An American gurukula: A hermeneutic process of healing through learning

This study examines healing and learning as a process of transformation among adult learners in a gurukula, an Eastern philosophically oriented community, located in the United States. Bellah et al.'s description of a community requires that a group of people have a community of memory or a collective history based on traditions. Language plays an integral role in the appropriation of traditions and the forming of community. Fourteen members of the gurukula participated in the study to create a text and provide a written history. The study follows a philosophical hermeneutic research approach using an ethnographic field-based, participant methodology which includes observations, field work, and conversations. Conversations were audiotaped, transcribed into a written text, and analyzed based on the writings of Bellah et al., Gadamer, Heidegger, and Ricoeur. Categories for analysis include language, tradition, and community. For community members, the gurukula is a hothouse or safe container where accelerated growth can occur. The safe space of the gurukula allows the learner to begin the hermeneutic process of interpretation based on understanding. New understandings may lead to a fusion of horizons and a transformational learning experience. Appropriating the safe container and hothouse metaphors of the gurukula tradition into the current education system in the United States would encourage the process of inner growth and provide a safe space for accelerated healing and learning for both adults and children.