Teaching Wonder: Jane Goodall inspires a Conscious Generation

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What if the most powerful classroom tool isn’t another strategy, but a deeper way of seeing? In this episode, Amy Edelstein explore show purpose, presence, and philosophical clarity can reshape teaching from the inside out—so young people feel safe to grow, wonder, and lead with heart.

As Amy reflects on the quiet force of Jane Goodall’s life—her translucent presence, her unflinching observation of beauty and brutality, and her devotion to conservation—and translates those lessons into daily actions educators can take: walk lighter, listen longer, hold paradox without flinching.

 We then meet Peace Pilgrim, who turned values into motion, walking tens of thousands of miles as a living argument for peace. Her witness is a blueprint for schools: align methods with aims, structure learning for cooperation, and make compassion visible when tensions rise. 

Threaded through the episode is a case for philosophy as a practical compass. When conflict and noise escalate, ethical reflection keeps action aligned with the world we want to build.

Be sure to settle yourself before a long guided meditation to help you connect with the deeper currents you want to share with your students. 

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Episode Transcript

Amy (00:13):
Welcome to the Conscious Classroom Podcast, where we're
exploring tools and perspectivesthat support educators and
anyone who works with teams tocreate more conscious,
supportive, and enrichinglearning environments.
I'm your host, Amy Edelstein,and I'll be sharing
transformative insights andeasy-to-implement classroom
supports that are all drawn frommindful awareness and systems

(00:35):
thinking.
The themes we'll discuss aredesigned to improve your own joy
and fulfillment in your workand increase your impact on the
world we share.
Let's get on with this nextepisode.
Hello and welcome to theConscious Classroom.
My name is Amy Edelstein.

(00:57):
I'm thrilled to be here withyou today and to talk about two
things that are very close to myheart and very close to my
philosophy around education andhow we can support our next
generation to be really brightlights in this world.
And I believe that there's somuch potential and creativity

(01:24):
and innovation and passion tomake the world a better place in
these young people.
All we need to do is providethe framework, the scaffolding,
the container, and theencouragement to allow them to
be all that they can be.

(01:45):
And I feel that that is reallyour responsibility as educators,
our privilege and our honor aseducators, to help bring that
creative capacity forward and tobe curious about the little
shoots of awareness that aretrying to sprout up in their

(02:08):
consciousness.
If we encourage them to tend tothose shoots of awareness, to
allow them to grow, to fertilizethem and give them water by
paying attention, by walkingsoftly, by valuing them, then we

(02:29):
will be doing not only our jobsas educators, but we will be
doing an extraordinary serviceto the world.
And this week we saw thepassing of a great soul, Dr.
Jane Goodall, who was soaligned with her recognition of

(02:50):
the extraordinary preciousnessof all life on earth, the
miraculous nature of thesebeautiful creatures, and the
forests and environments theylive in, their curiosity and
diversity, and even theirmeanness, as she saw the chimps

(03:11):
were once she said her the dogsare her more favorite uh animals
because they're loving wherethe chimps also she saw they
would harm each other and havewars more human-like than many
other creatures in that respect.
I had the opportunity andblessing to meet her several

(03:36):
times in my travels and tointerview her at the UN Summit
for Sustainable Development inSouth Africa in 2002.
What struck me about her washer translucence, the amazing
gentleness and light that wouldcome out of her just as she
walked down the hallway.

(03:57):
Now her small frame, sobeautiful, with so simple.
She seemed to never have morethan she needed, not schlapping
big bags or rushing or tumblingover herself.
She walked with a grace, as ifshe were existing in a different

(04:20):
current of consciousness, as ifshe were listening and
conversing in ways that Icouldn't fathom or understand.
Like she spanned twodimensions, two worlds, all her

(04:40):
time observing the chimpanzeesand gombi had given her access
to currents in the life processthat she could listen to and
communicate from.
And she was an extraordinarylover of people and life and

(05:04):
lived fully till the very end ofher days, moved and motivated
to share the message ofconservation, of respect for all
species, for reverence for thecreated world.

(05:24):
We can take so muchencouragement from examples like
hers, and we can share thatwith our students and show them
that a life filled with passionand purpose is a happy life and
a connected life, and one wherethere's friendship across

(05:47):
borders, across continents,across ages, across political
perspectives.
Another example that has cometo mind recently, and she in a

(06:08):
similar way, peace pilgrim, whostarted walking in 1955 for
peace, carrying nothing with herbut her toothbrush, never
asking for food or a place tosleep, only taking what was
offered with her.
She probably walked somethinglike 42 or 43,000 miles until

(06:33):
her death in 1981, living peace,walking peace, preaching peace,
loving everyone where she went.
If you've never heard of her,there's a beautiful hour-long
documentary that you can accesson YouTube.
And be introduced to this womanwhose answer to the wars, the

(07:00):
atom bomb being dropped, KoreanWar, Vietnam War, was to be
peace.
And she saw the good ineveryone.
In our times of conflict andsuffering right now, where we

(07:20):
see wars breaking out, humanorchestrated famines, cruelty in
homes and on a national scale,where we see the language of
conflict being elevated andvenerated, and the language of

(07:45):
peace and love and harmony beingrelegated to, at best, a dream
of naive people, and at worst aphilosophy to be feared.
I'm not saying that actiondoesn't need to be taken, but

(08:27):
that action we want to bealigned with the demonstration
of the world that we want tosee.
And that requires us ineducation and in our personal
life to really thinkphilosophically, to think about

(08:48):
the values of education, thevalues that we're aspiring to
cultivate and inculcate in ouryoung people, the values that we
hold most dear, and the onesthat we believe will make our
world a truly expression of themagical creativity and wonder

(09:13):
and balance that is possible.
Thinking philosophically is nota luxury.
As Aristotle first said, hesaid in times of trouble,
philosophy is not a luxury but anecessity.
And I first heard that from myhusband, Jeff Carrera, and then

(09:38):
I realized that its source wasmuch older.
Aristotle argued thatphilosophical reasoning and
ethical reflection are of utmostimportance.
They are crucial when we facechallenges because our
philosophical framework is whatenables us to make sound

(10:02):
decisions and understand andinterpret our circumstances.
It allows us to step back andreconsider what we think, to
recalibrate our lens, to refocusso that there's clarity and to

(10:22):
check our moral compass so we'resure that we're heading in the
right direction.
It's not static.
Our philosophical outlookevolves as we grow and
understand, and yet there is athrough line, a moral through

(10:44):
line of goodness.
So we want to test ourselvesalways at our edges.
We want to see how we can leanin to make a more subtle and
refined and understandable andunderstanding philosophical

(11:05):
framework and keep growingbecause we grow at our edges.
You know, a tenth graderstruggling with algebra is not
going to grow by going back tosecond grade math.
That tenth grader is going tohave to grow at our edges, and
we, as their mentors andeducators, have to grow at our

(11:27):
edges and our own contemplativepractice, whether it's
mindfulness or poetry.
So as we really contemplate thenew times that we're living in,

(12:18):
and we reflect and re-evaluateour educational philosophy, we
want to step back and root inboth that which is most basic
and elemental, love andcompassion, innovation and

(12:41):
evolution, interdependence andfundamental goodness, the
understanding of consequence, ofcause and effect, the
understanding of ourinterdependent nature.

(13:02):
Some people these days want tocolonize Mars as if we could get
away from the struggle of theEarth, as if we could give up on
this life experiment here andsimply try again somewhere else.
We're still interconnected.

(13:24):
We're still codependent.
There's nowhere in the cosmosthat we can go that's far enough
to separate ourinterrelatedness.
And so rooting very deeply inthose values of peace, love,

(13:52):
generosity, care, vision,surrender, compassion.
And seeing how that expressesitself in our life will be the
best thing we can do to supportour young people's education.

(14:14):
Taking that hour for deepreflection on a walk in the
woods, in the park, on yourstreet block is going to serve
them well.
And it will serve them forlonger and more deeply than

(14:41):
catching up on your grading andchecking your emails or
scrolling through social mediabecause you need some sense of
fullness and relief, and yet itnever seems to bring that.
We look outside forentertainment, for something to

(15:07):
fill, that gnawing ache, forsomething to answer those
questions our heart asks indifficult times.
That time is much better spentdropping in, working with our
contemplative practice toexplore the murmurings of our

(15:32):
heart, to listen to thepossible, and to walk gently
wherever we go, even if we'rerushing, to still walk gently on
this earth, like peacepilgrimage did, and find that

(15:52):
extraordinary strength.
Creating a conscious classroommeans that we must become more
conscious.
We must become more sensitiveto the currents of being.
We must fall in love so muchmore deeply with life itself,

(16:16):
with the beauty of being alive.
As the great late Joanna Macycounseled us in one of her
lectures, where she said, I onlyhave one minute left, so in one
minute I'm going to tell youhow to save the world.

(16:39):
She said, fall in love withlife.
When we value our humansentience over our frustration,
when we marvel at the wonderthat we can even talk with other
human beings, that we developthat ability for language,

(17:03):
communication, where we couldconnect and explore together, or
touch one another, or make oneanother laugh.
Isn't that amazing?
Getting your students to fallin love and to be filled with

(17:24):
wonder at the life process, notat what they have, what they
hold, what outside them isfilling them, whether it's a
hundred percent on a test oracceptance to their desired

(17:45):
college or a role, lead role inthe school play.
Those things are all wonderfulfor them.
But letting them fall in lovewith the wonder of being alive

(18:05):
and for all the things that arepossible to experience and do in
human life and to witness andobserve in the world around us
will help them feel okay aboutbeing hopeful and passionate

(18:27):
about the world.
In order to not pass on ourcynicism and discouragement,
whether we've had somechallenges in our personal lives
or we see challenges thatothers are facing around us, we
must be the examples of loversof life.

(18:51):
And our own practice can servethat.
Let's allow ourselves to dropinto that space of contemplation
right now, letting yourattention turn from the outer to

(19:12):
the inner.
Whatever you want to call it,tap into that current that you

(19:53):
can experience without trying togive it a name.
And allow yourself to becarried on that current.
Feeling its flow, feeling itsendlessness, not knowing when it
started, and not knowing whereit will end.

(20:15):
Feeling that hum of beingness,that hum, maybe it comes from
the war of electrons around thenuclei of atoms.
It feels so fundamental thatthat current is part of the deep

(20:44):
dark sky and the thrushes andthe bird feeder and your
students as they file into classchattering laughing.

(21:05):
That hum of life that is alwaysthere that we forget to turn to
when we're lonely or afraid.
This is a current of goodness.

(21:46):
They can allow us to holdanger, grief, shame, pain.
That is part of our humancapacity.

(22:14):
Just as Jane Goodall saw it inthe chimpanzees she studied.
Keep allowing yourself to bestill to use the breath as an

(22:39):
anchor to let your attentionflow with the inhalation and the
exhalation.
And then keep allowing yourselfto drop further below thought,
below feeling.
Now, in that stillness, whereyou're no longer pushing against

(23:30):
thought and feeling, whereyou're resting in yourself,
where you're being carried bythat current.
Allow the sense of gratitude,of gratefulness to come to the

(23:50):
surface of your experience.
Gratefulness for your physicalcapacity for the people you
love, for the beautiful sky.
Gratefulness to have a purposein this world.

(24:16):
To be able to contemplate whatit is to walk with
intentionality, let thatexperience of gratefulness flood

(24:36):
through your body, extendingpast the boundaries of your
form, what you usually think tobe yourself.
Let that gratefulness fill thecorners of your mind.

(24:58):
Rest with the question Is thereanything missing in this

(25:23):
moment?
Am I enough in this moment?
Recognize the assurance thatcomes back.

(25:52):
Not from your mind or the worldaround you.
But from that indivisibilitywith the current of life, that

(26:14):
hum of beingness.
Enjoy this resting inbeingness.
And as you are ready to beginto lift yourself from the depths

(26:50):
to re-engage with the familiarobjects around you.
Letting yourself be differentfrom the inside out.
Even as you go through the sameemotions and activity, and as

(27:27):
we draw this meditation to aclose, allow yourself to
dedicate the fruits of yourpractice to an ever-deepening
commitment to walk softly in theworld.

(27:51):
Directed to true north by ourmoral compass to bring that to
our students, to create aconscious classroom, a conscious

(28:12):
education, a conscious world.
And may all beings experiencethat joy and love of life and
lightness of being.
May all beings be free fromsuffering and the causes of

(28:37):
suffering.
May ignorance be dispelled.
May clear view dawn.
And may we continuously giverise to a positive way of being

(28:59):
in the world.
I wish you well.
Till next time.
Thank you for listening to theconscious classroom.

(29:21):
I'm your host, Amy Edelstein.
Please check out the show noteson InnerStrengthFoundation.net
for links and more information.
And if you enjoyed thispodcast, please share it with a
friend and pass the love on.
See you next time.