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"A
growing child needs to learn how to live in this world, and not
merely how to find a job. He or she needs to know how to live
wisely, happily, and successfully according to deep inner needs,
and not to meet life with the expectation that money and a nice
home will give him all that he really wants in life." —from
Education for Life
by J. Donald Walters
Living Wisdom School
strives to provide real direction for constructive change in schools,
the home, and society. The statistics—violence, drug abuse,
illiteracy—speak for themselves. When educational systems
are indifferent to human values and young people are left to "figure
it out for themselves what it all means", it's no wonder
so many strike out in bewilderment. Living Wisdom teaches universal
truths that infuse all of life—values like honesty, kindness,
success, willpower, patience, courage and other virtues that lead
to happiness.
The Education
for Life Foundation
is a non-profit educational foundation
supporting schools and programs dedicated to Education for Life
(EFL) principles—a system of education
that has the same goal as life itself: progressively to become
on every level-heart and mind, body and spirit-more balanced,
mature, effective, happy, harmonious human beings. The foundation
is based on principles outlined in the book Education for Life
by J.
Donald Walters. The foundation also hosts the educational
website livingwisdom.org which lists schools and programs dedicated
to EFL principles. The entire book Education
for Life is available on-line. See also a short article
on the subject.
J. Donald Walters
Author of Education
for Life, J. Donald Walters has a single life-long purpose
of inspiring people to higher and better ways of living. His more
than 100 books offer wise and practical guidance in every aspect
of life: education, leadership, marriage, the arts, human relationships,
meditation & yoga, and the relationship of the individual
to the higher self, God. The 400 musical pieces he has composed
offer a way to approach life that is uplifting, inspiring and
spiritually beneficial-a welcome alternative to the ego-centeredness
of "popular culture."
In 1948, at the age of 22, he became a disciple of the great master
of yoga, Paramhansa
Yogananda, author of Autobiography
of a Yogi. Six months after living with him, Yogananda
put Mr. Walters in charge of the monks in his organization. In
1968, sixteen years after Yogananda's death, Mr. Walters founded
Ananda
Village, a thriving spiritual community dedicated to "plain
living and high thinking." Today, there are six Ananda communities
located in the U.S. and Europe, and countless thousands of individuals
worldwide who have benefited from his work. He currently lives
in the Ananda
India community in Delhi, where he devotes his life
to writing, teaching, and inspiring others towards a life of higher
consciousness.
In 1972, Michael (Nitai) Deranja, director of The Education
for Life Foundation, became founding principal of the first Ananda
How-to-Live School (Living Wisdom Schools) at Ananda Village.
For the past 30 years, he has helped develop schools and training
programs that exemplify the best of EFL principles for ages 6-18.
Author of For Goodness' Sake:
Supporting Children & Teens in Discovering Life's Highest
Values, Nitai holds a Master's degree in Education from U.C.
Davis, and an undergraduate degree in Psychology from U.C. Berkeley.
He is author of Living Wisdom for Chidren and co-author of Journey
to the Heart of Nature with noted naturalist and Ananda resident
Joseph Cornell. Nitai has studied with J. Donald Walters for over
30 years.
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