Teachers

In the first residency of my spiritual direction training, one of my teachers said to a small group of us, “I miss having my teacher here.” Jane was missing Linda, who had also been on the teaching staff of the program as recently as the previous cohort and had just retired from the position. Linda had been Jane’s teacher when she was a student in the program, had mentored her, worked side-by-side with her as a colleague, and ultimately passed on the reins to Jane and the other faculty.

I was recently visiting Carol Ann, my Enneagram teacher, mentor, and spiritual director. She had just received word that Bob Ochs, her Enneagram teacher, had died a few weeks before. Carol Ann articulated a sense of sadness, but also a deep sense of gratitude for what Bob had given her. Through Carol Ann and her husband David, Bob Ochs’s teaching has been multiplied and amplified many, many times over.

At the 2018 conference of Spiritual Directors International, Mirabai Starr reflected in a keynote address about the recent or imminent passing of the great spiritual teachers of a generation. She said it is incumbent upon us of the next generation to step up. I also heard her say later in the conference that she’s certain that the next generation of teachers are not those who are saying, “Come sit at my feet and learn what I alone have to teach you.” So, a certain humility is called for. Of course, humility is not just saying, “Oh, I can’t do that” and thinking you’re being humble. You can’t use it for avoidance. Humility is an accurate and clear-eyed view of what you can and cannot do, so if what you can do is teach, then you need to step up.

And at a certain point you have to step back. Exactly one year ago, I retired from a 31-year career of teaching Electronics Engineering Technology. I had developed a professional reputation that I was proud of. I had taught countless students, developed courses, done a bit of writing, and mentored new teachers in the first years of their own careers.

We who teach or have taught stand at the end of a long line of teachers, going all the way back to Socrates. One reason I was able to retire with a sense of confidence and completion was that image of the endless line of teachers that have gone before.  I had a couple of courses that I had “owned” for 10 or 15 years, courses that I had put a lot of development time and energy into. I cared about these courses and wanted to make sure that someone would be there to do them justice. I was ready to retire once I saw that a couple of new people were stepping to the head of one line, just as I was moving to the back of the next line – the teachers of our teachers.

Which turns out to be the head of the next line. At his own retirement event, a friend and former colleague, who for many years has been active in the local theatre scene, said that he was looking forward to using his pension as a perpetually-renewing arts grant. In a similar way, I have been able to take the necessary time to equip myself for a new phase which looks as if it may involve some combination of Enneagram teaching, spiritual direction, contemplative practice, and writing. I do not feel as though I know anything compared to those who have gone before me, but I am willing to learn and hopefully pass something along to the next generation of teachers. I am confident that they are coming up right behind me.