Learning Our Way Forward

A similar strain of thought from two disparate sources crossed my path in the past couple of days. Thus the impetus to share them as we flip the calendar in the coming hours. The first incident comes from a piece called Soul of a Teacher, that appeared in an email from the Community Works Journal, a frequent visitor to my inbox.



In this piece veteran educator Cynthia Hughes relates this vignette.

     One day in the woods, walking up towards a stream, Alex (one of my students) suddenly said, "I love the sound of water". He said it with conviction, and I knew it was his own experience his own soul-taking, not something someone told him he should appreciate or learn about. To me, it is the small moment like this that measures a person's intelligence for living. A moment [like this] will matter a lot more twenty years down the road than one's ability to achieve a high test score. That is what I appreciate about school at its best.



The second source is from Arne Naess last book, Life's Philosophy, written when he was 90,shortly before his death. In this incredibly reflective look back at life through the eyes of a noted philosopher and logician he talks about the role and importance of emotion. I can't recommend this book enough.




  It's one of the few I have re-read and can see re-reading again and again. And don't be afraid that this is turgid philosophic meanderings. It is a gentle walk with him through some great landscapes of thought. The forward by Bill McKibben, and introduction by my dear friend, Harold Glasser, are also wonderful in their own rights. It is a small book in format and length, but holds many riches. Including this brief excerpt that reminded me of the passage from Hughes above.

     When I was about five years old, collecting big numbers meant a great deal to me. I obtained a lot of notepaper and wrote down all the big numbers that I came across. I had particularly pleasant feelings for the numbers on railway goods wagons. It was a true pleasure in abstract things and not in cars, for instance. This collector's pleasure was perhaps somewhat dampened when I heard that there were infinite many numbers. Consequently there was no point in writing them all down.

     Some children develop strong feelings for the fantastic and gigantic. And this brings me to teaching. I want wonder to be emphasized more in all education, and what is "certain" to be put more in the background. There is a connection, although a somewhat loose one, among big numbers, big waves, big intervals of time, big distances to the stars, and great goals and affairs. But at the same time we must encourage children to seek the great in the small, a feeling for greatness with a feeling for the tiny, tiny little pleasures, little ripples on the water.

     I believe more seriously than many others that it is beneficial as an adult to preserve the childlike, imaginative wonder about life. Children have a less defined, fuzzier attitude to the divide between reality and imagination, a divide that plays a decisive role among adults. If parents were to participate in imaginative wondering, the imaginative powers of their children would survive their school days better. But the parents would have to make it clear that they do not describe facts. (pp.17-18)

A better future must be possible and its starting place must be in our imaginations. Thought is the predecessor to action. May we take the next steps to a better world. It is possible!

One day in the woods, walking up toward the stream, Alex (one of my students) suddenly said, I love the sound of water”. He said it with conviction, and I knew it was his own experience, his own soul talking, not something someone told him he should appreciate or learn about. To me, it is the small moment like this that measures a person’s intelligence for living. A moment will matter a lot more twenty years down the road than one's ability to achieve a high test score. This is what I appreciate about school at its best.
- See more at: http://www.communityworksinstitute.org/cwjonline/essays/a_essaystext/soulteacher_cynthia.html#sthash.sVIAT1f9.dpuf

One day in the woods, walking up toward the stream, Alex (one of my students) suddenly said, I love the sound of water”. He said it with conviction, and I knew it was his own experience, his own soul talking, not something someone told him he should appreciate or learn about. To me, it is the small moment like this that measures a person’s intelligence for living. A moment will matter a lot more twenty years down the road than one's ability to achieve a high test score. This is what I appreciate about school at its best.
- See more at: http://www.communityworksinstitute.org/cwjonline/essays/a_essaystext/soulteacher_cynthia.html#sthash.sVIAT1f9.dpuf

One day in the woods, walking up toward the stream, Alex (one of my students) suddenly said, I love the sound of water”. He said it with conviction, and I knew it was his own experience, his own soul talking, not something someone told him he should appreciate or learn about. To me, it is the small moment like this that measures a person’s intelligence for living. A moment will matter a lot more twenty years down the road than one's ability to achieve a high test score. This is what I appreciate about school at its best.
- See more at: http://www.communityworksinstitute.org/cwjonline/essays/a_essaystext/soulteacher_cynthia.html#sthash.sVIAT1f9.dpuf

One day in the woods, walking up toward the stream, Alex (one of my students) suddenly said, I love the sound of water”. He said it with conviction, and I knew it was his own experience, his own soul talking, not something someone told him he should appreciate or learn about. To me, it is the small moment like this that measures a person’s intelligence for living. A moment will matter a lot more twenty years down the road than one's ability to achieve a high test score. This is what I appreciate about school at its best.
- See more at: http://www.communityworksinstitute.org/cwjonline/essays/a_essaystext/soulteacher_cynthia.html#sthash.sVIAT1f9.dpuf

Taking for granted

A recent encounter with the forces gravity has given me a new appreciation for some simple pleasures. One of them is the pleasure of thinking. The ability to see or sense things and make connections with other things, places, people, ideas, etc. We do it everyday, like breathing, and rarely think about how it happens or reflect on what it would be like without it.

Having fallen and hitting my head a couple weeks ago, that ability to connect or even hold a thought has largely evaporated. Medical advice for concussions like this is 'brain rest'. And that includes no reading, computer, or television and light physical activity. That leaves time for sleeping or at least closing one's eyes and letting the mind do whatever it feels like doing and observing the quickly vanishing thoughts traipse through consciousness, heaven can only imagine what's going on in the subconscious.

Usually, the medical profession suggests one's faculties return after a week or two or a month. But what if they don't? Watching a movie or playing a simple game of euchre is incredibly taxing and fatiguing. Even a group conversation that lasts for more than a few minutes is difficult to follow. I find myself getting lost in it. And in the end, my attention spent, I can crash for hours.

Behind the fog and fragmented thoughts thoughts I still am able to make out some wholeness. A set of ideas that gel, fit, or dance together. I sense it, but cannot articulate any part of what I sense. But it is out of my reach, to the point I question if it really exists, or if my current mental state manufactures the distant wholeness.. How am I sensing this wholeness beyond my grasp. Where does this come from?

I hope to be able to return to combing through ideas and possibilities and making connections for consideration in the future, but it just ain't possible at the moment. Meanwhile, I'm becoming more grateful for the limited mental faculties  I do enjoy. Hopefully, when the synapses are firing like they should again, I'll retain that appreciation for the ability to think for oneself.

and thank god for spell checkers or you wouldn't make a lot of sense of this...

Can't wait to read a book again...