Abstract
This chapter articulates an overall definition of “contemplative” and reviews research on the benefits of contemplative practices. It suggests four overlapping but differing ways of defining contemplative development, including (1) attitudes and emotions, (2) intuitive knowing, (3) religious or spiritual knowing, and (4) rational cognitive reflection. Relevant developmental theories and developmental trajectories for children and adolescents in each of these categories are discussed, addressing the following questions: Do contemplative capacities “develop” and if so, in what ways? How does each definition relate to early consciousness? Is it valid to refer to “stages” of contemplative development? How can teachers and parents support rather than impede contemplative capacities in youth?
Ah, not to be cut off, not through the slightest partition shut out from the laws of the stars. The inner—what is it? if not the intensified sky, hurled through with birds and deep with the winds of homecoming.
Rainer Maria Rilke
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Johnson, A.N. (2009). Developing Contemplative Capacities in Childhood and Adolescence: A Rationale and Overview. In: de Souza, M., Francis, L.J., O’Higgins-Norman, J., Scott, D. (eds) International Handbook of Education for Spirituality, Care and Wellbeing. International Handbooks of Religion and Education, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9018-9_23
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