New for 2022

A message to those journeying. I am right there with you. Learning, albeit a teacher – my students have been some of my favorite teachers. Now, I am branching out. Among other writing projects, I will be teaching / documenting and going behind-the-scenes with my college course, via a blog, starting when the Spring semester ’22 begins. Taking my own advice – finding one’s “place,” and everyone has one in this big world, is no easy task. What does that even mean?

Finding one’s purpose means finding a way to impact the world in a way that fulfills and satisfies. That brings joy to one’s life. A person’s purpose aligns with their dreams, their values and their actions. It gives meaning to existence. The following idea and quote has been attributed to many inspirational individuals, and for good reason. “Why’ is the most important thing to know because that is where all of the emotional juice and fuel is to keep a person going when the challenges show up. And if a person has a big enough why, they will figure out a way of how to do it.” Keeping our tanks full, when the journey is long and the destination is not fully known, just makes good sense. It’s simple, but not necessarily easy.

In “Actual Minds, Possible Worlds,” Jerome Bruner persuasively argued that narrative is central to the construction of meaning, and meaning is what makes the human condition human. No computer needs to be persuaded of its purpose in life before it does what it is supposed to do. Genes need no motivational encouragement. No virus needs a coach. We do not have to enter their mindset to understand what they do and how they do it, because they do not have a mindset to enter. But humans do. We act in the present because of things we did or that happened to us in the past, and in order to realize a sought-for future. Even minimally to explain what we are doing is already to tell a story. A well intentioned, and well meaning ‘young’ man asked me my “why.” Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, surmises his “why” in beautiful, dramatic fashion in the following six minute video. It may not be the answer, and it is a magnificent way to begin the conversation.

https://youtu.be/CAbiFbpQP8o