Thank You for Sharing
Hey Ash…. Hope this finds you well.
Interesting question.
I like half of it……. But the other half is a bit unsettling as I look at our world.
For me……… education is an internal event… and there is an unending source
to discover and learn.
“People travel to wonder
at the height of the mountains,
at the huge waves of the seas,
at the long course of the rivers,
at the vast compass of the ocean,
at the circular motion of the stars,
and yet they pass by themselves
without wondering.”
~Saint Augustine
Wonder drives learning... what do you wonder about????
be well.... mike
Mike,
Do you equate wonder with knowing?
Ash.....
Wonder i equate with "not knowing" and guiding what it is i am wanting to attempt to know more about.
There is a curiosity about wonder and it drives what it is i am searching for........
There are very, very, few things that
"I" KNOW.... and i don not spend time there...
My time is spent in what do i wonder about????
mike
Hi Ash...
An update of some things we NEED to know and many do not!!!
Each Day in America
May 2007
•1 mother dies in childbirth.
•4 children are killed by abuse or neglect.
•5 children or teens commit suicide.
•8 children or teens are killed by firearms.
•33 children or teens die from accidents.
•77 babies die before their first birthdays.
•192 children are arrested for violent crimes.
•383 children are arrested for drug abuse.
•906 babies are born at low birthweight.
•1,153 babies are born to teen mothers.
•1,672 public school students are corporally punished.*
•1,839 babies are born without health insurance.
•2,261 high school students drop out.*
•2,383 children are confirmed as abused or neglected.
•2,411 babies are born into poverty.
•2,494 babies are born to mothers who are not high school graduates.
•4,017 babies are born to unmarried mothers.
•4,302 children are arrested.
•17,132 public school students are suspended.*
* Based on calculations per school day (180 days of seven hours each)
mike
Mike,
Thanks for sharing more. I did mean to ask if you equated wonder with not-knowing! That'd be silly if wonder and knowing were the same thing... impossible!!
The way that I'm looking at not-knowing is, for me, a step before wonder. I have to accept, deeply accept, that I don't know before the fullness of wonder can really take root. Wonder has a built in assumption that I don't know, and thus I wonder.
Where are these statistics from? I'm guessing they are just the US?
a friend of wonder,
Ashley
Hi Ashe...
Wonder, rather than doubt, is the root of knowledge. ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel
The statistics are taken from the Children’s Defense Fund web site. Yes, the focus is on America.
The reason why I find these statistics useful is because they are an indication of the health of our society and the soil we are producing for our children to grow in.
According to Plotkin’s new book ( a great book by the way ) Stage one of soul centric human development is called: The Innocent in the NEST.
It is the adult’s in the community that are responsible for the NEST and the care of innocence. Childhood Innocence serves as a seed for our sense of WONDER!!!
The statistics are a simple and dramatic indication that “we”….the elders in our communities have not and are not providing ALL children with a NEST that will allow them to preserve and deepen their innocence in a mature fashion for the rest of their lives.
In our EGO centric society ( with very few mature elders) the loss or constriction of childhood innocence are profound.
“A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.”~ Rachel Carson
Stage 2 in Plotkins model is called : The Explorer in the Garden.
This is the stage of middle childhood and it is here we first experience the Gift of this stage: WONDER.
The Garden should be a place and time of comparative safety and warmth.
The healthy child at this stage EXISTS in a state of WONDERMENT!!!
This can be kept alive for the rest of our lives, as i believe you have Ashley!!
He/She is gathering their world and exploration needs to be at the center of their world.
They are a marvel to watch and play with at this stage. They are exploring their world and themselves.
It is also the seed bed for the imagination which can flower and deepen as we unfold.
The statistics remind me of what work is left to be done!!! Many parents and educators today have a very limited appreciation of this critical stage of development, yet with out it we grow into adult with very little play and wonder left alive with-in.
More and more primary school curriculums place nearly an exclusive emphasis on reading, writing and math…. Particularly in the schools were the most needy of our children reside.
We have much to do….. There are 8 stages in Plotkin’s Wheel…. They are all connected…. And so are we!!!
“He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.”
Albert Einstein
Be well…. mike
alright. I bought the book today. My curiosity peeked to the purchasing point!
Cool Ash... let me know what you think about it.
be well.... mike
A beautiful, star lit night in southern new jersey!!!
One of my favorite places anymore is in the West of the medicine wheel I am most familiar with….
the “Looks With-in Place”.
It is the place of visions and dreams and the emphasis of this place is on personal change, transformation, and vision.
This is where one wanders to find the power that comes from knowing oneself. Magik is a component of the WEST…. It is about finding a vision and about changing things.
Plotkin places this in what he calls…. Stage 4- The Wanderer in the Cocoon.
The task is to leave home and explore the mysteries. It is a place of psycho-spiritual darkness, the night-world of mysteries….the womb of true character.
This place is the place of the “soul”. It is the place to find our unique and deepest personal characteristics ….the core….that defines our personhood, the true self, the “real me”….
The soul is what is most wild and natural with-in us.
Soul embraces and calls us toward what is most unique in us.
“The soul is the sacred realm of our most heartfelt purposes, our unique meanings, and the ultimate significance of our individual lives.” (Plotkin)
….the movement toward soul is a journey of descent. It is a journey that deepens those that follow its call.
David Whytes poetry offers an image of soul:
“ that small, bright and indescribable wedge of freedom in your own heart.”
“ the one line already written inside you.”
“your own truth at the center of the image you were born with.”
Each of us is born with a treasure, an essence, a seed potential, secreted for safekeeping in the center of our being.
Our destiny is to find it and become that treasure through our actions.
It is this sacred work, this “vision with a task” that we seek…
individually and collectively.
I think for the most part, I have found this place in myself. It is this place that I fade away into when my world seems a bit too much to continue to toil in. It is a place to re-fuel and then to continue.
Be well...... mike
Mike,
As usual, thank you for sharing this shiney trail of thoughts and quotes... and about your own personal discovery!
I love this line:
“ that small, bright and indescribable wedge of freedom in your own heart.”
That, indeed, is the guiding star that points my moments towards evolving wholeness.
with love,
Commenting by HaloScan
