In search of a future: adult education and the psychology of the soul

Abstract

This paper takes as its starting point the acceptance of Lauzon's (1998) premise that we are currently engaged in a worldwide shift in meaning‐making. The world is no longer served by the dominant means of making meaning ‐‐ rational‐logic. In fact, only the interests of a few are served by rational‐logic. This, it is argued, is being replaced by vision‐logic and vision‐logic is associated with a deepening spirituality. This means that if adult education is to serve a new way of making meaning in the world ‐ vision‐logic ‐‐ then educators, within the field of adult education, need constructs that accommodate our spiritual nature. This, I have argued, means grounding adult education practice in a psychology of the soul. This paper provides a brief description of a psychology of the soul followed by an examination of the implications for adult education.