From the point of view of TP, careful and powerful use of the intellect is desirable, but exclusive reliance on rationality is, at best, limited. Approaches to education and inquiry in general based solely on critical thinking and the rational mind are desacralized, disembodied, disenchanted, and arid. A basic principle of critical thinking is to identify and question the assumptions behind an argument. When we look at other cultures, for instance, and especially to wisdom traditions, we find them prizing masters of intuition and contemplation more than scholars and pundits, the experts in critical thinking. Educational pluralism values learning styles beyond the linear, left-brained approach advocated by critical thinking, without devaluing elegant, curious, and creative thought.
Transpersonal education stands for an integration of critical and contemplative thinking.
TP values not only clear, systematic analysis, but also wildness, chaos, and awakening. It promotes a dialogue with silence. As teachers, we constantly face the challenges of blending contemplative and critical thinking, experience and theory, intuition and intellect. At its worst, teaching regresses into lists of impersonal facts and teachers become authorities and oppressors, tools of the regime of technology. The flip side of this, idealizing experience at the expense of understanding and careful examination is not much better.