108 Chapter 2 While Spier, Leenknecht and Osher (2019) make no further reference to any kind to spiritual aspect, the International Handbook of Holistic Education (Miller et al., 2019) itself is full of such references, with contributions coming from Chinese spiritual practices (p. 209), Buddhist schools in Thailand (p. 278), Hebraism (p. 328) and East Africa (Madrasa schools), and even an Islamic perspective on holistic education is offered (p. 191). In terms of spiritual questions that are helpful in not losing sight of the whole, Tony Eaude (2019) mentioned questions such as ‘Who am I? Where do I fit in? Why am I here?’ (p. 64). In the foundational part of the book, the history of holistic education is described, with special attention paid to the American Transcendentalists, who strongly believed in the infinitude of man (Miller et al., 2019, p. 9). There are also several references to indigenous worldviews (Miller et al., 2019, pp. 33–40, 57), as well as references to the practice of yoga (pp. 71–73) and mindfulness (pp. 111–113). Taking all these spiritual references into account, it is striking that the Christian presence among the 58 contributing authors is limited and, therefore, a clear Christian perspective is missing. In particular, after the explicit presence of the Quakers in the very first definition of holistic education and given the strong presence of Christians in most of the mentioned countries, one would expect more. However, having reached this conclusion, there is still Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul and over 20 other books, who was a Christian monk, a teacher and a psychotherapist before becoming a full-time writer and lecturer. From the holistic perspective, Moore (2019) confronted the ‘modern distaste for mysticism and emotion’ (p. 53) and, especially, the ‘neglect of the soul’ in general and in education in particular: Neglect of soul leads to weak families, a desperate search for meaning, the feeling of being lost, not knowing your purpose of calling, the sense of not being at home, and being at the mercy of powerful emotions connected to the past or swirling autonomously in the present. (p. 54) Moore’s (2019) contribution about the soul, celebrated by the book’s editors as one of seven central dimensions of holism and of the book itself (the soulful dimension; p. 4), cannot be described as explicitly Christian due to referring to the Greek philosophers who sought virtue in education: courage, prudence, justice and piety. About spirituality, he stated that ‘every aspect of education has a spiritual dimension and relates to (holism) infinite mystery, the sublime, strong values, and an expansive sense of community’ (Moore, 2019, p. 54). Teachers, therefore, have to always be doctors of the soul: ‘My final word on holism in education, therefore, is to suggest that educators might consider
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