Radical Presence: Teaching as Contemplative Practice

Radical Presence is a book about our lives as well as our work, suggesting that the "secrets" of good teaching are the same as the secrets of good living: seeing one's self without blinking, offering hospitality to the alien other, having compassion for suffering, speaking truth to power, being present and being real. Radical Presence asks, "What might happen if we frame the central questions of our profession as spiritual issues and deal with them in light of our spiritual traditions?" The basis of O'Reilley's remarks is not religious; it is pedagogical. She does not preach; she reflects. Writing of the human condition, O'Reilley offers herself as a friendly companion, as free with whimsey as with spiritual anecdote. Over the course of her journey, she seeks to discover what spaces we can create in the classroom that will allow students the freedom to nourish an inner life.… (more)