Here is Michael George's post on the Art of Possibility. My response follows.Monday9, 2011
Wk2 Reading: The Art of Possibility Chaps. 1-4
The Art of Possibility.............
After reading the first four chapters and taking notes, I wondered to myself, “should I write what the instructor wants to hear?” or fully embrace the spirit of the risk-taking improvisational soloist?
In my view as a self-help book or book of enlightenment it is a re-hash of other works but it does contain good insights into human nature, specifically:
• Challenge all your assumptions
This is really hard for us to do. Just like the frog, we make decisions to survive and spend little time in mediation or reflection regarding our assumptions. Being able to question everything is a gift. As a physicist I always append everything with a disclaimer that reads: “As far as we know” and it drives my peers crazy. They often ask me how I can say that since we just observed or measured particular phenomena. I remind them that as a species, we know very little and haven’t even answered the universe’s top ten big easy questions, yet somehow we feel educated by performing an experiment or solving a math equation. I always think of what Pontius Pilate asked, “What is truth?”
• Ask yourself “What is possible?”
This is truly powerful. Being able to dream and visualize and conceive of possibilities truly taps into the human spirit. Dreaming unleashes potential and sometimes allows us to do more that we ever thought possible. The idea of having students write a letter from the future starting with, “Why I got an A…..” was an excellent idea presented in the book.
• Be Present
Being present is something that people do not often do in their own lives. They are focused on the voice in their head or focusing on a little screen of pixels. Someone recently said, we need to switch from being human-doers to human beings. Instead of constantly being distracted by our own thoughts or desires we need to be present in our lives. We need to connect with those around so that we can truly see, listen, and resonate with those around us.
• People will do a great thing, but begrudge a small thing
This concept reminds me of a quote from Napoleon,
“A man does not have himself killed for a half-pence a day or for a petty distinction. You must speak to the soul in order to electrify him.”
Every human being wants their existence to matter. If you have no purpose, why get out of bed in the morning. We need a reason to drive us forward or as Napoleon put it ‘electrify us’ or ‘speak to our soul’. If you ask someone to do something simple like take out the garbage they will groan, but if you ask them to organize the cleanup and trash collection for a benefit dinner for the parents of kids killed in Afghanistan, they will willingly do it because they feel it matters - just like the parent that groaned at giving their child $2000 but happily gave all of her children $20,000 each. That parent saw an opportunity to make a difference and embraced it.
In closing, since I was lukewarm on the readings, here are my picks for your reading list:
• The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Posted by Michael George at 6:51 PM
My response to Michael:
Your first bullet struck me, as I also mentioned it in my post. Assumptions can keep us from seeing our own or someone else’s true potential or purpose in a given situation. I am aware of my own assumptions and sometimes react too hastily to students or colleagues in difficult or uncomfortable situations. I am too caught up in my own point of view at these times of hasty decision-making. I know immediately when I haven’t been fair with my judgment, and try now to quickly make amends when possible.
I also like to imagine the possibility of “Why I got an A…”. It reminds me of one college professor who asked us to meet with him at the end of a semester to discuss what we thought our grade should be. I had taken the course in theater as an alternative to public speaking. I was very uncomfortable with having to get up in front of an audience to speak and perform. The course consisted of weekly recitations in front of our peers, in a small theater. The theme changed each week and our approach to recitation was to reflect the week’s theme.
The course was one of the most frightful and empowering experiences I’ve had to date! It gave me the courage to suggest that I receive an “A”. Since I survived the course, I gave myself permission to succeed.
You gave some interesting readings to consider. Taking another look, and considering an alternative perspective can provide the challenge and permission we need to change course from time to time, and see our lives anew. Thank you.
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