“Walk in beauty,” is sage advice I learned from Native elders. Since my youth I have strived to walk the beauty way, but it took me until middle age to understand my path to beauty. The secret? Being engaged in a purpose – a higher calling – that makes me feel truly alive.

John Dewey led me toward my calling when he said “I believe education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform.” Every day, when I hear the children laugh and see their beautiful auras, I am completely in the present moment. I feel alive because I know I am contributing to a greater purpose.

I am blessed to work at a remarkable contemplative school founded by Sufis. Our greater calling at Rainbow Community School is to return beauty back into education. American education has forgotten how to walk in beauty. By infusing beauty into education I believe we can usher in a new era that will bring harmony to our planet.

To explain, I refer to the ancient Greek notion of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. This triad has endured in many traditions and forms: Mind, Body, and Spirit; Head, Hands, and Heart; or Thinking, Willing (or acting), and Feeling, respectively, are all renditions of the same triad. The theory is that when these three forces are in balance, all of life is harmonious. Unfortunately, things are radically out of balance in American education, and since education is a reflection of society, and vice versa, we are dangerously out of balance throughout our culture. The “head,” or thinking, has reigned supreme since the peak of the Enlightenment, and it is time for a change.

Aristotle and the ancient Greeks never intended education to be solely about thinking. After all, what good is thought without action and without heart? For years now, a teacher cannot justify bringing into the classroom something that is beauty-oriented, such as the arts or contemplative practices, without proving that it enhances the mind, i.e. increases test scores. Beauty, in and of itself, is not considered worthy. The will, on the other hand, has been given recognition. This pairing of thinking with willing dangerously lacks beauty. Without beauty, the will lacks “Goodness.” Without beauty, thinking lacks “Truth.” Tragically, it isn’t hard to think of intelligent, willful leaders who have reaped tremendous destruction because they were heartless. A nation without beauty is doomed.

Steve McIntosh, in “Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution,” puts forth a brilliant application of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. McIntosh observes that when these three forces become out of balance, two of them act in a dialectic fashion until there is so much tension that when the third is introduced it flips to the next level of evolution, ushering in a moment of harmony. This can be applied to the micro or the macro level.

At the micro level, I evaluate students according to this triad. A couple of examples: A child who is heavily oriented toward feeling and willing dreamily pursues fanciful, impulsive notions without thinking them through. I must help this student apply critical thinking, to measure potential outcomes before acting. On the other hand, a student who is all thinking and feeling is likely to be melancholic and lack the ability to be productive. If I can help the latter student develop will power, the student has the opportunity to become highly effective. At Rainbow, we refer to this triad as Inquiry, Integrity, and Inspiration. The word inspiration, with “spirit” as its root, represents beauty. Inquiry denotes truth, and integrity, of course, represents goodness.

At the macro-level, one can look through the lens of this dialectic theory to understand the onset of new historical periods. Thinking, especially scientific thought, was the catalyst for the Enlightenment, for example. Thinking and willing, together, are creating tension in our current society, and beauty will be the catalyst for the next era. I believe society is ripe for this transition, and educators can lead the way. I see teachers, even in traditional settings, being drawn to heart-centered mindfulness techniques, for instance, and there has recently been an explosion of research regarding contemplative practices in education. Furthermore, the innovative Millennial generation is having children later in life, and they are not going to put up with an obsolete educational system. They will demand a more holistic model that honors beauty.

Early progressive educators, such as John Dewey and the founders of Rainbow, were ahead of their time, but I believe that time has come, and educational leaders need to be prepared for a massive shift. This is the calling that makes me feel truly alive. My purpose is to help reform society though education – every day – one beautiful child at a time. When I am aligned with that calling, I walk in beauty.