I heard this quote recently and I thought it was worth exploring, "People don't wake up until they learn they're going to die." So many people on this planet (at least in North America) seem to be in some form of comatose and are blind to the beauty of the world around them. I often feel that part of my job as a professor is to wake people up, to reveal the amazing-ness & intricacies of God's creation. Ironic, perhaps that I feel that way - seeing as I've had a few profs that have come close to putting me to sleep.
There's a song by P.O.D. called Alive that I think would make my Explore soundtrack playlist (hmm another potential blogpost methinks) as it reflects on the joy of living & learning. For myself, this joy comes from interacting with the environment. Whether it is schussing down a powder run on telemark skis or running a waterfall chute in a kayak or sending bubbles upwards from a depth of 60 feet while exploring a coral reef - I love my life and I love living it while exploring!
I've relearned discovery by having children. My daughter Chelsea loves to explore and although her world is much bigger than mine, I find it all very inspiring! For her, a rock boulder is a mountain and climbing to the top results in Everest-type euphoria - how cool is that! Have you climbed your mountain today?
G
BTW - the weather has been amazing and I got away for a short 4.5km cross-country ski loop near West Hawk.
3 comments:
G,
That reminds me of the book "Tuesdays with Morrie". Have you read it? A total affirmation of your comments here. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it. I'm sure it is available at the public library.
- E
It is very funny that you should mention discovery and taking in the beauty of the world around people. Yesterday evening, I finally saw the movie Finding Neverland and was very moved by it. I dont know if you have had the opportunity to see it, but it left me wondering - where in our childhood did we lose that innocent imagination and discovery that adults strive to find again? As a child, I remember having such an active imagination. I often wonder what led me to lose that enchantment of "believing" in something or that something extraordinary can happen. A magic if you will. Is it in having our own children do we re-capture this?
Thanks much for both your comments! I haven't read Tuesdays With Morrie but have heard it is a good book - I'll see if I can pick it up sometime. I definitely want to see Finding Neverland and I'm unfortunately stuck with waiting for it to come out on video the way my evenings are looking as of late. Re-learning the art of discovery is ongoing and I think having kids or maybe simply hanging out with kids (nephews & nieces, etc) definitely helps. At what point do we lose our creativity or our desire for discovery? I'm not sure but I've never given up on either as they are what makes me tick in many ways. I do have to be critical of our current public school systems in Canada & the US. But that's a whole new blogpost waiting to happen - exploring the state of our current education!
G
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