Meditations of Anselam: Letters from an Elder Teacher

Anselam is a composite character embedded in the author’s life-time of experience and reading. He is like a higher self with memories and insights born of joy and sorrow, of error and delight, with a mind turned now toward the light. Whatever he may have thought at the time, he was always happiest in the light. Like all teachers, he needs to forgive himself for the times he himself did not meet his ideals, then to march on making fewer and fewer mistakes, offering more and more uplift and insight, joy and enthusiasm, delighting in every contribution, his own and his students’—ever expanding himself, his sense of wonder, his interests, his love for students, his respect for himself, his trust in them, and in himself.These letters are the meditations of Anselam. By turns, they vibrate as simple stories, parables, metaphors, dramas, and as a gentle counsel to action in the life journeys of Alma and Arn, two beginning teachers.