Cairns #37
Beginning of the Long Days, 2004
The mission of H.O.P.E. is to turn the prow of our entropyship, the Earth, back upstream so that Earth’s evolving consciousness may explore the headwaters of the Universe for billions of years to come. The work of H.O.P.E. is to make visible the larger relationships we live within - relationships that inspire visions of wonder and works of hope.
Bella, bella Gaia
I got an interesting, unexpected email last month. ”I'm an editor of Blu Edizioni, the Italian publisher of Seeing Nature. I'm writing because I need to know if the address for Cairns of HOPE, the magazine-newsletter Paul Krafel talks about at the end of his book, is still this:” I don’t know if being published in Italy means I’m being published in Italian but it is an ally out of the blue.
Complexity and Fascination
Alysia’s farm girl nature has kept us busy this spring stretching fence and building a chicken coop and goat pen. We sat watching our new layer chickens exploring new territory. Alysia pointed out all sorts of fascinating interactions between them. At the same time, I was noticing how insect flight patterns changed near the wooden fence because of the way the fence altered air movements. The world is infinitely complex.
To really understand something is to be open to this complexity. To really fall in love with something depends on finding this complexity fascinating. I can watch water flow for hours. A fisherman can refish a stream over and over because it is always changing. A football announcer can point out the effects of a subtle adjustment by a linebacker. A good teacher is aware of a student coming to class in a different mood than usual.
Explanations often try to simplify things but perhaps we do a disservice to each other and the world when we do this. It’s when we perceive the complexity that we see all the subtle adjustments that make a phenomena such a dance, such a fascinating delight. If we simplify too much, we blind ourselves to all the interactions that create the world’s shape of harmony. If we simplify too much, we still the moving spirit of love.
“with advantages”
One of the best demonstrations of real learning is something I’m currently calling “spontaneous applications to novel situations”. This is when the student uses an idea that has the fingerprints of an earlier lesson all over it and applies that idea correctly to enrich their understanding of a very different situation. A spectacular example happened for me this last week. The junior high class was having a problem with gossip so we circled up and had a discussion. One kid commented that he didn’t understand why people gossiped. I pointed out how fun and powerful it is to have information first; how one can’t wait to be able to amaze others with the sharing of this information. In fact, the buzz from having that information often leads one to embellish the story and make it juicier. The discussion then continued within the circle but over the next several minutes, three of my literature students (1/4 of that class) independently made eye contact with me and whispered “with advantages.” Almost broke my heart with joy because their comments were perfect examples of “spontaneous applications to novel situations”.
Way back in September, I had introduced our study of Shakespeare with my favorite speech from Henry V. We had discussed the meaning of the words. Since that time (almost seven months), I had played the speech
2-3 times for the sound of it but had not discussed it. Henry V’s St. Crispin speech inspires his men before an apparently hopeless battle. He describes what glory will amass around those few men who fight (and win) this battle. In describing how this glory will stay with them throughout their lives he says, “Old men forget and all shall be forgot but he’ll remember, with advantages, what feats he did this day.”
Spirited Learning
I remember our anticipation when we went to our first school Christmas program when my oldest daughter was in kindergarten. She had been practicing the words and hand motions to “Up on the Rooftop”. The performance of the song was adorable. Then another class came up and sang another Santa Claus song. Then another class with another Santa Claus song. And yet another song about getting lots of presents. And another song about toys and so it went for more than an hour; a program of children singing songs about getting lots and lots of presents. And I walked away thinking this was not right.
I can understand the First Amendment reasons for not presenting Christian carols and hymns. But we must be honest that to replace them with songs of presents is to create a teaching of another set of spiritual values. They aren’t religious values (in the way we define religion) but they are values that have spiritual implications - implications that probably most religious traditions would say are wrongly directed values: “give me” greed and self-centeredness.
I’ve had a wonderful time with my literature class. I’ve been sharing literature I love and they, in turn, have been sharing their writing and together we have grown quite tight. Something has been growing and as it grows clearer, I can describe it with words better which allows the class to discuss it which allows it to grow more. This last month, Colten did a remarkable reading of his story which allowed me to phrase what was happening in a new way. I said something like “One of my favorite sayings from the Bible is when Jesus says ‘Hide not your light under a bushel basket. Rather put it on a stand that it might light the whole world.’ Colten just let his light shine.” Letting your light shine has become a frequent exhortation in my class now. Shining eye contact is way up. Now, is that religious indoctrination? I feel like I’ve blasted through a glass ceiling that has limited my teaching up ‘til now. Above the glass the sky stretches forever and the freshness of the air is so exhilarating.
An example of all this is the question “Why are we in this class?” The official pubic education answer is “to prepare you for the workplace of the 21st century”. Though there is some truth to this, I feel that such an answer is like singing Santa Claus songs. In avoiding the spiritual, we teach a spiritual lesson that life is about a job, salary, buying things. What I am increasingly inspired by my students to share is that the universe is an exciting place to be and to be consciously alive within it is such a blessing, such a gift and this mind is such a potentially powerful tool for exploring the gift. It’s only when we exercise the gift that we understand its power. So what we do at school is practice being fully alive - which is different from preparing for the workplace.
I have felt for years that one of my callings is to help heal what I see as a great divorce in our culture between science and religion, between mind and spirit. Part of that work has been to show how the implications of science are not reductionist but instead point to an incredible synergy driven by life doing the work of creating possibilities. But my class has gotten me exploring another aspect - the interplay between “religion” (with its Constitutional restraints) and ethics, morality, fundamental goodness. There is an educational upward spiral between letting your light shine and growing toward the light and helping fill the class and world with light. Might it be that in our training of religious tolerance, we have left unexperienced, uncelebrated the feel and spirit of the common ground?
This essay feels incomplete. I haven’t quite expressed what I desire to express. It is related to two quotes that speak to me.
"Should we strive to teach values appropriate to sustainability, or should we present these as only one possible orientation to the world?... Is value-free education possible? Is it desirable? If neither, how can values be integrated into the learning process without jeopardizing objectivity and a fair treatment of facts, data, and logic?
“As difficult as these issues may be, there are good precedents for the integration of objectivity with a strong value orientation. Medical education, for example, has a clear bias toward human health, not disease. The overriding concern of reputable international relations scholars...is the promotion of peace, not war. Likewise, economics is intended to expand our understanding of the conditions for prosperity. Except by pedants, knowledge has never been regarded as an end in itself, but rather as a means to human well-being. By the same logic, environmental studies ought to have a clear direction favoring harmony between human and natural systems while preserving objectivity in the handling of facts, data, and logic." - David Orr
"The problem of the modern hero is that of rendering the modern world spiritually significant ... making it possible for men and women to come to full human maturity." - Joseph Campbell
Let the second quote lead us to insert near the beginning of the first quote “Is spiritually-free public education possible? Is it desirable?” and leading to a conclusion like “By the same logic, education ought to have a clear direction towards helping our lights shine ever brighter while preserving objectivity in the handling of facts, data, and logic.”
Prisoner’s Dilemma yet again
Check Cairns #3 and #29 (about the Prisoner’s Dilemma) to get the greatest understanding of the following story.
I was enrolled in a class on school finance. Two of my classmates are on their school’s union negotiating team. Our instructor for the school finance class asked them if they ever negotiated for school supplies for teachers. No, came a rather firm reply. Their position was for maximum salary. This started bothering me so I later asked the class how many of them spent their own money on supplies for their class. They answered with a sort of “Duh” expression. Of course they did. Hundreds of dollars per year. (Background: almost every teacher will complain of lack of materials and will be given only a tiny budget for discretionary purposes.)
This is such an example of the Prisoner’s Dilemma game where one is so focused on salary that one does not see how it fits within the larger scheme. Here is how one should see it. Look at the difference between a contract that maximized salary at $50,000 (but with so few supplies that the teacher spends $1000 out of pocket each year) and a salary of $49,000 with the rest for supplies. First, many payroll costs are proportional to salary. Just social security is 7 1/2%, etc. So figure about 15% on payroll costs that are proportional to salary. So the salary that is $1000 greater “invisibly” consumes another $150 of the school’s money. Then when it passes to the teacher, that $1000 is taxed at that teacher’s highest income tax bracket. If 20%, that is $200 on the $1000. So the $1000 going to school supplies actually costs the school system as a whole $1350.
The union and the administration together should create the option for teachers to take a reduction in the negotiated maximum salary and put 110% of it into their classroom’s discretionary budget. So if a teacher chose to reduce their salary be $1000, they would pay $200 less in taxes and would also be able to buy $1100 of supplies. Each teacher could determine their own amount and if there is any left over at the end of the year, it rolls over into next year’s so nothing is lost. But I feel that the union has justified itself for so long by “we’ll get you the biggest salary possible” that this alternative is invisible to them. Teacher’s unions have given teachers far more dignity than they once had but the adversarial nature of collective bargaining has hardened visions all around. The next step for teachers is not slightly higher salaries but to move into control of the schools in the true sense of a “professional”.
How are big, leveraged to the hilt, real estate developers like the Pope?
They both don’t want the “masses” to have access to birth control. If you have financially leveraged yourself to build thousands of acres of houses over the next many decades, you want housing prices to keep rising which requires population to grow. A large chunk of Bush’s top fund-raisers are in real estate. Bush has been devastating in terms of governmental support for birth control all around the world. This is usually explained as serving the religious right but I can’t help but think it has more to do with short-sighted serving of mega-real estate developers.
Meadow deadline
I’ve been mentioning the dates of Monday, July 12 - Friday, July 16 as a chance for kindred souls to get together in a beautiful wilderness place in Lassen National Park. Though the snowpack was deep in January, lots of hot weather has reduced it so that should not delay these dates. We will backpack cross country about 3 miles to a meadow and then hang out there except for easy day hikes. No charge except for the cost of you getting to Redding and for your own backpacking food. Several people have expressed possible interest but no one has committed. Since this is the last Cairns until August, please contact me if you definitely decide to come. The closing date will be June 12. Write or email if you have questions.
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Business Stuff
My book, Seeing Nature: Deliberate Encounters with the Visible World may be ordered from me. Prices are $16 for one book, $29 for two books, $64 for 5 books, or $112 for 10 copies.
I have offered a video/DVD of my Spirals of Hope talk. The talk, however, is only 35 minutes long so there was space to add more. So I added a short talk I gave at my church on Time Lags and excerpts from the radio interview I had with KMUD in March. So now I call the DVD and the video “Three Talks”. Same price of $10 (3 for $25).
All prices are postpaid and include any sales tax. Mail orders to Paul Krafel, P.O. Box 609, Cottonwood, CA 96022-0609
Cairns of H.O.P.E. is free by e-mail <paul@krafel.net>. If you wish to receive Cairns by paper mail, please send $5 per year to cover costs.
Copyright 2004 by Paul Krafel