Spiritual Leadership: More Than Academic Rigor

Spiritual leadership requires more than academic rigor. It also requires the heart. Why? Because the heart knows things the eyes don't see, and feels things the mind cannot understand. As it says in the book, The Little Prince, "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Elder Richard G. Scott. a member of the Latter-Day Saint Quorum of the Twelve, counseled his listeners in his BYU Education Week address in August 2007 to say to themselves, "Throughout the remainder of my life, I will seek to learn by what I hear, see, and feel. I will write down the important thing I learn and do them." He especially stressed the need to feel. In order to feel, we must listen closely because feelings usually whisper, in a still small voice.

We can start to learn to feel by giving heed to the counsel of Elder David Bednar, another member of the Latter-Day Saint Quorum of the Twelve, who said that we should be "quick to observe." As we develop this talent or gift of being "quick to observe," we will hear, see, and feel those things that will most likely be overlooked by others.

All this is not to suggest that academic rigor is unimportant. Dr. Hugh Nibley, a brilliant and accomplished scholar expresses this eloquently in his work, Zeal Without Knowledge, "...Zeal[feeling] is the engine that drives the whole vehicle, without it we would get nowhere. But without clutch, throttle, brakes, and steering wheel, our mighty engine becomes an instrument of destruction, and the more powerful the motor, the more disastrous the inevitable crackup if the proper knowledge is lacking..." He later addes, "...true zeal feeds on knowledge, true knowledge cannot exist without zeal."

Therefore, as we seek for answers...and even the right questions...in our rigourous academic endeavors to discover better ways to approach mulitultural education, it is imperative that we never allow ourselves to be "past feeling." The two coupled together have the potential to result in the spiritual leadership that can make a difference.