What inspires growth is having access to a more expansive set of possibilities–a larger frame of reference.
We think learning is about knowing, but it’s actually about not knowing. We have to not know in order to learn.
Click here to read the full article I co-authored with Mihaly Csikszentmihaly:
Thirty years ago, I was bored and directionless in a Ph.D. program at the University of Chicago. My father had just died somewhat unexpectedly at the youthful age of 57 and I committed from that moment on, I would ONLY do work that was fun, juicy, and creative. After a couple of months spent grieving…
I heard some amazing poetry on public radio last week. Terry Gross interviewed Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno, a poet whose daughter was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. After her daughter’s death, Kathleen wrote a collection of beautiful, poignant poems, recently published as Slamming the Door Open. One reviewer called her poems “spare, unflinching, and powerful.” I couldn’t…
My brother-in-law is a big fan of Goethe (full name: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.) By the way, I just discovered that the proper German pronunciation of his name is “Goo-t’h.” (Don’t feel bad—apparently his name was a challenge for people to pronounce back in his own day, as well.) In any case, every time I’m…
A book I’ve been working on for almost ten years was supposed to be published last February. At the last moment, the University that was going to publish it dropped their publishing program due to political issues between the departments. There I was, back at square one, not knowing if my book would ever find…
Art and learning have been hooked up together for me. While I have my Ph.D. in adult learning and education, art is what continually tugs at my heart. I don’t think learning and art are separate, but our culture (unfortunately) separates them. Apparently learning is supposed to be dry, dull and boring, while art is…
In his book On Becoming a Person, Carl Rogers wrote the following set of conditions for “constructive creativity” (rather than destructive creativity.) BTW, Carl Rogers is considered one of the founders of Humanistic Psychology… 1) Openness to experience, which he called “extensionality.” This is the opposite of psychological defensiveness and it implies a tolerance for…