Becoming an ecological self through contemplative ways: A response to James R. Bigari

I agree with R. S. Peters’ conception of education, which centralizes
developing awareness as an important and essential aim of education. Indeed,
awareness has to be the foundation of educational aims, to the extent that
humans are beings of consciousness whose perceptions and actions are deeply
influenced and shaped by conditions of awareness.1 “Having” knowledge,
information, and skills cannot replace operating conditions of awareness. If
my awareness “shrinks” in reaction to fear or panic, my surrounding world
“shrinks” too, compromising my ability to see what’s in front of me and from
accessing knowledge stored in my memory. Certainly, repeated tendencies and
habits of dimming awareness profoundly shape a person’s epistemic, ontic, and
axiological relationship to the world.