In mid-December, a friend presented me with the national best seller audio book by Chris Hedges, War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning. Listening to it while driving, decorating and wrapping gifts was not exactly my typical upbeat Christmas fare.

Hedges, a New York Times war correspondent for 15 years, has seen the worst of the worst all over the Middle East and Central America.  He unflinchingly describes the unthinkable horrors of war, concluding that the root cause is the tragic emptiness in men’s souls.   They go to war, he says, because they crave exhilarating, addictive excitement and because they seek “purpose, meaning and a reason for living.”

It seems that our species is hardwired for excitement and moving purposefully forward.   We have only to look at free little toddlers to see this truth and to see in them also the hope of mankind. Schooling, more than any other thing I know of, kills off this natural drive by immersing young ones in years of sterile classrooms, control, conformity and passive boredom.

Civilization must now determine to replace dry tradition with the ecstasy found in freedom, wonder, curiosity, exploration, discovery, imagination, creativity and invention.   We elders must so genuinely respect each child’s divine unique purpose that we help them find it before the world goes up in flames.

Two jet flights to the west coast coupled with three holidays has turned me into a person who, out of necessity has had to become a “human-doing” instead of a human being.

It feels unbalanced.

I can think of nothing more guaranteed to make me yearn for the icy, gray, drippy days of January than the busy rush of the holiday season.

This quote by G. K. Chesterton says it so well.

“The most unfathomable schools and sages have never attained to the gravity which dwells in the eyes of a baby of 3 months old. It is the gravity of astonishment at the universe, and astonishment at the universe is not mysticism, but a transcendent common sense. The fascination of children lies in this: that with each of them all things are remade, and the universe is put again upon its trial. As we walk the streets and see below us those delightful bulbous heads, three times too big for the body, which mark these human mushrooms, we ought always to remember that within every one of these heads there is a new universe, as new as it was on the seventh day of creation. In each of those orbs there is a new system of stars, new grass, new cities, a new sea” (Chesterton, 2005).

The question is, “Can we aspire to a safe, beautiful, comprehensive learning environment equal to the amount of astonished wonder a child will bring to it?”

Recently Dr. James Lawler, psychologist and revered member of our board of directors, sent me a link to explore about the Reggio Emilia schools in Italy.  This information was entirely new to me – – an unintentionally well-kept secret perhaps?

What I have not been able to get out of my mind is the word “beheld.” Somehow, that word suggests something so very worth looking at that it is almost biblical in its mandate:  something jaw-dropping.  It is used to introduce the philosophy of the school:

. . .”the child is beheld as beautiful, powerful, competent, creative, curious, and full of potential and ambitious desires.”

Those words suggest glory and magnificence enough to knock one’s socks off!

Once someone really beholds a child in all its glory, the mind is boggled with inspirations, visions, energies and determinations to change the existing order. At least, that is what happened to me.

If the current world situation has you “hunkering in your bunker,” you are not alone.  These are strange times.  Where are answers to really hard questions to be found?

I believe this post is the most crucial I have yet written. Condensing the most important principles given us by one of the truly great thinkers of the world, Buckminster Fuller, I offer a bright beacon of light  – – if we take them to heart.

1. MALTHUS WAS WRONG.  There IS enough to go around.  TO EXPLAIN:  Thomas Malthus was a British census taker who in 1798 proclaimed that there was no way the growing population was going to have enough to eat. (Thus:  dog eat dog, I’ll get mine before you get it.  War, greed, fear.) The result was two world wars, followed by others too shameful to talk about.  So why was Malthus wrong?  He was wrong because he misunderstood wealth.

2.TRUE WEALTH is KNOW-HOW. It combines the physical with the metaphysical (thought).  Thus people now have living standards higher than the kings of yesteryear. Wealth is not, contrary to much popular opinion, about gold or “tonnage.”  It is about invention, design, innovation and discovery.

3. DOING MORE AND MORE WITH LESS AND LESS – Using things made possible by our understanding and use of principles like leverage, magnetics, mass attraction, and optics, we are optimizing life for all.   For example, the 150,000-ton copper communication cable that used to make possible trans-Atlantic communications has been replaced by “the cloud.”  There are thousands of examples of this phenomenon which Fuller called  “ephemeralization.”

4. POLITICIANS & BUREAUCRACIES – We must shift from prime dependence on politics to utilizing design science to solve our problems. He said that politicians are obsolete as fundamental problem solvers.

5. REVOLUTION – We must shift from use of violence, force and warfare to the kind of revolution that is tolerable to all men, all societies, all political systems:  revolution by design and invention.

6. “SPACESHIP EARTH” – We’re all in this together.  Destruction of any kind means destroying the chances of success for all of us.

7. HAVE-NOT-NESS —   is caused by society’s failure to design and invent the right things to overcome lack.

8. INVESTING IN “LIVINGDRY” NOT “WEAPONDRY” — Either war is obsolete or man is; it’s as plain as that.

9. EDUCATION – Fuller stated that we are rapidly de-genius-ing every person who passively submits to traditional education.   He called for a total design revolution (which is what Hamilton Learning Foundation is working to bring about).

10. INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE & INTEGRITY– This is, according to Fuller, “the most important thing in the world.”  In other words, don’t sit around blaming the government and saying “this is wrong, that is bad, THEY should do something about it.” – –Each of us should do something in accordance with our talents.  Just begin.  And:  TELL THE TRUTH, TELL THE TRUTH, TELL THE TRUTH.

Recent world events have given rise to analytical thoughts that apply to all ages, all environments and all situations.   FORCE is based on fear.  It is used because of feelings of fright, impotence, rage, need for control and ignorance about alternatives.  It causes COUNTER-FORCE.  It uses MEAN AND HEAVY things: threats, revenge, fists, guns, knives, swords, murder, tanks, missiles, drones, bombs and warfare.  It gives rise to hatred, more fear, bitterness, counter-attack, destruction, despair, suffering, impoverishment and death.

On the other hand, true POWER is based on faith.  It is used because of feelings of competence  and calm certainty.  It causes IMPROVEMENT.  It uses WEIGHTLESS things: knowledge, intelligence, invention, discovery, know-how, science, insight, skills, wisdom, positive reinforcement, prudence and understanding.  It gives rise to gratitude, hope, harmony, joy, creativity, prosperity, peace and life.

The challenge of this era is to come to understand the heavy forces of darkness and develop the intelligence to overcome them with things that are weightless.

It seems to me that the normal yearning for world unity and peace is often undercut by lack of a universally accepted value system.  Such things as religious organizations, tribal customs,  philosophical orientations, and political affiliations often stand in the way of wise, broad consensus about how to care for our planet.

The values of science, however, can usually gain acceptance in the most diverse cultures.

Here is a list of the values of science from an old booklet called Education and the Spirit of Science which is worth consideration:

1. Longing to know and to understand

2. Questioning of all things

3. Search for data and their meaning

4. Demand for verification

5. Respect for logic

6. Consideration of premises

7. Consideration of consequences.

Implicit in these values are:

1. Honesty

2. Reliability

3. Responsibility

4. Modesty

5. Humility

6. Willingness to see one’s own conclusions challenged.

In learning science, there is much more than just the subject matter, or even the discovery of principles or broad concepts.  There is this tremendously crucial nurturing of a VALUE SYSTEM which may turn out to be mankind’s best hope, most important endeavor and ultimately our salvation.

School principal, Marianne Young, at Monument Mountain Regional High School initiated an experimental program in which she allowed nine high school students to design their own learning for the year.

It had no teachers, no classes, no quizzes, no grades.  No kidding!

It was based on their passions, their projects, self-direction, freedom and mutual support.

Ah, a breath of fresh air from lovely Wyoming

Hope you enjoy this really fascinating video!

Today I heard an exceptionally fascinating radio interview by Krista Tippett.  She was speaking with Adele Diamond, a developmental cognitive neuroscientist from the University of British Columbia.

The interview will take an hour to hear, but it will be time well spent while you are peeling plenty of peaches, pampering with a particularly perfect pedicure, or patiently puttering on plumbing pipes.

Here is a bonafide, highly respected authority saying how important play and fun are in developing the prefrontal cortex and how the entire concept of how we educate must change.  She points out the clear evidence that our brains simply work better in joyful situations.

Much of what she says also applies not just to kids and schools but to all of us at any age.

(My heartfelt thanks to Dr. Jim Lawler for calling my attention to this.)

Enjoy!

http://http://www.onbeing.org/program/adele-diamond-the-science-of-attention/121/audio