here is a draft for an idea id like to end up in the Article Space forum - intelligent feedback encouraged!
Schools for Lucidity - a New Project
by Samael Ninetails
Hi everyone - it has been a while since I posted anything on here, and Life has been kinda busy lately. But the idea that I am going to write about here has been percolating away busily at the back of my brain, and no matter what I do i can’t seem to quite shake it off.
My background is in teaching, specifically in the Waldorf system. I trained as a Steiner teacher, BA degree, back in 2003/06 and the intelligent education of our children is something I think we don’t place nearly enough attention on - hence the state of our world right now.
I was mainstream educated myself, and frankly it scarred me for life, so when I did my training it was obvious to go into an area that posed an alternative to the mainstream system. I still think that, compared to any other system, Waldorf is ahead of the game in all sorts of ways - but it has deep problems of its own.
This, however is not a place I wish to go into the details of that - instead I want to suggest something that as far as I’m aware is completely new.
That is the concept of Lucid Education.
What is the point of any education system?
When any child is born, they find themselves in a world full of mystery - everything is new and surprising, and nothing is taken for granted (that comes later!).
There are all sorts of things that a child must be taught to do, and education is the name we give to that process. So far, so obvious. We teach the child to walk, talk and feed itself, and later we teach it how to read and write and use mathematics.
At least, this is the theory.
In practice, certainly in the mainstream, and to a lesser but real extent in even the Waldorf system, what education becomes is better described as miss-education, in my opinion. We carefully and quietly discourage the child from truely innovative thought, and lead them in the direction of “obedient citizenship”. It becomes about control.
Lucidity and the mainstream
By its very nature, Lucidity is about teaching the individual to control themselves, and giving them the ultimate permission - within the Lucid state one is, with practice, akin to a deity; nothing is impossible for us, and the only limits are those we place upon ourselves. And because of this, it is essentially at loggerheads with the plan of mainstream education - most would be appalled at the idea of letting a child dictate the terms of its education.
And yet, there are very interesting examples of education systems that buck the trend, and do so with dramatic results. Summerhill, in the UK, is one example; Sudbury Valley school is one in the US. Both of these have a track record that proves the lie of the mainstream claim that a child cannot be allowed to educate themselves.
The Marriage of Lucidity and Education
So what if we were to take Lucidity, this epitome of self-education and self-awareness, and build a system of education directly around it? Imagine a school where, in the first seven to ten years the single skill that is taught is Lucidity. From the moment they learn to understand the difference between dreaming and waking, children are taught to harness the power of their subconscious mind. What might the result be?
For many older people, the path to lucidity is a slow one, fraught with frustration. I strongly suspect that this is a result of having our young minds mis-educated when we were younger. Imagine if a child, untainted by any other information, were given the basics of becoming Lucid - how much quicker would they be able to master it?
Several members of this forum, WritersCube among them, talk about becoming Lucid very early on in life - in Cube’s case, at about 4 years old. And as far as I know, each of these are amongst the most advanced and skilled Lucid practitioners that I personally know of. They stand as paragons of what is possible, and inspire countless others to keep working, however hard it may be.
Now, I repeat, imagine if our Lucid school created a whole class, a whole generation of such children? What would they become as they grew up? What would they bring to society?
Real-World Applications
So far, so theoretical. But I’m not just spouting what-ifs here. I want to actually try it. I want to create a Lucid School, where children are taught to master Lucidity as early as possible, and then allowed to run with it and see what they can do. I want to hear from, and talk to anyone who might be interested in becoming involved in this, and I also want to hear from anyone who knows of places we might site the new school. I want to know about those who’d be willing to donate, time or money or land or anything useful.
I dont want to turn this post simply into an advertisement, however. So I won’t post links here. But if anyone is remotely interested, and pm’s me, I can provide links to things like civilisedmoney and their powerful “crowdfunding” system.
But more than anything I’d love to hear feedback on my ideas. What do you think about a Lucid School? Can you see potentials, either good or bad, that I have missed? Do you simply think I’m completely bonkers? Whatever, I’d love to hear it.
Namaste y’all
Samael