Only the Sacred

Book excerpt: The materialist philosophy that has dominated Western civilization for the past four hundred years is coming to an end. In "Only the Sacred: Transforming Education in the Twenty-first Century," we are introduced to a new vision of reality where we sense a more profound world within the material world we know so well. In this remarkable collection of articles originally published in "Chrysalis," a publication of the Center for Education, Imagination and the Natural World, we journey with twenty-three educators through an exploration of fundamental questions of our time, a path of inner schooling for educators, and practices where a new understanding of a sacred universe is actualized in diverse educational settings. Inspired by the mentoring of Thomas Berry, this collection makes it clear that the depth and fullness of the universe, from the stars in the heavens to the dirt beneath our feet, cannot be known by the intellect alone. Only a sense of the sacred, deep within the human soul, will reveal the whole.