Educators speak of teachable moments. Setting aside for the moment the message and the messenger, per se, and focusing for the moment on the receiver, there are certain occasions where people are, ceteris paribus, more open to learning new things or receiving advice. Since we are NOT interested in taking advantage of situations like this to manipulate people, a good question is whether we should take into account such situations like this to even offer advice.
Double Portrait
Fillipino Lippi; Denver Museum of Art
Photo: JAC
We do not think it unethical to offer advice when we believe it is useful (given in good
faith) anymore than an educator thinks it unethical to deliver what they have to offer to responsive folks. Of course it would be unethical to offer advice which you think is bogus or misleading or might lead to their harm without their understanding the major costs or risks.
Through experience, however, we have found that professors when they cross certain stages in their lives and careers seem to be more teachable. For example, a marriage or the birth of a new child, or achieving tenure or full professorship can have the effect of increasing openness to spiritual things. It’s at these times that folks often take a moment in their lives’ journey to reflect on the satisfaction of their deepest needs. These sort of reflections typically raise issues about ethical things like, what is a good life, how do I best live a good life, what are the virtues I need foster in order to live a good life and be a good person in my vocational calling and so forth. And as such they are not only ethical questions but they can also be construed as profoundly religious questions.
Taking time to listen and understand a person’s life journey and where they presently see themselves can help us to get a sense whether those with whom we dialogue are experiencing teachable moments. And if possible or likely so, it can be useful to probe their thinking and try to understand where this might all lead. And who knows where that conversation might go.
So we encourage you to look at or review under the “preliminary locaters” part of this tab questions you can ask to discern where people are and how much interest in spiritual things and the great things of the gospel they have. To access that information, go to the top of the page and the vertical navigation back Communication Issues and the list of topics listed there.