Earnest Boyer's Human Commonalities

Boyer's Human Commonalities are not new to the education field. They are not new to me either. As I gain experience as a teacher and as Pinterest takes over the elementary art room, more than ever I find these ten items have more meaning to me as a teacher. I fear they will become lost somehow. I question will these commonalities stay the same or will a new list better fit the students of our future?

1.) The Life Cycle (all humans experience birth, growth, and death)

2.) Language (all humans use symbols to express their thoughts, feelings, and       emotions)

3.) The Arts (various art forms serve as a universal language)

4.) History (all humans, at some point, recall the past and look to the future)

5.) Groups/Institutions (all humans belong in some way)

6.) Work (all humans make a living in some way)

7.) Search for Meaning (all humans, in their own personal way, ponder the larger purpose of life)

8.) The Natural World (all humans are connected to the ecology of the earth)

VIII.   SEARCH FOR MEANING

               This leads finally to the universal experience that is most crucial. The simple truth is that all of us, regardless of our unique heritage or tradition, are searching for a larger purpose. We all seek to give meaning to our lives.

               Reinhold Niebuhr wrote that man cannot be whole unless he be committed, that he cannot find himself unless he find a purpose beyond himself.  And this is true for all people on the planet. WE can suppress this hunger to know what life is all about. We can find endless distractions from the serious reflection required by the human search for meaning.  But deep down inside we still feel this need to know who we are and where we fit.

               What is the meaning of our existence?  What is the Divine Plan for my life?

The poet Vachel Lindsay wrote:  

It is the world’s one crime its babes grow dull  

Not that they sow, but that they seldom reap  

Not that they serve, but have no gods to serve

Not that they die but they die like sheep

               The tragedy of life is not death.  The tragedy is to die with commitments undefined, with convictions undeclared, and with service unfulfilled.  All of us want to feel that life as a larger purpose.  And it’s my own conviction that the search for meaning will lead us first to God, and  then lead us to a life of service, as we reach out to others. ( Boyer, 1993 )