Showing posts with label Teacher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teacher. Show all posts
Sir Ken Robinson: TED Talk on Creativity
"Around the world, there were no public [schooling] systems, really, before the 19th century. They all came into being to meet the needs of industrialism. So, the hierarchy is based on two ideas:
1.) The most useful subjects for work are at the top. So you were probably steered away from subjects you liked [art, music...] on the grounds you'll never get a job doing that. Benign advice. Now, profoundly mistaken. The whole world is engulfed in revolution.
2.) Academic ability, which has really come to dominate our view of intelligence. The universities designed the system in their image. The whole system of public [schooling] around the world is a protracted process of university entrance. The consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they're not, because the thing they were good at at school wasn't valued, or was actually stigmatized.
And I think we can't afford to go on that way.
...Suddenly, degrees aren't worth anything.
We need to rethink our views of intelligence."
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Creator EnlightenedChild.com
Be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
~
John Taylor Gatto on Life & Education
John Taylor Gatto is one of the most important voices on the failure of schooling to shape our children into authentic individuals.
The schooling system, it turns out, has been specifically designed to dumb down our children and rob them of sovereignty.
Watch this 10 minute video - it's enlightening and inspiring.
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
The schooling system, it turns out, has been specifically designed to dumb down our children and rob them of sovereignty.
Watch this 10 minute video - it's enlightening and inspiring.
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Just Catching My Breath!!!
The past couple weeks have been a whirlwind of adventure and connection with some of the people I love most in all the world.
Most notably, I completed a 108 Day Men's Leadership and Initiation training with Jayson Gaddis out in Boulder: www.revolutionaryman.com
The 5 Pillars of a Revolutionary Man are:
1.) Self-Knowledge - As Socrates admonished 2000+ years ago, "The unexamined life is not worth living." I think that's true, and I think it's even more true when we're talking about a group of men (or women) getting together to examine life together. There's power in our ability to work together towards a shared vision. After several nights around a campfire, I think we boiled down what our common vision was - the thing that brought us all together from 1000's of miles apart.
All totalled, the 108 days of working with Jayson and these men has totally transformed my life. They have supported me through a major life transition - from employee to entrepreneur (again) - and also helped me experience my own power in ways I only suspected were possible.
Bringing what I have learned back to Rochester, NY where I mentor a fair number of young men is an exciting challenge. It's my strategy for teaching what I need to learn so I may begin to master it.
There are several options I know of that can serve a boy as young as 10, and a man as old as they come, for initiation and deep growth. I'm more than happy to invest some time out of my day into discussing my experience and the options I know are available.
If you're interested, don't be shy.
Contact me: Craig (at) EnlightenedChild.com or via social media.
I look forward to being of service on your journey.
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Most notably, I completed a 108 Day Men's Leadership and Initiation training with Jayson Gaddis out in Boulder: www.revolutionaryman.com
The 5 Pillars of a Revolutionary Man are:
1.) Self-Knowledge - As Socrates admonished 2000+ years ago, "The unexamined life is not worth living." I think that's true, and I think it's even more true when we're talking about a group of men (or women) getting together to examine life together. There's power in our ability to work together towards a shared vision. After several nights around a campfire, I think we boiled down what our common vision was - the thing that brought us all together from 1000's of miles apart.
TO GET BETTER, IN A GOOD WAY
2.) Service - Something happened to me when I was 21 or so. I realized that service is actually a gift for MEEEEE!!! Can't explain it, maybe call it Karma, or the Golden Rule, I just notice that when I am engaging with the world from a place of service - both opening doors for old ladies, and anyone else passing by, as a well as, serving the world with my deepest gifts - I am much more connected, and much, much happier.
3.) Leadership - I had a hard time coming up with a spontaneous definition for this one, so I googled it and found this in Wikipedia: "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen." That fits for me, and I witnessed first hand how Jayson invited all 8 of us to participate in making something truly extraordinary, likely unprecedented, happen. It's something I aim to repeat. I am in the process of leading a group of young men and the results are shaping up to be nothing less than extra-ordinary.
4.) Fun/Celebration - This is a biggie. So much of my adult life I've had my nose to the grindstone, or just been too tired to make much room for celebration. Tanking several businesses doesn't lead to a lot of celebration either... even though every "no" has gotten me so much closer to a "YES!" in that game too, I really feel I need to accomplish something worthwhile before allowing myself to celebrate. Well, this past weekend in Boulder was certainly an occasion for fun and celebration, and I thank J. and my bros for making sure we danced and howled and ran amok "In a Good Way" :-]
5.) Community (relationships) - This is where it all comes together. To me, all the previous Pillars are great, and necessary, and true. What is most powerful, I find, is doing all these TOGETHER. The relationships J. fostered among the 8 men who participated in the first Revolutionary Man training are among the deepest I have known in this life. For a kid who grew up mostly in a day-dream of my own inventions and adventures, relating to people with authenticity and presence is a real edge. Dropping in with these men, and the women J. wove into our weekend, has been some of the best work I've done in my 15 years in pursuit of personal growth.
3.) Leadership - I had a hard time coming up with a spontaneous definition for this one, so I googled it and found this in Wikipedia: "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen." That fits for me, and I witnessed first hand how Jayson invited all 8 of us to participate in making something truly extraordinary, likely unprecedented, happen. It's something I aim to repeat. I am in the process of leading a group of young men and the results are shaping up to be nothing less than extra-ordinary.
4.) Fun/Celebration - This is a biggie. So much of my adult life I've had my nose to the grindstone, or just been too tired to make much room for celebration. Tanking several businesses doesn't lead to a lot of celebration either... even though every "no" has gotten me so much closer to a "YES!" in that game too, I really feel I need to accomplish something worthwhile before allowing myself to celebrate. Well, this past weekend in Boulder was certainly an occasion for fun and celebration, and I thank J. and my bros for making sure we danced and howled and ran amok "In a Good Way" :-]
5.) Community (relationships) - This is where it all comes together. To me, all the previous Pillars are great, and necessary, and true. What is most powerful, I find, is doing all these TOGETHER. The relationships J. fostered among the 8 men who participated in the first Revolutionary Man training are among the deepest I have known in this life. For a kid who grew up mostly in a day-dream of my own inventions and adventures, relating to people with authenticity and presence is a real edge. Dropping in with these men, and the women J. wove into our weekend, has been some of the best work I've done in my 15 years in pursuit of personal growth.
All totalled, the 108 days of working with Jayson and these men has totally transformed my life. They have supported me through a major life transition - from employee to entrepreneur (again) - and also helped me experience my own power in ways I only suspected were possible.
Bringing what I have learned back to Rochester, NY where I mentor a fair number of young men is an exciting challenge. It's my strategy for teaching what I need to learn so I may begin to master it.
There are several options I know of that can serve a boy as young as 10, and a man as old as they come, for initiation and deep growth. I'm more than happy to invest some time out of my day into discussing my experience and the options I know are available.
If you're interested, don't be shy.
Contact me: Craig (at) EnlightenedChild.com or via social media.
I look forward to being of service on your journey.
To Your Enlightenment Experience!
Craig
Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com
be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!
Does Your Child Know Her Purpose Yet?
It's no joke - we are all born with a purpose, and the schooling system couldn't care less.
Most teachers are just grown up products of the same system and are so deep into it that most teachers either have no idea what their own true purpose in life is (I hardly believe that a teacher would tell you "my purpose is to brainwash hundreds of kids into consumer society drones") or they have no tools for consistently liberating children from this cycle of consumer socialization to a true realization of their inborn purpose. So, the cycle perpetuates itself in mass-unconsciousness.
(pardon me while I go puke out the window...)
One of the most important exercises I've ever done (and I have worked through it dozens and dozens of times over the last decade) is discovering and defining and deciding what my purpose is.
I learned it first from Michael Gerber in the E-Myth Mastery Academy - which is an entrepreneurial coaching program. He understands that, in order for a business to serve the entrepreneur's life, we must begin with what's in our heart first, then build the business around that clarity.
Michael Losier's book on the Law of Attraction walks us through a nearly identical exercise. Tony Robbins, and all the classic success gurus say pretty much the same thing. Seems there's a pattern here:
1.) Write down everything you DON'T want in your life
2.) Use that list to come up with clarity about what you DO want in your life
3.) Boil that down to the essence of who you are and what your life is all about
Why were you born?
10 words or less!
Hold this mantra as a compass. Something you never forget. If I come to your house at 3am and shake you awake and say, "WHAT'S YOUR PURPOSE?!!" you should spit it right out.
Do you have this clarity?
Well, I walked my 8 year old through this same exercise last fall and she came up with a list that's just as legit as anything an adult could conjure up. After all, it doesn't take a PhD to know what you want in life, and if you look a little deeper, to see where those wants are coming from.
Look closely at this picture, you can see her two separate columns...
What did she come up with?
"To love and take care of animals"
Simple.
What's better than that!
So, here's where it comes into play, and the reason I'm inspired to post about this. Last week she demonstrated this on a handful of occasions:
1.) She rescued a baby bird from the playground at school
2.) She rescued a guinea pig that was to be "given a shot that would make him sleep until it was time for him to die"
3.) She rescued a baby chipmunk from the clutches of her cat Stella
4.) She captured a moth and brought it home, set it free in my bedroom and pet it good night by the lamp
5.) She gingerly carried around the snails she captured by the trainyard where we find em
6.) She does research on koalas and other animals at school...
And that's just ONE WEEK!!!
I applaud her for living her purpose and it settles into her psyche that she is fundamentally good and rooted in a core purpose that serves the world and makes her feel whole and complete.
It's an incredible thing.
I highly recommend it.
If you're a teacher or a parent who would like more information on how you can help kids discover their own Purpose in life, please contact me.
After all, my purpose is: To Enlighten the World!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Most teachers are just grown up products of the same system and are so deep into it that most teachers either have no idea what their own true purpose in life is (I hardly believe that a teacher would tell you "my purpose is to brainwash hundreds of kids into consumer society drones") or they have no tools for consistently liberating children from this cycle of consumer socialization to a true realization of their inborn purpose. So, the cycle perpetuates itself in mass-unconsciousness.
(pardon me while I go puke out the window...)
One of the most important exercises I've ever done (and I have worked through it dozens and dozens of times over the last decade) is discovering and defining and deciding what my purpose is.
I learned it first from Michael Gerber in the E-Myth Mastery Academy - which is an entrepreneurial coaching program. He understands that, in order for a business to serve the entrepreneur's life, we must begin with what's in our heart first, then build the business around that clarity.
Michael Losier's book on the Law of Attraction walks us through a nearly identical exercise. Tony Robbins, and all the classic success gurus say pretty much the same thing. Seems there's a pattern here:
1.) Write down everything you DON'T want in your life
2.) Use that list to come up with clarity about what you DO want in your life
3.) Boil that down to the essence of who you are and what your life is all about
Why were you born?
10 words or less!
Hold this mantra as a compass. Something you never forget. If I come to your house at 3am and shake you awake and say, "WHAT'S YOUR PURPOSE?!!" you should spit it right out.
Do you have this clarity?
Well, I walked my 8 year old through this same exercise last fall and she came up with a list that's just as legit as anything an adult could conjure up. After all, it doesn't take a PhD to know what you want in life, and if you look a little deeper, to see where those wants are coming from.
Look closely at this picture, you can see her two separate columns...
What did she come up with?
"To love and take care of animals"
Simple.
What's better than that!
So, here's where it comes into play, and the reason I'm inspired to post about this. Last week she demonstrated this on a handful of occasions:
1.) She rescued a baby bird from the playground at school
2.) She rescued a guinea pig that was to be "given a shot that would make him sleep until it was time for him to die"
3.) She rescued a baby chipmunk from the clutches of her cat Stella
4.) She captured a moth and brought it home, set it free in my bedroom and pet it good night by the lamp
5.) She gingerly carried around the snails she captured by the trainyard where we find em
6.) She does research on koalas and other animals at school...
And that's just ONE WEEK!!!
I applaud her for living her purpose and it settles into her psyche that she is fundamentally good and rooted in a core purpose that serves the world and makes her feel whole and complete.
It's an incredible thing.
I highly recommend it.
If you're a teacher or a parent who would like more information on how you can help kids discover their own Purpose in life, please contact me.
After all, my purpose is: To Enlighten the World!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
What's the Worst That Can Happen?
I won't deal in cut-throat business environments. There's nothing I want bad enough to tolerate that type of back-stabbing behavior. I can't imagine any good would come of it anyway even if I got what I thought I wanted... seems like it would come back at me with some price far in excess of any joy I felt.
That's not to say I haven't been double-crossed before. In business. In love. Not nearly as bad as it could have been. Sort of like the way I feel about my car accidents - just enough to rattle me and hopefully drive home the lesson.
Robert Ringer says there are three types of ways people will screw you:
1.) Tell you right to your face they're gonna grab all your chips
2.) Tell you they wouldn't dream of taking all your chips then doing it anyway
3.) Tell you they wouldn't dream of taking all your chips then, when it happens anyway, really telling you how bad they feel it worked out that way.
I guess the reason this is on my mind is because I'm contemplating some Joint Ventures (JVs) for my new business with people I have only met on Facebook.
As I approach the possibility of working with people who could easily swipe my idea and run with it, I steel myself with the conviction that the Enlightened Child mentoring component of the new business will make it immune to being ripped off 100 times by marketing sharks. What I aim for instead is a collaborative platform that brings social media experts together and creates a dynamic learning environment between them, their clients, and the mentees.
The mentees are learning marketing through implementing the social media profiles for the clients of my various Social Media Experts.
This way, the Social Media Experts can all offer a personally branded Done-For-You package and the mentees can get a world-class education that is relevant, and actually pays them to learn and achieve according to their interests.
That's the concept for the business that I'm creating to help me transition from a 9-5'er and free up time to write my Enlightened Child book and teach kids all about the wonders of the universe at concerts and other places I travel to.
Maybe there are still people out there who will habitually screw me over. Maybe I still have a lot naivete to get burned out of me. Whatever happens, I feel the Enlightened Child mission will keep marching my feet, keep creating with my hands, keep speaking with my tongue.
Looking at everything in life as a learning experience, I feel very little fear anymore.
What's the worst that can happen?
I'll learn.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
That's not to say I haven't been double-crossed before. In business. In love. Not nearly as bad as it could have been. Sort of like the way I feel about my car accidents - just enough to rattle me and hopefully drive home the lesson.
Robert Ringer says there are three types of ways people will screw you:
1.) Tell you right to your face they're gonna grab all your chips
2.) Tell you they wouldn't dream of taking all your chips then doing it anyway
3.) Tell you they wouldn't dream of taking all your chips then, when it happens anyway, really telling you how bad they feel it worked out that way.
I guess the reason this is on my mind is because I'm contemplating some Joint Ventures (JVs) for my new business with people I have only met on Facebook.
As I approach the possibility of working with people who could easily swipe my idea and run with it, I steel myself with the conviction that the Enlightened Child mentoring component of the new business will make it immune to being ripped off 100 times by marketing sharks. What I aim for instead is a collaborative platform that brings social media experts together and creates a dynamic learning environment between them, their clients, and the mentees.
The mentees are learning marketing through implementing the social media profiles for the clients of my various Social Media Experts.
This way, the Social Media Experts can all offer a personally branded Done-For-You package and the mentees can get a world-class education that is relevant, and actually pays them to learn and achieve according to their interests.
That's the concept for the business that I'm creating to help me transition from a 9-5'er and free up time to write my Enlightened Child book and teach kids all about the wonders of the universe at concerts and other places I travel to.
Maybe there are still people out there who will habitually screw me over. Maybe I still have a lot naivete to get burned out of me. Whatever happens, I feel the Enlightened Child mission will keep marching my feet, keep creating with my hands, keep speaking with my tongue.
Looking at everything in life as a learning experience, I feel very little fear anymore.
What's the worst that can happen?
I'll learn.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
How To Get Your Child Thinking Entrepreneurially...
I think a lot of parents, especially those who had it rough growing up, tend to try to make life easier on their kids.
To a certain degree this makes sense. On the other side of the scale, what's wrong with teaching kids about the 1st Noble Truth: Life is Suffering. We can't always get what we want, and if we are conditioned as children (as we almost all are) to become attached to the outcome we desire, it's only going to set us up for frustration and failure in the end. Teaching kids that they can always get what they want - crying or otherwise - is a recipe for disaster as they grow up. Better to suffer and understand the nature of suffering by adulthood than to grow up sheltered and then be hit by reality after school.
What about teaching kids a work ethic? I mean, I know there's a lot of advice about allowance and I admit I haven't read all the research. I've been told kids should get a certain amount of money regardless of chores. The thinking goes: Kids need to learn how to spend money... or something to that effect.
I take a very different approach. To me, money has to be a reflection of what my child has done to consciously go out and obtain money. Washing the dishes, sweeping the floor... these are just part of being on the team. Corrina likes to eat, she likes a roof over her head... there's nothing wrong with chipping in a little with the mealtime chores, and making her bed. I don't get paid to feed myself and take care of my kid. Maybe people on welfare do. Maybe that's a welfare mentality - that someone should provide for me simply because I'm breathing and taking up space. Not my kid.
She used to blog every week - she would listen to something by Jim Rohn or Brian Tracy and then blog about the simple idea or Principle and translate it into kid-speak (www.markiding.com). When she felt like stopping I agreed because, as far as I know, every labor contract in America is "at will" so there's no use in forcing her to do something she doesn't want to do. It's not realistic - it's not preparing her for life in capitalist America.
(Whether the state becomes fascist in her life-time remains to be seen - so we'll prepare her for the best...)
Of course, she does not earn her allowance either. Her mom wants to waffle. She wants me to just give her the money anyway. I refuse. She may give Corrina money - and I feel that would be a mistake, but I also intuit that Corrina will start to se the contrast in philosophies and eventually make the right choice.
As for working kids too hard and not letting them play and be kids... well, for thousands and thousands of years kids grew up milking cows and tilling soil and getting eggs from the hen house before the crack of dawn. There was no Sponge-Bob, there was no Cartoon Network or Doritos or Pop-Tarts.
To me, it's red flag when parents are losing the Humanity of their children for the convenience of television and snack foods. Our bodies are wired up the same way they were for millenia before these recent products became available.
So, toss out the kiddie-crack and give your kid a broom and then when they come begging for a quarter tell them it's part of being on the team, and they'll lend a hand if they want to be fed tonight (feed them vegetables and whole foods)... then kick them outside to play in the sun and tell them not to ask for money until they come up with something over and above the basic chores they should be doing anyway. Reading a book is good - if it's a challenging book and maybe if they write a book report. Washing the car, completing some additional math or grammar equations... anything more than they are expected to do. Anything to get them thinking entrepreneurially - looking for opportunities to serve and contribute more than they are asked.
As Zig Ziglar says - there are no traffic jams on the extra mile.
As always - love to hear your feedback!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
To a certain degree this makes sense. On the other side of the scale, what's wrong with teaching kids about the 1st Noble Truth: Life is Suffering. We can't always get what we want, and if we are conditioned as children (as we almost all are) to become attached to the outcome we desire, it's only going to set us up for frustration and failure in the end. Teaching kids that they can always get what they want - crying or otherwise - is a recipe for disaster as they grow up. Better to suffer and understand the nature of suffering by adulthood than to grow up sheltered and then be hit by reality after school.
What about teaching kids a work ethic? I mean, I know there's a lot of advice about allowance and I admit I haven't read all the research. I've been told kids should get a certain amount of money regardless of chores. The thinking goes: Kids need to learn how to spend money... or something to that effect.
I take a very different approach. To me, money has to be a reflection of what my child has done to consciously go out and obtain money. Washing the dishes, sweeping the floor... these are just part of being on the team. Corrina likes to eat, she likes a roof over her head... there's nothing wrong with chipping in a little with the mealtime chores, and making her bed. I don't get paid to feed myself and take care of my kid. Maybe people on welfare do. Maybe that's a welfare mentality - that someone should provide for me simply because I'm breathing and taking up space. Not my kid.
She used to blog every week - she would listen to something by Jim Rohn or Brian Tracy and then blog about the simple idea or Principle and translate it into kid-speak (www.markiding.com). When she felt like stopping I agreed because, as far as I know, every labor contract in America is "at will" so there's no use in forcing her to do something she doesn't want to do. It's not realistic - it's not preparing her for life in capitalist America.
(Whether the state becomes fascist in her life-time remains to be seen - so we'll prepare her for the best...)
Of course, she does not earn her allowance either. Her mom wants to waffle. She wants me to just give her the money anyway. I refuse. She may give Corrina money - and I feel that would be a mistake, but I also intuit that Corrina will start to se the contrast in philosophies and eventually make the right choice.
As for working kids too hard and not letting them play and be kids... well, for thousands and thousands of years kids grew up milking cows and tilling soil and getting eggs from the hen house before the crack of dawn. There was no Sponge-Bob, there was no Cartoon Network or Doritos or Pop-Tarts.
To me, it's red flag when parents are losing the Humanity of their children for the convenience of television and snack foods. Our bodies are wired up the same way they were for millenia before these recent products became available.
So, toss out the kiddie-crack and give your kid a broom and then when they come begging for a quarter tell them it's part of being on the team, and they'll lend a hand if they want to be fed tonight (feed them vegetables and whole foods)... then kick them outside to play in the sun and tell them not to ask for money until they come up with something over and above the basic chores they should be doing anyway. Reading a book is good - if it's a challenging book and maybe if they write a book report. Washing the car, completing some additional math or grammar equations... anything more than they are expected to do. Anything to get them thinking entrepreneurially - looking for opportunities to serve and contribute more than they are asked.
As Zig Ziglar says - there are no traffic jams on the extra mile.
As always - love to hear your feedback!
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Who's Responsibility Is It Anyway?
Yesterday I posted about the before and after of modern schooling systems. Before schooling, we are all growing at a staggering rate. After schooling, most humans are stuck in their identity of who they are, what they know, how they get by, who they'll be friends with, etc...
Is it nature or nurture? Do our neurons stop developing through the school-age period, and we're simply DONE at age 18 o3 22? Or does the schooling system take it out of us and leave us a shell of the curious, creative soul we were born to be?
I'm sure there's studies and arguments on both sides. This is a fun, light-hearted blog, so I'm not going to get into it.
What I want to consider tho, is what an educational system might be like that fully embraced curiosity, creativity, questions and exploration.
Do you think an adult who was socialized to see failure as growth, change as life and questions as the keys to the kingdom would allow him or herself to be locked into a frustrating job with a mountain of debt and a cocktail of mood altering prescriptions to numb the soul and tolerate the madness of our modern social systems?
I hope not.
Even a slightly inquisitive mind with enough experiences playing sports or music will know that practice is the key to mastery. What if that inquisitive mind turned itself on solving the problems we really face, not just the problems posed to us by big media and a morally absurd social norm that allows us to jet around sipping our collective lattes in our sweat-shop clothes and disposable lifestyles like we're more important than the 200-300,000 starving and impoverished laborers (per each of us) that have been shafted into making this possible?
What if we simply raised our kids to ask bigger, more important questions?
What if we gave them tools and introduced them to teachers or mentors who could help them answer those questions?
What if a generation of young adults emerged like a force of nature and swiftly implemented new solutions to problems that, as Einstein warned us, could not be solved at the level we were at when we created them?
Because we can't solve war with bombs.
And we can't solve the schooling system problems with teachers and administrators who are a product of that schooling system.
I'd love to hear what you're personally doing to take your child's education into your own hands.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Is it nature or nurture? Do our neurons stop developing through the school-age period, and we're simply DONE at age 18 o3 22? Or does the schooling system take it out of us and leave us a shell of the curious, creative soul we were born to be?
I'm sure there's studies and arguments on both sides. This is a fun, light-hearted blog, so I'm not going to get into it.
What I want to consider tho, is what an educational system might be like that fully embraced curiosity, creativity, questions and exploration.
Do you think an adult who was socialized to see failure as growth, change as life and questions as the keys to the kingdom would allow him or herself to be locked into a frustrating job with a mountain of debt and a cocktail of mood altering prescriptions to numb the soul and tolerate the madness of our modern social systems?
I hope not.
Even a slightly inquisitive mind with enough experiences playing sports or music will know that practice is the key to mastery. What if that inquisitive mind turned itself on solving the problems we really face, not just the problems posed to us by big media and a morally absurd social norm that allows us to jet around sipping our collective lattes in our sweat-shop clothes and disposable lifestyles like we're more important than the 200-300,000 starving and impoverished laborers (per each of us) that have been shafted into making this possible?
What if we simply raised our kids to ask bigger, more important questions?
What if we gave them tools and introduced them to teachers or mentors who could help them answer those questions?
What if a generation of young adults emerged like a force of nature and swiftly implemented new solutions to problems that, as Einstein warned us, could not be solved at the level we were at when we created them?
Because we can't solve war with bombs.
And we can't solve the schooling system problems with teachers and administrators who are a product of that schooling system.
I'd love to hear what you're personally doing to take your child's education into your own hands.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
When It's All Said and Done...
At the end of the day, who do you become?
Are you the same person who woke up that morning?
Have you seen anything, met anyone, learned anything, had some "a-ha!"?
Or are you pretty much the same as this morning, same as yesterday, same as last year or 10 years ago?
Your child is not.
Your child is learning and growing at a staggering rate.
Modern schooling systems are (intentionally or unintentionally) retarding your child's growth in many dimensions. True, the social and emotional intelligences are developing, but the bulk of your child's true potential is slipping away moment by moment as they waste away in schooling facilities around the country.
Perhaps in emerging nations this type of wrote memorization system works. Not for the future 21st Century Knowledge Worker.
We used to work with our food and sustenance directly. We farmed and herded.
In the 21st Century, your child is 99.9% likely to work for food and sustenance indirectly. This means that simple reading, writing, 'rithmatic ain't cuttin it. Not to mention the archaic model of transferring this knowledge to the children.
Can you imagine if, at your age, you continued to grow and learn and stay present with your experience - full of wonder and awe - as though still a child?
Seems simple enough...
Zen, really.
Stay in the flow of the moment and you'll never walk through the same river twice.
Who said that?
Heraclitus?
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Are you the same person who woke up that morning?
Have you seen anything, met anyone, learned anything, had some "a-ha!"?
Or are you pretty much the same as this morning, same as yesterday, same as last year or 10 years ago?
Your child is not.
Your child is learning and growing at a staggering rate.
Modern schooling systems are (intentionally or unintentionally) retarding your child's growth in many dimensions. True, the social and emotional intelligences are developing, but the bulk of your child's true potential is slipping away moment by moment as they waste away in schooling facilities around the country.
Perhaps in emerging nations this type of wrote memorization system works. Not for the future 21st Century Knowledge Worker.
We used to work with our food and sustenance directly. We farmed and herded.
In the 21st Century, your child is 99.9% likely to work for food and sustenance indirectly. This means that simple reading, writing, 'rithmatic ain't cuttin it. Not to mention the archaic model of transferring this knowledge to the children.
Can you imagine if, at your age, you continued to grow and learn and stay present with your experience - full of wonder and awe - as though still a child?
Matthew 18:3 Verily I say unto you, Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Seems simple enough...
Zen, really.
Stay in the flow of the moment and you'll never walk through the same river twice.
Who said that?
Heraclitus?
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Is Astrology Worth Examining or Not?
Ever since college when my friend did my astrological birth chart, I have been totally intrigued by the idea that I could learn about myself and others, and our relationships through this ancient system.
A funny story: Back in college at the UW - Madison, my good friend Adam shot me down when I attempted to learn about his chart. He gave me a false birthday. When I read his sign to him he asked me if I thought that sounded like him. I could see how it fit. Then he told me, with a Scorpionic sneer, that he had lied about his birthday and therefore astrology was a load of garbage. Ironically, he is now a professional astrologer: www.theskyisyou.com
This week I'm staying with him in Denver. Not surprisingly, he will read and explain a whole bunch of astrological jargon and then look me dead in the eye and say something like, "Astrolgy is such BS." And it is... yet it's also eerily true in more cases than not - especially when you get under the covers and really explore the deep intricacies of your chart.
Or your child's chart!
(You can get a free Chart for yourself and your child at Astro.com. I highly recommend it. What you learn will help you understand yourself, your child, and the dynamics of your relationship. It's not hard science, true. But the insights will blow your mind.)
Adam's been studying Uranus quite a bit, and gave me a book that details some of the finer points of how this planet can affect.
What I read fit very much with the experiences I've been having the past week. Especially since my Boulder experiences.
The upshot of the book relative to my chart (I have a Uranus/Moon conjuction - which means they are very close together) helped me understand the "Soul DNA" that inspires me to develop the Enlightened Child Philosophy of Education.
Uranus energy has to do with profound insight, brilliance, talent and enlightenment.
Moon energy is associated with emotions, home, nurturing and childhood.
Uranus = Enlightened
Moon = Child
How could I possible make something like that up? There's no way. It's just uncanny.
How does this help me? Well, not only does it validate my own path, it affirms that by helping parents, teachers and children to understand themselves through deep exploration with systems like Astrology (among others - I believe in a "triangulated verification") they can come to know themselves much more intimately and navigate their lives and relationships much more gracefully than just winging it while flying blind. Learning only through trial and error, with no objective reference for personal typology or tendency.
(Being adopted, this method has been my best means of self-understanding. I sincerely wish my parents had taken an interest in how we can know one another more intimately using this tool.)
Another great book Adam showed me is called An Astrological Mandala by Dane Rudhyar. Here's the quote that blew me away today and inspired me to write about what I learned in this post:
I'm gonna stop there because it's already dense enough for this light-hearted blog, but as you can see, the passion I feel for creating a system of educational enlightenment by teaching children the wisdom contained in simple esoteric symbols like the yin-yang and... ironically, astrology, is well founded in my "Soul DNA."
The rest of the passage goes on to talk about how the most characteristic of human natures is to "bind time" or transfer to others yet unborn the hard-won insights and knowledge of those who have come before. It's trans-generational mentoring. It's conscious participation in cosmic evolution.
It's so COOL!
If you've learned anything profound about yourself from a system like Astrology, the Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, etc... I'd love to hear your story. Feel free to share in the comments.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
A funny story: Back in college at the UW - Madison, my good friend Adam shot me down when I attempted to learn about his chart. He gave me a false birthday. When I read his sign to him he asked me if I thought that sounded like him. I could see how it fit. Then he told me, with a Scorpionic sneer, that he had lied about his birthday and therefore astrology was a load of garbage. Ironically, he is now a professional astrologer: www.theskyisyou.com
This week I'm staying with him in Denver. Not surprisingly, he will read and explain a whole bunch of astrological jargon and then look me dead in the eye and say something like, "Astrolgy is such BS." And it is... yet it's also eerily true in more cases than not - especially when you get under the covers and really explore the deep intricacies of your chart.
Or your child's chart!
(You can get a free Chart for yourself and your child at Astro.com. I highly recommend it. What you learn will help you understand yourself, your child, and the dynamics of your relationship. It's not hard science, true. But the insights will blow your mind.)
Adam's been studying Uranus quite a bit, and gave me a book that details some of the finer points of how this planet can affect.
What I read fit very much with the experiences I've been having the past week. Especially since my Boulder experiences.
The upshot of the book relative to my chart (I have a Uranus/Moon conjuction - which means they are very close together) helped me understand the "Soul DNA" that inspires me to develop the Enlightened Child Philosophy of Education.
Uranus energy has to do with profound insight, brilliance, talent and enlightenment.
Moon energy is associated with emotions, home, nurturing and childhood.
Uranus = Enlightened
Moon = Child
How could I possible make something like that up? There's no way. It's just uncanny.
How does this help me? Well, not only does it validate my own path, it affirms that by helping parents, teachers and children to understand themselves through deep exploration with systems like Astrology (among others - I believe in a "triangulated verification") they can come to know themselves much more intimately and navigate their lives and relationships much more gracefully than just winging it while flying blind. Learning only through trial and error, with no objective reference for personal typology or tendency.
(Being adopted, this method has been my best means of self-understanding. I sincerely wish my parents had taken an interest in how we can know one another more intimately using this tool.)
Another great book Adam showed me is called An Astrological Mandala by Dane Rudhyar. Here's the quote that blew me away today and inspired me to write about what I learned in this post:
Phase 209 - Libra 29 degree (my moon): Mankind's vast and enduring effort to reach for knowledge transferable from generation to generation.
Keynote: A deep sense of participation in, and commitment to, social processes which seek to bring all men Truth and greater Life.
I'm gonna stop there because it's already dense enough for this light-hearted blog, but as you can see, the passion I feel for creating a system of educational enlightenment by teaching children the wisdom contained in simple esoteric symbols like the yin-yang and... ironically, astrology, is well founded in my "Soul DNA."
The rest of the passage goes on to talk about how the most characteristic of human natures is to "bind time" or transfer to others yet unborn the hard-won insights and knowledge of those who have come before. It's trans-generational mentoring. It's conscious participation in cosmic evolution.
It's so COOL!
If you've learned anything profound about yourself from a system like Astrology, the Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, etc... I'd love to hear your story. Feel free to share in the comments.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Are You Harming Your body with Yoga?
It's true - Yoga can seriously wreck ya!
I have been practicing on and off for 15 years. My back is not trashed, but it's not as solid as it should be.
In Chicago I practiced with various teachers 3-5 times per week for 18 months.
Now that I'm in Rochester, I'm taking with Francois Raoult at Open Sky and I am realizing how poorly my practice has been affecting my body due to a lack of TRUE understanding about how the body works and what certain poses are intended to stretch.
Doing anything improperly over a period of time is deleterious to our health. Smoking and drinking are a good example. Have a smoke, have a drink... it won't kill ya. Smoke & drink a pack a day and you will see steep declines in health, energy and self-esteem. Eventually, it will rot you out.
While a well-informed yoga practice is one of the best things you can do on a regular basis for health, longevity and well-being, all yoga teachers are NOT the same. In fact, most yoga teachers suck (there, I said it) and you should NOT trust them with your body.
Taking a weekend-long "yoga fit" certification does not a teacher make. Even dedicated practitioners with decades of experience could steer you wrong, or leave you hanging. It's true of any teacher, mentor or professional.
The reason I trust Francois is because he CLEARLY understands anatomy, physiology, energy, meditation and how poses can help or hurt the body depending on minute nuances that most teachers are ignorant of.
He is currently training a batch of students - some of whom have traveled from across the country to spend 6 months with him. We've had several conversations about their shock, awe and excitement about how their understanding is deepening. Who knew???
So, the question is: How do you know when your teachers are truly serving you, or hindering you from true health, wealth and connection?
It's critical. Especially for our children. I know I've had many guitar teachers in my youth that ruined me as a musician. Not because they made me "worse" but because when I was young and unfettered by responsibility and had all the time in the world to practice they failed to challenge me, inform my mind and body with truly worthwhile training and inspiration, and in general just sucked.
Here's the deal:
1.) Interview 5-10 local teachers for yourself or your child.
2.) Ask them about their philosophy, teaching style and experience.
3.) Ask them who THEY would take lessons from.
4.) Call the 1-3 people whose name keeps coming up.
5.) Don't skimp on price or distance.
If you have to, take fewer, higher quality lessons with the best teachers you can find. Teachers who, as Emerson admonishes, "will inspire us to be what we know we could be."
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
I have been practicing on and off for 15 years. My back is not trashed, but it's not as solid as it should be.
In Chicago I practiced with various teachers 3-5 times per week for 18 months.
Now that I'm in Rochester, I'm taking with Francois Raoult at Open Sky and I am realizing how poorly my practice has been affecting my body due to a lack of TRUE understanding about how the body works and what certain poses are intended to stretch.
Doing anything improperly over a period of time is deleterious to our health. Smoking and drinking are a good example. Have a smoke, have a drink... it won't kill ya. Smoke & drink a pack a day and you will see steep declines in health, energy and self-esteem. Eventually, it will rot you out.
While a well-informed yoga practice is one of the best things you can do on a regular basis for health, longevity and well-being, all yoga teachers are NOT the same. In fact, most yoga teachers suck (there, I said it) and you should NOT trust them with your body.
Taking a weekend-long "yoga fit" certification does not a teacher make. Even dedicated practitioners with decades of experience could steer you wrong, or leave you hanging. It's true of any teacher, mentor or professional.
The reason I trust Francois is because he CLEARLY understands anatomy, physiology, energy, meditation and how poses can help or hurt the body depending on minute nuances that most teachers are ignorant of.
He is currently training a batch of students - some of whom have traveled from across the country to spend 6 months with him. We've had several conversations about their shock, awe and excitement about how their understanding is deepening. Who knew???
So, the question is: How do you know when your teachers are truly serving you, or hindering you from true health, wealth and connection?
It's critical. Especially for our children. I know I've had many guitar teachers in my youth that ruined me as a musician. Not because they made me "worse" but because when I was young and unfettered by responsibility and had all the time in the world to practice they failed to challenge me, inform my mind and body with truly worthwhile training and inspiration, and in general just sucked.
Here's the deal:
1.) Interview 5-10 local teachers for yourself or your child.
2.) Ask them about their philosophy, teaching style and experience.
3.) Ask them who THEY would take lessons from.
4.) Call the 1-3 people whose name keeps coming up.
5.) Don't skimp on price or distance.
If you have to, take fewer, higher quality lessons with the best teachers you can find. Teachers who, as Emerson admonishes, "will inspire us to be what we know we could be."
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Where I'm Goin Today...
In a half hour I leave for Boulder, CO to kick off a 108 day Men's Challenge that will focus on Health, Consciousness, Income, Relationships and some other cool stuff that I don't even know about yet.
I'm looking forward to having both a coach and a cohort of men to take this journey with. It was originally going to be a year - and I was all in. 108 days is a long time. There's a lot of space to cover in a field of time that large.
Making the process conscious by kicking things off with a weekend intensive, then weekly group calls, and some coaching calls sprinkled in... should be a fantastic learning vehicle and accountability support for taking my life to the next level in all 4 of the above areas.
To me, life would be a lot simpler if we just contextualized our education and socialization process around mastering these 4 areas of life - health, wealth, relationships and vision.
Art, Morals, Science...
Why does it have to be more complicated and fragmented than that?
Having a mentor that can help a child discover the truth, beauty and goodness in each area of life and a cohort of peers to share and feedback the experience with is such a powerful model for learning. Adventure, experience, mind-blowing times for every age and interest...
That's a vision I'd like to see manifested.
That's why I'm going to the Revolutionary Man: 108 Day Challenge. http://www.revolutionaryman.com/contest.html
I'll keep you posted ;-)
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
I'm looking forward to having both a coach and a cohort of men to take this journey with. It was originally going to be a year - and I was all in. 108 days is a long time. There's a lot of space to cover in a field of time that large.
Making the process conscious by kicking things off with a weekend intensive, then weekly group calls, and some coaching calls sprinkled in... should be a fantastic learning vehicle and accountability support for taking my life to the next level in all 4 of the above areas.
To me, life would be a lot simpler if we just contextualized our education and socialization process around mastering these 4 areas of life - health, wealth, relationships and vision.
Art, Morals, Science...
Why does it have to be more complicated and fragmented than that?
Having a mentor that can help a child discover the truth, beauty and goodness in each area of life and a cohort of peers to share and feedback the experience with is such a powerful model for learning. Adventure, experience, mind-blowing times for every age and interest...
That's a vision I'd like to see manifested.
That's why I'm going to the Revolutionary Man: 108 Day Challenge. http://www.revolutionaryman.com/contest.html
I'll keep you posted ;-)
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
3 Steps to Helping Your Child Find the Answers to their Heart's Desire
The simplest thing we can teach our children is how to learn.
Children are innately curious about everything. If we just did our best to help them get answers to their questions they would grow up in the 21st Century better prepared than any of their generation to meet the challenges we've posed to ourselves as a species.
What are the 3 Steps to Helping Your Child Find the Answers to their Heart's Desire?
1.) Clarity - help clarify the question they want to know the answer to
2.) Territory - locating or constructing a map of the territory they will explore
3.) Guidance - help your child source up an expert in the field to be a mentor/teacher
For the rest of your child's life, if they can get clear on their objective, get a feel for the territory in which they are exploring, and seek guidance from qualified experts... they can accomplish anything they desire in their heart.
What better gift could you give your child than this amount of freedom?
We'll talk more about the 3 Types of Freedom in the next post.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
Children are innately curious about everything. If we just did our best to help them get answers to their questions they would grow up in the 21st Century better prepared than any of their generation to meet the challenges we've posed to ourselves as a species.
What are the 3 Steps to Helping Your Child Find the Answers to their Heart's Desire?
1.) Clarity - help clarify the question they want to know the answer to
2.) Territory - locating or constructing a map of the territory they will explore
3.) Guidance - help your child source up an expert in the field to be a mentor/teacher
For the rest of your child's life, if they can get clear on their objective, get a feel for the territory in which they are exploring, and seek guidance from qualified experts... they can accomplish anything they desire in their heart.
What better gift could you give your child than this amount of freedom?
We'll talk more about the 3 Types of Freedom in the next post.
Cheers,
Craig
to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com
What's Most Important to Learn About?
So, if children are learners by nature, and they can learn anything they are presented with, make it an innate part of their soul and utilize the language and meaning to thrive in the world, then what are the best courses to teach a child for success in the 21st Century?
What's most important to learn about?
Start with the "Big 3" - Art, Morals, Science and all the variegated disciplines therein.
These types of Maps, or Meta-Languages, help orient the child in the world and organize the child's mind around principles. Principles that are deep, perennial and universal.
Enlightened Child is based on the aggregation of 12 such Maps or Models. They include exotic and fascinating personality and personal development Meta-Languages like the Enneagram. They include old favorites like the Yin-Yang and Zodiac. From these Maps, a child can begin to explore and eventually seek the treasure laying within their unique soul's purpose.
From this foundation, with a clear compass of purpose, the child can grow up to learn and master income generating process based on sales and marketing principles. These are like the complex machines made from simple machines of the first 12 Enlightened Child Maps.
We look at Success in the 21st Century very simply: Health, Wealth & Connection.
The truth is, if children are going to learn these things they are going to have to learn them from true Experts on the matter the same way we pay thousands of dollars for a 2-3 day seminar. We go to learn the material and be around an Expert. Why should children be any different?
Cheers,
Craig
What's most important to learn about?
Start with the "Big 3" - Art, Morals, Science and all the variegated disciplines therein.
These types of Maps, or Meta-Languages, help orient the child in the world and organize the child's mind around principles. Principles that are deep, perennial and universal.
Enlightened Child is based on the aggregation of 12 such Maps or Models. They include exotic and fascinating personality and personal development Meta-Languages like the Enneagram. They include old favorites like the Yin-Yang and Zodiac. From these Maps, a child can begin to explore and eventually seek the treasure laying within their unique soul's purpose.
From this foundation, with a clear compass of purpose, the child can grow up to learn and master income generating process based on sales and marketing principles. These are like the complex machines made from simple machines of the first 12 Enlightened Child Maps.
We look at Success in the 21st Century very simply: Health, Wealth & Connection.
The truth is, if children are going to learn these things they are going to have to learn them from true Experts on the matter the same way we pay thousands of dollars for a 2-3 day seminar. We go to learn the material and be around an Expert. Why should children be any different?
Cheers,
Craig
Why It Takes A Village...
There's a real simple reason why it takes a village to raise a child. There's probably many good reasons, actually, but I wanna focus on one.
The truth is, parents are not always the best mentors for their own children. To reiterate Kahlil Gibran:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
Still, we are responsible for our children, and take that responsibility very seriously. We feed and clothe and house them. We teach and correct and model for them. Eventually we send them to school, lessons in music or sports or whatever... we try to give them advantages in life, and fulfill their souls to the best of our ability as their parents, but this is often only our best guess.
When we look at our children and see ourselves in them, are we really seeing our children at all? How do we know?
My sense is that we are "too close" to our creation. When we only see ourselves and our needs projected on the mirror of our children we lose track of the work we are supposed to be doing on our own souls, and certainly miss the mark with our children.
Traditionally, a mentor is someone who can see the child's soul in a way that parents are blind to. Mentors are also unafraid to challenge the child in ways that parents are not equipped for. Coddling retards the child's development as much as pushing the child out of the nest too soon. Children need a safe base to launch from and return to, which is what parents are best at providing. They also need a guide into the dark forest of their soul's growth - which is best provided by someone who has walked the way the child must go and can guide them there.
Think of your children's interests. Are you the best one to help them develop those interests? Let's say it's music. Even if you are a world-class musician, and your influence will certainly be felt, your children will be better served by another teacher than you because they need you to hold and comfort them. They need a teacher to push and challenge them. How can you effectively do both? It's difficult.
And what if you're NOT a world-class musician? Do you let your children's talents go to waste or do you find the best possible teacher you can for them? Naturally, you want to help your child grow in the direction of their soul's unique purpose.
Now, the truth is, there are probably a handful, if not dozens of interests in your child's curious nature that you would do well to help educate. In traditional societies you would look around the village and locate individuals with talents that could serve your child's growth, or your child would naturally gravitate towards these individuals.
Using this model, it's easy to see why it takes a village to raise each child.
What can you do this year to strengthen the village of mentors for your children? How can you ensure that they are receiving every ounce of guidance you can possibly offer them - not only through your own knowing, but through the guidance of the extended village you gather around them based on their soul's curiosity?
More on how to see your child's soul through the clutter of your own projections in the next post ;-)
Craig
The truth is, parents are not always the best mentors for their own children. To reiterate Kahlil Gibran:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
Still, we are responsible for our children, and take that responsibility very seriously. We feed and clothe and house them. We teach and correct and model for them. Eventually we send them to school, lessons in music or sports or whatever... we try to give them advantages in life, and fulfill their souls to the best of our ability as their parents, but this is often only our best guess.
When we look at our children and see ourselves in them, are we really seeing our children at all? How do we know?
My sense is that we are "too close" to our creation. When we only see ourselves and our needs projected on the mirror of our children we lose track of the work we are supposed to be doing on our own souls, and certainly miss the mark with our children.
Traditionally, a mentor is someone who can see the child's soul in a way that parents are blind to. Mentors are also unafraid to challenge the child in ways that parents are not equipped for. Coddling retards the child's development as much as pushing the child out of the nest too soon. Children need a safe base to launch from and return to, which is what parents are best at providing. They also need a guide into the dark forest of their soul's growth - which is best provided by someone who has walked the way the child must go and can guide them there.
Think of your children's interests. Are you the best one to help them develop those interests? Let's say it's music. Even if you are a world-class musician, and your influence will certainly be felt, your children will be better served by another teacher than you because they need you to hold and comfort them. They need a teacher to push and challenge them. How can you effectively do both? It's difficult.
And what if you're NOT a world-class musician? Do you let your children's talents go to waste or do you find the best possible teacher you can for them? Naturally, you want to help your child grow in the direction of their soul's unique purpose.
Now, the truth is, there are probably a handful, if not dozens of interests in your child's curious nature that you would do well to help educate. In traditional societies you would look around the village and locate individuals with talents that could serve your child's growth, or your child would naturally gravitate towards these individuals.
Using this model, it's easy to see why it takes a village to raise each child.
What can you do this year to strengthen the village of mentors for your children? How can you ensure that they are receiving every ounce of guidance you can possibly offer them - not only through your own knowing, but through the guidance of the extended village you gather around them based on their soul's curiosity?
More on how to see your child's soul through the clutter of your own projections in the next post ;-)
Craig
Have You Ever Felt Stranded?
If you look up the meaning of the word "Stranded" on Google Definition, the first entry says: isolated: cut off or left behind; "an isolated pawn"; "several stranded fish in a tide pool"; "travelers marooned by the blizzard"
That's about how I felt most of my life. Not because I'm adopted... though the two experiences are likely tethered in some way. The type of experience I'm talking about now is very common in modern society (vs. a more traditional or tribal society).
Think of a teenage boy, just because it's a handy example. Maybe he's 16 years old. He's probably got a lot on his mind. Sex, cars, pecking-order status, maybe his favorite music or whatever else he's passionate about.
He's probably still got a dad in the picture some way. This relationship is probably strained because the father is not totally clear on what he's doing with his own life Purpose, let alone how to initiate his boy into manhood (which ALL tribal and traditional societies do, and which our modern religious parties fail to approximate).
Even just 100 years ago, a boy of this age would be working on the farm as a grown man, perhaps with a family and farm of his own. Or he would be taking up apprenticeship in a trade, or working in a factory to garner income to establish a life for himself and his family. He sure as hell wouldn't be laying on the couch playing X-Box and feeding his munchies with Pringles and Crystal Lite.
Parents abdicate the responsibilities of socializing this boy to either the schooling system (the State) or a religious organization (the Church), or some combination thereof. At best the boy will get some specialized training through a private school or lessons with an expert in some discipline like music or sports.
As for this boy's soul... his Purpose, the reason he was born into this life... completely ignored. Everyone just assumes the boy will grow up and figure it all out. How to contribute to society, how to relate to loved ones and far ones, how to stay healthy and spread good in the world by living a well-considered life... yet these things are never directly taught. The boy assumes he's stuck with whatever he picks up through osmosis along the way, or if he transgresses too deeply, he will be reprimanded and this correction will be sufficient to keep him safe and satisfied in life.
Error.
This boy is STRANDED.
He needs mentoring.
He needs someone who can draw forth a sense of purpose in his awareness.
He needs someone to sit with him and talk about what's important to him, what he wants in life, how he's gonna get there.
He needs support and accountability and blessing.
He needs initiation and responsibility and creative challenge.
Have you ever felt stranded?
Craig
That's about how I felt most of my life. Not because I'm adopted... though the two experiences are likely tethered in some way. The type of experience I'm talking about now is very common in modern society (vs. a more traditional or tribal society).
Think of a teenage boy, just because it's a handy example. Maybe he's 16 years old. He's probably got a lot on his mind. Sex, cars, pecking-order status, maybe his favorite music or whatever else he's passionate about.
He's probably still got a dad in the picture some way. This relationship is probably strained because the father is not totally clear on what he's doing with his own life Purpose, let alone how to initiate his boy into manhood (which ALL tribal and traditional societies do, and which our modern religious parties fail to approximate).
Even just 100 years ago, a boy of this age would be working on the farm as a grown man, perhaps with a family and farm of his own. Or he would be taking up apprenticeship in a trade, or working in a factory to garner income to establish a life for himself and his family. He sure as hell wouldn't be laying on the couch playing X-Box and feeding his munchies with Pringles and Crystal Lite.
Parents abdicate the responsibilities of socializing this boy to either the schooling system (the State) or a religious organization (the Church), or some combination thereof. At best the boy will get some specialized training through a private school or lessons with an expert in some discipline like music or sports.
As for this boy's soul... his Purpose, the reason he was born into this life... completely ignored. Everyone just assumes the boy will grow up and figure it all out. How to contribute to society, how to relate to loved ones and far ones, how to stay healthy and spread good in the world by living a well-considered life... yet these things are never directly taught. The boy assumes he's stuck with whatever he picks up through osmosis along the way, or if he transgresses too deeply, he will be reprimanded and this correction will be sufficient to keep him safe and satisfied in life.
Error.
This boy is STRANDED.
He needs mentoring.
He needs someone who can draw forth a sense of purpose in his awareness.
He needs someone to sit with him and talk about what's important to him, what he wants in life, how he's gonna get there.
He needs support and accountability and blessing.
He needs initiation and responsibility and creative challenge.
Have you ever felt stranded?
Craig
An Open Letter to a Teenage Rockstar
then you should be a drummer in a band
that gets PAID, son
I gotta tell you kids... it's all about Marketing no matter what you do. I'm an artist at heart, and I'm only now just getting back to BEING an artist after 10 years of trying to figure out how to make a living at it.
School doesn't teach it.
Talent can't overcome it.
Until you learn how to sell yourself, you're never gonna be free. You gotta demand what you're worth, and get people to buy into you enough to pay it.
It's about self-worth. It's about doing it with class.
C
that gets PAID, son
I gotta tell you kids... it's all about Marketing no matter what you do. I'm an artist at heart, and I'm only now just getting back to BEING an artist after 10 years of trying to figure out how to make a living at it.
School doesn't teach it.
Talent can't overcome it.
Until you learn how to sell yourself, you're never gonna be free. You gotta demand what you're worth, and get people to buy into you enough to pay it.
It's about self-worth. It's about doing it with class.
C
What is Montessori Education?
Here is a great primer on Montessori for ages 3-6.
The actual Philosophy is much deeper, bordering on the mystical, but this gets you oriented with the classroom.
"Children are allowed to continue with a piece of work for as long as they desire. They choose activities that interest them and practice them until they feel a sense of Mastery. Then they move on." ~6:30
7:40 "Part of becoming Independent Learners is taking responsibility for oneself, and the classroom environment."
3:00 "As the child becomes comfortable with the basics, the materials becoming increasingly abstract and complex, helping the learner to understand first the patterns of addition, subtraction building from this foundation to the complexities of squaring and square root, cubing and cube roots."
3:40 "The materials provide a method for the students to check their own work, as well as, to visualize the problem in 3 dimensions.
What I want to study is the cutting edge human/childhood Developmental Science, Montessori and similar alternative educational philosophies, and the 12 Archetypes in the Enlightened Child book.
So I can develop materials that Leverage a child's developmental capabilities to learn Life Success Principles as enjoyably and early as possible.
The actual Philosophy is much deeper, bordering on the mystical, but this gets you oriented with the classroom.
"Children are allowed to continue with a piece of work for as long as they desire. They choose activities that interest them and practice them until they feel a sense of Mastery. Then they move on." ~6:30
7:40 "Part of becoming Independent Learners is taking responsibility for oneself, and the classroom environment."
3:00 "As the child becomes comfortable with the basics, the materials becoming increasingly abstract and complex, helping the learner to understand first the patterns of addition, subtraction building from this foundation to the complexities of squaring and square root, cubing and cube roots."
3:40 "The materials provide a method for the students to check their own work, as well as, to visualize the problem in 3 dimensions.
What I want to study is the cutting edge human/childhood Developmental Science, Montessori and similar alternative educational philosophies, and the 12 Archetypes in the Enlightened Child book.
So I can develop materials that Leverage a child's developmental capabilities to learn Life Success Principles as enjoyably and early as possible.
Alex Grey: Artmind
I just LOVE the picture he's painting - showing the collective consciousness he's sharing with his daughter through ideas in the book they are reading.
"Not only are we creatures of the physical or mental dimensions, but we're creatures of a completely transcendental dimension as well... these are the states that are damn hard to depict as an artist, but are the essence of the mystical experience."
Alex Grey - Artmind
"When the Mystic Eye is opened, and sees that the person is forever changed."
"Not only are we creatures of the physical or mental dimensions, but we're creatures of a completely transcendental dimension as well... these are the states that are damn hard to depict as an artist, but are the essence of the mystical experience."
Alex Grey - Artmind
"When the Mystic Eye is opened, and sees that the person is forever changed."
The REAL Sociology 101
Children need to be educated about what's ACTUALLY going on in the world, both historical trends and current realities.
Hans is compiling national databases about population, GDP, infant mortality, etc... and presenting the data in fascinating, visual formats that you MUST see!!!
You can download his nifty presenations and play with them like he demonstrates in this video: www.gapminder.org
Hans is compiling national databases about population, GDP, infant mortality, etc... and presenting the data in fascinating, visual formats that you MUST see!!!
You can download his nifty presenations and play with them like he demonstrates in this video: www.gapminder.org
"How do I paint a Masterpiece?"
How do we create a system of Education with one unified aim for all students - Enlightenment?
As much as I want to get right to the point, I'm unearthing everything as I am inspired, and this morning I am inspired by David Deida to talk about The Best Teacher I Have Ever Had. His name is Fred Lipp, and we affectionately called him Fritz.
First, the Deida quote that inspired me from The Way of the Superior Man: The Teaching Sessions
(Audio)
It's so true, and it reminded me of my freshman year at RIT in Rochester
I don't remember much after Montessori, but RIT rekindled my creative passion with , ala core training in the foundations of Art. The main classes were Drawing, 2-D and 3-D Design, along with a class in Creative Sources, and some humanities classes like English and Philosophy... which, along with talking to Fritz, led me to become a Philosophy Major at UW Madison.
There was a $500 fee for all new Art students in the Foundations track. Before classes started we stood in a ridiculously long line to pick up an unmanageable amount of Art supplies. A tacklebox full of every imaginable media and the paper to use it on. Everything from charcoal to cray-pas, pencils, paints and guache... which I still haven't figured out how to use!
The first day of Drawing class I met the most wonderful teacher I've ever had. He was very unassuming, but over the course of the year, I learned more from him than any other teacher in any other subject. The best teachers are always that way, aren't they?
Fritz and I used to get into some deep philosophical discussions. Deep for my 18 year old brain, anyway. As we joked about the 16 year long day-care system known as "schooling" he told me a most ingenious idea for college admissions.
That's brilliant. But what was even more brilliant was his teaching style, and this is what Deida's quote inspired me to write about. This is at the crux of the Enlightened Child Philosophy of Education.
The first day of class about 22 of us sat at drawing tables that formed a large circle facing the "stage" area where models and still-lifes would eventually stand. Fritz told us to take out a piece of paper, and any implement. It took a minute, but eventually we all got the point that there were no restrictions on which implement or which type of paper to use. Then he gave a series of instructions that absolutely blew me away:
1.) Draw a line - you can only imagine there were at least 22 different variations of a simple line drawn in the room at that moment.
2.) Draw a Horizontal Line
3.) Draw a Vertical Line
4.) Draw a line that goes from light to heavy/dark
5.) Do the opposite
6.) And on, and on, and on with every permutation of line that could be drawn...
7.) Change media
Essentially, what Fritz was doing was putting us all in Beginner's Mind. He had no idea where we were at with our Drawing skills. I, for one, had a background in 2-D art (computer & graphic design). So, he needed to make sure we all had a broad spectrum understanding of all the media at our disposal. What better way to get acquainted than to systematically exhaust all the parameters possible in the most basic of exercises - line drawings.
Of course, things got more elaborate in the subsequent classes. Fritz, holding to the philosophy of self-reliance, rather than force feeding us examples and instructions on how to do things, ran us through weeks of exercises focusing on every imaginable aspect of drawing. He had us spend an entire day just exploring the concepts of:
1.) Shape - he pointed at the still-life and said, "Draw Shape"
2.) Form - any tool we wanted, "Draw Form"
3.) Space & Perspective
4.) Negative Space - which was a neat exercise in mental agility
5.) Shading... and on, and on...
Here's where things got REALLY interesting.
Fritz gave us ZERO homework. He graded nothing. The way we got better was learning through practice, experimentation, and group feedback.
At the end of each 3-hour session (we had 3 each week) he would have everyone select their Best work. Their BEST example of Shape, or Form...
We would post them in a series across the main wall of the studio, then all huddle up and go through them one by one. We each had a chance to hear anonymous feedback, then to talk personally about our piece. We saw what was and was not working in our own, and our classmates' drawings. It was perfect.
And that lesson has stuck with me to this day. As I set out to lead the Internship program at work, as I raise my daughter, as I seek learning experiences for myself... this lesson in practicing the fundamentals, mentoring and peer-review, seeking creative solutions, rather than merely imitating or copying... all these are at the forefront of my mind.
If the word Educate means: to draw forth from within, then I truly believe Fritz is among the best educators in the world.
The Enlightened Child Philosophy of Education does not aim to teach you or your child how to create a Masterpiece of yourself or your life. What it does aim to teach are the fundamentals of self-knowledge, relationship and systems dynamics. By practicing the fundamentals, finding good mentors and peer groups that are engaged in a similar aim, and seeking creative solutions to the systemic challenges we face in our lives and in our world today, I believe that we truly can create an Educational method that will consistently and predictably enlighten, and ultimately Enlighten, a critical mass of consciousness in our lifetime.
If you feel called to this project, please contact me by entering your name and email above, or by joining the Enlightened Child facebook group here: Join Enlightened Child Group on Facebook
As much as I want to get right to the point, I'm unearthing everything as I am inspired, and this morning I am inspired by David Deida to talk about The Best Teacher I Have Ever Had. His name is Fred Lipp, and we affectionately called him Fritz.
First, the Deida quote that inspired me from The Way of the Superior Man: The Teaching Sessions
(Audio)...it's impossible to tell someone how to paint a Masterpiece. You can tell them how to combine colors, how to follow the numbers, connect the dots, how to draw outlines, shading, perspective - but in the end it's their Masterpiece.
It's so true, and it reminded me of my freshman year at RIT in Rochester
I don't remember much after Montessori, but RIT rekindled my creative passion with , ala core training in the foundations of Art. The main classes were Drawing, 2-D and 3-D Design, along with a class in Creative Sources, and some humanities classes like English and Philosophy... which, along with talking to Fritz, led me to become a Philosophy Major at UW Madison.
There was a $500 fee for all new Art students in the Foundations track. Before classes started we stood in a ridiculously long line to pick up an unmanageable amount of Art supplies. A tacklebox full of every imaginable media and the paper to use it on. Everything from charcoal to cray-pas, pencils, paints and guache... which I still haven't figured out how to use!
The first day of Drawing class I met the most wonderful teacher I've ever had. He was very unassuming, but over the course of the year, I learned more from him than any other teacher in any other subject. The best teachers are always that way, aren't they?
My best advice for college students is to find one or two of those teachers and take EVERY class they offer. The rest will sort itself out.
Fritz and I used to get into some deep philosophical discussions. Deep for my 18 year old brain, anyway. As we joked about the 16 year long day-care system known as "schooling" he told me a most ingenious idea for college admissions.
"If I had a school I would have ONE entrance requirement: That each students had lived on their own, supporting themselves without any financial assistance, for one year. Then, if they wanted to come to my school, I'd say great!"
That's brilliant. But what was even more brilliant was his teaching style, and this is what Deida's quote inspired me to write about. This is at the crux of the Enlightened Child Philosophy of Education.
The first day of class about 22 of us sat at drawing tables that formed a large circle facing the "stage" area where models and still-lifes would eventually stand. Fritz told us to take out a piece of paper, and any implement. It took a minute, but eventually we all got the point that there were no restrictions on which implement or which type of paper to use. Then he gave a series of instructions that absolutely blew me away:
1.) Draw a line - you can only imagine there were at least 22 different variations of a simple line drawn in the room at that moment.
2.) Draw a Horizontal Line
3.) Draw a Vertical Line
4.) Draw a line that goes from light to heavy/dark
5.) Do the opposite
6.) And on, and on, and on with every permutation of line that could be drawn...
7.) Change media
Essentially, what Fritz was doing was putting us all in Beginner's Mind. He had no idea where we were at with our Drawing skills. I, for one, had a background in 2-D art (computer & graphic design). So, he needed to make sure we all had a broad spectrum understanding of all the media at our disposal. What better way to get acquainted than to systematically exhaust all the parameters possible in the most basic of exercises - line drawings.
Of course, things got more elaborate in the subsequent classes. Fritz, holding to the philosophy of self-reliance, rather than force feeding us examples and instructions on how to do things, ran us through weeks of exercises focusing on every imaginable aspect of drawing. He had us spend an entire day just exploring the concepts of:
1.) Shape - he pointed at the still-life and said, "Draw Shape"
2.) Form - any tool we wanted, "Draw Form"
3.) Space & Perspective
4.) Negative Space - which was a neat exercise in mental agility
5.) Shading... and on, and on...
Here's where things got REALLY interesting.
Fritz gave us ZERO homework. He graded nothing. The way we got better was learning through practice, experimentation, and group feedback.
At the end of each 3-hour session (we had 3 each week) he would have everyone select their Best work. Their BEST example of Shape, or Form...
We would post them in a series across the main wall of the studio, then all huddle up and go through them one by one. We each had a chance to hear anonymous feedback, then to talk personally about our piece. We saw what was and was not working in our own, and our classmates' drawings. It was perfect.
"None of us is as smart as All of Us!"
And that lesson has stuck with me to this day. As I set out to lead the Internship program at work, as I raise my daughter, as I seek learning experiences for myself... this lesson in practicing the fundamentals, mentoring and peer-review, seeking creative solutions, rather than merely imitating or copying... all these are at the forefront of my mind.
If the word Educate means: to draw forth from within, then I truly believe Fritz is among the best educators in the world.
The Enlightened Child Philosophy of Education does not aim to teach you or your child how to create a Masterpiece of yourself or your life. What it does aim to teach are the fundamentals of self-knowledge, relationship and systems dynamics. By practicing the fundamentals, finding good mentors and peer groups that are engaged in a similar aim, and seeking creative solutions to the systemic challenges we face in our lives and in our world today, I believe that we truly can create an Educational method that will consistently and predictably enlighten, and ultimately Enlighten, a critical mass of consciousness in our lifetime.
If you feel called to this project, please contact me by entering your name and email above, or by joining the Enlightened Child facebook group here: Join Enlightened Child Group on Facebook
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