit in the child. In the same way that we increase our strength in a gym, or our mental abilities through study, we can cultivate and reinforce our inner potential through a learning process focused on Human Values, whose outcome is human excellence. In addition to the ability to perform, achieve or excel in scholastic activities, SSEHV dedicates ample attention to this hidden aspect of life. This is an important spiritual standpoint that encourages young people to search for the deeper meaning of life.

According to SSEHV, moral and ethical maturity can be attained through the development of responsible interaction with others, competence in higher reasoning, and discernment between right and wrong. Spiritual education is a process of personal growth and development, which involves exploring questions concerning one’s inner self. It fosters high ideals, which stress the unity and interconnectedness of all life, expanding individual consciousness beyond the narrow limits of selfishness and egocentrism. Spiritual education is the backbone for an education to peace.

Its inward approach and spiritual perspective is what makes the SSEHV programme unique, however remaining non-denominational, and compatible to all cultures and all religious creeds.  

“Often without realising it, the world has a longing, often unexpressed, for an ideal and for values that we shall term ‘moral’. It is thus education’s noble task to encourage each and everyone, acting in accordance with their traditions and convictions and paying full respect to pluralism, to lift their minds and spirits to the plane of the universal and, in some measure, to transcend themselves. It is no exaggeration on the Commission’s part to say that the survival of humanity depends thereon.” 

~ Jacques Delors

Chairman of the International Commission on Education for the 21^st century