Teaching Interdependence through Love and Compassion

To illustrate the role of a bodhisattva, there is a Buddhist story that describes four weary travelers suffering from hunger and thirst in the desert.  After days of wandering, they come upon a high wall of a compound.   One of the four scales the wall, looks over, gives a cry of delight, and jumps over.  The second and third travelers subsequently climb the wall, peer over, shout with delight, and jump over.  When the fourth traveler gets to the top of the wall, he looks over and sees a lush oasis of flowering fruit trees, sparkling running water, and cool shade.  He, too, wants to jump over the wall and join the others but instead returns to the desert to escort other lost travelers to the oasis.   Likewise, Sean O’Laoire describes a track event during the Special Olympics in which a runner falls halfway through the race.  All the other runners spontaneously stop and help the fallen runner get up.  They then join arms and all cross the finish line together.  The message in both stories is the importance of everyone making it, of everyone reaching the goal.

I have always stressed the importance of interdependence within my musical ensembles. That is, I explicitly teach students that all members of the ensemble are important to the group, and that all rely on each member to do his/her job in order for the group to perform successfully.  In his understanding of community, Dewey stresses the importance of social connection and interdependence of individuals in stating that the “power to grow depends upon the need for others” (1), and that an over-emphasis on individualism and self-sufficiency results in “an illusion of being really able to stand and act alone” (2).  John-Steiner (3) also emphasizes the importance of interdependence from a cognitive standpoint, suggesting that ideas are developed not just within the individual but also through collaboration with others.  It is through this dynamic interdependence of social and individual processes that knowledge is constructed and artistic forms are shaped.

Lately, though, I have begun to view the concept of interdependence from a different perspective  – as more than an emphasis on the collective or on the dynamic interplay between social and individual processes.   On a deeper level, I think it’s related to the going back to escort others to the oasis, the finish line, or whatever the goal.  In contemplating this idea, I realize a student must first be able to temporarily suspend or push aside his/her ego (i.e., the I-me-mine, competitive what’s-in-it-for-me mentality) in order to focus on the needs of others.  That is a difficult thing to do, not only for children but also for many adults.   In order to accomplish this, one must first develop love and compassion, which, in turn, are taught both implicitly and explicitly.  This isn’t a feel-good, Pollyanna perspective – I am not suggesting that love, compassion, and shifts from ego happen automatically just because students are in a musical ensemble together.  I am suggesting that, as teachers, we can help foster these qualities and understandings as an integral part of the ensemble experience through explicit modeling and discussion.  Ensembles already lend themselves to interdependence, so why not dig a bit deeper?   In this way, musical ensembles have the potential to move students not only to understand interdependence but also to experience a more profound aspect of interdependence.

So, what is the point of this discussion of musical ensembles?  In a small yet potentially powerful way, the manner in which we teach our students about ensemble work may influence society in some way.  For instance, we are currently in the worst economic crash since the Great Depression.  Do we approach the situation led by ego, which says there are not enough resources to go around so I must only take care of myself/my family/my “kind” and the rest be damned?  Or do we take the view that we are all in this mess together and must take measures to ensure that all of us get out of it together?   Do we want a society of selfishness or selflessness?  Maybe the seed of interdependence planted through love and compassion in young students via ensemble experiences will take root and grow.  Maybe those students will be able to further nurture those lessons and create a more compassionate society for all.  Maybe the lessons we teach today will help our students have “the courage to climb back down on the wrong side of the wall and go back into the desert” or “risk not winning the race in order to come back to help someone” (4).  Maybe it is pure idealism.

What’s the harm in trying?

(1) Dewey, J. (1916/1985).  Democracy and education. Southern Illinois University Press (p. 57).

(2) Ibid. (p. 49).

(3) John-Steiner, V. (2000).  Creative collaboration. Oxford: University Press.

(4) O’Laoire, S. (2003).  Spirits in spacesuits: A manual for everyday mystics. Canada: Trafford Publishing (p. 133).