The fierce urgency of now and forever and unto ages of ages: study and the restoration of paradise on Earth

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore and evoke an old educational concept called “study”. This is learning which leads to love and love which leads to learning. It is a dynamic experience which engenders transformation whose telos is simultaneously endlessly knowable and unknowable. The paper argues that it unites humans with the world, the material world with the transcendent, speed with slowness and alignment with resistance, in a series of antinomic relationships which come together in the heart. Study, it is argued, should form the basis of true education and a truly sustainable relationship with the world.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper’s approach is informed by the Eastern Orthodox Christian theology of ecology, particularly its complex and holistic concept of the heart and perceiving with the heart. It revels in the antinomies fostered by this tradition.

Findings

The paper’s findings are inevitably provisional. They stress the need for beauty in educational practice and indicate that the form of study described may foster an individual sense of vocation, which can transform self and the world.

Originality/value

The paper hopes to contribute to a re-orientation in education, sustainability and ecology.

Citation

Wilson, S. (2022), "The fierce urgency of now and forever and unto ages of ages: study and the restoration of paradise on Earth", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 29-40. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-08-2020-0304