When Good Intentions Harm: Teaching, Whiteness, and the Scalable Power of the Model for Perpetual Growth and Progress
On Racial Harm, Pedagogical Responsibility, and the Framework That Can Transform Both
Author’s Note
Before entering this reflection, I want to offer a word of care. Like “The Mirror and the Mask,” the story that follows emerges from a classroom exchange. It is not shared to single out or shame an individual student. To do so would risk undermining the trust that makes teaching—and transformation—possible.
Instead, this account is offered as a window into something larger: the way whiteness, often unconsciously, inserts itself even into moments that seem compassionate or well-intentioned. What may appear as kindness on the surface can, when left unexamined, perpetuate harm beneath it.
My aim here is not to cast judgment on a student, but to highlight a pattern—one that reveals how the scaffolding of whiteness operates across systems, speech, and silence. This reflection, then, is not about an individual mistake but about the conditions that give rise to it, and how frameworks like the Model for Perpetual Growth and Progress can help us move beyond intention toward alignment and transformation.
There is a seductive narrative that follows many conversations on race in America—especially in classrooms: If the intention is good, the outcome must be excusable. But in teaching, and particularly when guiding students through the terrain of whiteness and racial consciousness, the terrain is more nuanced, more sacred, and more perilous than many realize.
This reflection is a continuation of the moment shared in “The Mirror and the Mask,” a classroom encounter where a White student—eager to contribute—made a startling suggestion: that perhaps Black children should be blinded, so as not to “see” racism. Though swiftly corrected, the moment left a lasting realization. It was not the shock of malice, but the jarring revelation of how innocence and ignorance can intertwine into something just as harmful as hatred. The student meant no harm. And yet…
As with the prior piece, this companion essay is not a condemnation, but a clarifying. Not a rebuke, but a reckoning. It is an invitation to interrogate how even well-meaning behaviour can reinforce systemic harm—and to explore how the Model for Perpetual Growth and Progress (MPGP) offers a pathway toward a deeper, more sustainable transformation.
The Limits of “Good Intentions”
In many predominantly White learning environments, students are often socialized to equate participation with progress. “At least I said something,” they tell themselves. But in the context of racial harm, saying something is not enough. Words carry history. Suggestions have consequences. And participation without preparation can wound more than it heals.
Whiteness is a social construct. During my first leg of graduate school in Atlanta, my Theory professor, Dr. Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, once remarked in class: “Whiteness is defined in contradistinction to what it means to be Black.”
Let that sink in for a moment.
Upon close examination, it becomes clear that when people of European ancestry identify as “White,” they are often doing so in implicit opposition to their socio-historical understanding of what it means to be viewed as “Black”—generally within the North American context and specifically within the United States.
As a construct, Whiteness has a peculiar way of re-centering itself—even in the act of attempting to decenter. It seeks praise for recognizing injustice, yet often recoils when invited to examine its own complicity in sustaining it. And all too often, when a White student causes harm in these spaces, the teacher of colour is expected not only to manage the emotional aftermath, but also to maintain the broader learning environment—without disrupting the comfort of the majority.
This dynamic is not merely emotionally taxing. It is pedagogically unsustainable. And it calls for a new framework—one that does more than call out harm. It must also scaffold a path toward accountability, repair, and collective wholeness.
Enter the Model: A Scalable Framework for Transformation
The Model for Perpetual Growth and Progress was born from a convergence of teachings: Vedic Science, Transcendental Meditation, the initiatic symbolism of Freemasonry, and the lived experience of navigating identity and growth in a world shaped by inherited systems. At its core, the Model offers a tiered approach to human development—one that begins with a foundational shift in perception and ends with conscious contribution of a life-affirming nature to collective life.
Each tier in the Model with its accompanying three aspects speak to what I think of as both inward and outward-facing elements simultaneously:
Knower, Process of Knowing, Known – The triadic foundation of self-awareness and epistemic humility.
Seeker – A conscious pivot toward truth, beauty, and understanding.
Tool Development – Acquiring the inner and outer instruments for discernment.
Intentional Refinement – Embodying practice with care and accountability.
Sacred Service – Offering one’s gifts in service of others and society.
Mastery through Practice – Returning to the beginning, now with wisdom and compassion.
When applied to the classroom—particularly in dialogues on race—the Model equips both teachers and students with a map. It affirms that awareness is not enough; that one must cultivate the tools, language, and temperament to engage responsibly. And crucially, it positions growth as perpetual—meaning that mistakes are not ends, but invitations to recommit, re-refine, and re-approach the work with greater clarity.
Teaching Through the Model
Returning to the classroom scene described previously, we find ourselves at the precipice of Tier Four: Contemplation, Self-Realization, and Acceptance of Change i.e., Intentional Refinement. The student’s comment, though jarring, becomes a case study in the limits of undeveloped tools. Without the language or historical understanding, her suggestion defaulted to a form of violence cloaked in compassion. It is here, within the tension of harm and intention, that the Model’s power reveals itself.
Rather than shaming or dismissing the student, the Model allows for a gentle, firm redirection:
“What tool were you using when you made that suggestion?”
“What historical echoes are present in your words?”
“What might a more refined response look like?”
These questions, rooted in Tier Three—Desire of the Heart, Deep, Consistent Study, and Compassion for Everyone—and Four, make space for accountability without annihilation. And they model a kind of pedagogy that is rooted in reverence—for truth, for growth, and for the inherent dignity of all.
Scaling the Model: Beyond the Classroom
As I realized close to the conclusion of my dissertation research, the strength of the Model lies in its scalability. What begins as a personal reflection can evolve into a communal ethos. Departments, institutions, and even societies can adopt the Model’s logic—not as a checklist, but as a culture.
Imagine an educational environment where staff and students are evaluated not only on performance, but on their capacity to grow through successive tiers of development. A place where harm is acknowledged swiftly, and healing is woven into the learning process—much like the reconciliation efforts of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, or the work of Dr. Susan Glisson, founding Executive Director of the Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation at the University of Mississippi. An environment where students are trained not merely to speak, but to listen deeply, to refine their understanding, and to contribute meaningfully to the collective good.
This is not a fantasy. It is a possibility. One seeded by a single moment in a single classroom.
The Work Before Us
There is a reflection I often return to in moments of pedagogical doubt: The Master begins again with the basics—this time not out of ignorance, but out of honour. Where I learned the idea is, admittedly, lost to the ashes of both time and memory. Yet its sentiment has served me well over the years. This, to me, is the path of the Realized Teacher. We do not presume perfection. We return, again and again, to the source. We refine. We correct. We renew. And, above all, we keep moving . . . always.
As I reflect on the student who made that comment—and on the many others who sit in classrooms around the world struggling to name, navigate, and dismantle the architecture of race—I am reminded that transformation is not linear. It spirals. It returns. And it demands more than good intentions.
It demands a model.
It demands courage.
And it demands that we—teachers, students, seekers alike—commit not just to the work, but to becoming the work.
Point of Reflection: From Intention to Integrity (A Guided Inquiry Using the Model for Perpetual Growth and Progress)
Set aside 15–20 minutes in a quiet space. Read each prompt slowly. Allow your honest responses to arise. Write them down without judgement.
Tier One – Knower, Process of Knowing, Known
What personal experiences or assumptions shape how I engage discussions on race?
What am I unwilling—or afraid—to question?
Tier Two – Seeker
In what ways have I actively pursued understanding across racial and cultural lines?
How do I respond when I’m challenged?
Tier Three – Tool Development
What tools (emotional, cognitive, spiritual) do I have for navigating hard conversations?
Which ones need strengthening?
Tier Four – Intentional Refinement
Can I recall a time when my well-meaning actions caused harm?
What would refinement have looked like in that moment?
Tier Five – Sacred Service
How can I support healing and truth without centering my own discomfort or narrative?
Tier Six – Mastery Through Practice
What daily commitments will help me align my good intentions with conscious action?
Closing Prompt
"What is one belief I need to release—and one practice I need to embrace—to show up with more integrity in the work of justice?"
The above exercise is offered as a method to jumpstart an inner transformation—one that may serve as a catalyst for outward change. The time is now. And, if I may invoke Princeton Professor Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.: “We are the leaders we have been looking for.”
So let us begin.
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Dr. Baruti KMT-Sisouvong is a consciousness scholar, executive coach, and Certified Teacher of Transcendental Meditation® based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His work—spanning the Model for Perpetual Growth and Progress and the Seven Layers of Manifestation framework—explores how Pure Consciousness, neuroscience, and social systems transformation intersect in the evolution of both the individual and society. Alongside his wife, Mina, he co-directs the Cambridge and Metropolitan Boston TM Program, where they have taught thousands the art and science of meditation.
An author of several forthcoming works on the future of consciousness in an age shaped by technology, he writes and teaches from the conviction that the most important race is not between nations or machines, but between the conditioned mind and the awakening soul. They are the proud parents of four children. To learn more about him, visit: https://www.barutikmtsisouvong.com/.