Most of our learning, whether formal or informal, takes place in a social context. So the general mental climate of a school or college always plays a significant part in what a person learns. Obviously, in society's search for progress, many of the problems humanity faces will require specialized knowledge for their solutions. Yet isn't such knowledge by itself inert, unless it is put to work in a spirit of cooperation and willingness to transcend vested interests? Otherwise it is, sadly, all too possible for education to reinforce cultural divisions or serve individual self-interest.

As educators and students know, it is often one thing to wish or plan that schools and colleges exemplify a progressive and charitable spirit and quite another to achieve this. What can seem endemic to the learning process is the factionalization of opinion, rivalry between different schools of thought, and a fair amount of competitive antagonism! A change of heart seldom emerges from mere good intentions.

Central to all Christian teaching, however, is this very concept of a change of heart: a move away from materialistic selfishness to a warmer sense of the whole family of man as the offspring of one divine Parent. A vivid example of this change of heart and mind is the transformation of the Jewish zealot Saul. Saul had been a man with a very rigid, inhumane concept of right. Yet through the action of Christ, Truth, he became the steadfast, courageous, and humane Apostle Paul, who, in the course of his wide ministry, dealt with all sorts and conditions of people with invariable kindness. Paul even came to describe his role as being "all things to all men." ^{I Cor. 9:22.} His vision of the world was that "ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." ^{Gal. 3:26.}

Of course, Paul's was a unique role. Yet the modern Christian in the academic community can, to some degree, share in Paul's vision and experience, and let his or her heart be transformed. As Christian Science explains, this reformation of character is possible because it is really a process of discovering one's true individual identity, which is already perfect, mature, and pleasing to God. This identity is never really absent, because it is the reflection of the divine nature. It may, however, remain dormant, unknown, or obscured by material-mindedness (or, in Paul's phrase, "the carnal mind"), until we learn to look at life from a spiritual viewpoint.

Just as the landscape looks different when viewed from a different vantage point and we can adjust our sense of direction accordingly, so a look at man in relation to God, Spirit, compels us to redirect our motives and actions. Learning to see ourselves in the way God sees us, as the witness of His own impartial and spiritually consistent love, breaks the stranglehold of material-mindedness with all its animosity and self-centeredness.

This spiritual renewal draws us nearer not only to the one animating divine Spirit but also to each other. We see more spontaneously beyond cultural or academic stereotypes to the delightful diversity of divine creation. This rebirth entails dedicated effort to live in accordance with this fresh sense of ourselves and our fellows, but also it is like a homecoming, an alignment with what is ultimately natural to us. Mary Baker Eddy, who founded Christian Science, writes, "The real man being linked by Science to his Maker, mortals need only turn from sin and lose sight of mortal selfhood to find Christ, the newline real man and his relation to God, and to recognize the divine sonship." ^{Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 316.}

Such spiritual realignment transforms each of us as we welcome the redeeming Christ in consciousness. But what about the other fellow? Does he or she also have to know and believe in the Christian revelation and take it to heart in order for the educational atmosphere to be improved? Otherwise can you or I alone make a difference?

The answer is that we can, even if it looks as though our perceptions or our values are in the minority. Since the fundamental unity of God's children is a spiritual fact and not merely a desirable goal, affirming and having faith in its existence can help to make it more apparent, more tangible, to us and to all those around us. Prayer opens up any situation to the transforming possibilities of the divine influence, like a fragrant perfume released into the atmosphere and making its presence felt. It only takes one person to uncork the stopper of the perfume bottle!

I have been encouraged by recent developments in my own college to trust in the power of prayer to affect the educational climate, and thereby the world beyond. A couple of years ago a project was undertaken to develop a new course combining several disciplines with a view to benefiting women's status and potential.

However, as the committee got down to the fine points of actually setting up such a course, a major rift developed between some of the disciplines represented on the team. It soon became the least cooperative committee on which I had ever served. On one occasion even the normal courtesies of discussion seemed to break down. As I waited my turn to speak, I found myself praying to see that there is only one Mind, God, and that this divine Mind is actually the one source of intelligence, manifested equally by all, without harshness or conflict.

When the chairperson finally managed to restore order, some ideas came to me about how to proceed in an entirely new way, with a fresh sense of how all the different disciplines could be involved. This broke the deadlock, and the project moved forward.

All the challenges did not end there, but further prayer and the determination to be a peacemaker and at least to master my own irritations again brought light. I'm sure others were making their own efforts, and an improved climate of collaboration developed. The hope that we could do things differently was no longer a pious—and frustrated—intention but more and more of a reality. And when several months later the whole project was formally approved, the chair of the evaluation committee commented on our dynamic and lively teamwork.

It is often in such small but significant ways that the educational process can be leavened, the atmosphere for learning improved, and the wider community benefited. Each one's prayer and spiritual understanding makes an important difference.

Clarissa Campbell Orr
Clarissa Orr is a lecturer in history
at Anglia Higher Education College,
in Cambridge, England.