Beauty & Mr. B

Today is a new day, and a new way for me to podcast. Instead of sharing a piece I've written, or structuring a conversation with several guiding questions, I thought it might be time to experiment with sharing an open-ended conversation I recently had with a close friend whose life experience and knowledge I truly value. His name is Kye Kyllean and, among the many other things he's done with his life, Kye has written a book, "Self-Importance and Bullshitty: Question Everything". We started with a topic close to Kye's heart, darkness, and let the sparks fly. I hope you'll join us...

I participate in a number of education spaces, places designed to rethink the very foundations of learning and teaching. In these spaces, I sometimes receive the pleasure of meeting people who are truly knowledgeable, experienced, and just plain fun to talk with. One such new friend is Jerry Prochazka, who's particularly engaged in probing intersections between education and artificial intelligence. We've had a number of conversations, filled with the excitement of new insights, and it just seemed to make sense that, at some point, we would record one of our conversations and share it with you. We don't pretend to have all the answers, that's for sure, but we share a genuine interest in trying to identify and begin to examine what appear to be some of the most important questions that artificial intelligence is now raising for all of us who care about the future of education... 

I taught in the public school system for more than 20 years, and not once do I remember ever having an intentional conversation on the purpose of education. Looking back, this silence seems to be absolutely remarkable, since I honestly cannot think of any question more relevant to education today than this: What is the true purpose of education? In this episode I bring together a few friends, all with different levels of experience within the institutional structures of formal education, and, together, we begin the challenging process of grappling with foundational questions which pertain to the rethinking of educational purpose. This discussion is not meant to arrive at a definitive conclusion, which may be just a little bit too big for our present historical moment, but simply the raising of this question of purpose, directly, might be exactly what we need to begin serious consideration of what new paradigm of education must gradually emerge as humanity continues to mature...

Talking with a friend, a '20s-something friend, the subject of retirement came up... "Now that you're in the workforce, having finally graduated from college, how do you approach the subject of saving for retirement?" His answer surprised me, and got me to thinking. It went something like this: "My concerns are more existential than that. Like, by the time I might be ready to retire, will the Earth even be able to support human life? Retirement is not really that much of a concern for me." Wow! This is big!! And, so, the conversation began. How do we understand the crisis of existence on planet Earth-- its nature, roots, solutions -- and how might we engage with others in conversations that are positive, energizing, and actually might help to move the needle forward. Please join me as, in conversation, we go deep on a number of paradigm-shifting perspectives to fundamental questions regarding the present state and future of this mysteriously intelligent and beautiful planet.

I speak often, openly, about the qualities and powers of the spirit, together with my musings on history, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and everything else. Never, however, before this episode have I shared with listeners how I, myself, experience the spirit. In this episode I share how, early in the morning, often I feel the chill of a dawn breeze and, with it, a spirit that awakens and regenerates my soul. How do I understand this?  What allows me to experience the spirit?  And, what I am I to do with the powers of the spirit, now received, during my day, my days, indeed, over the course of my life? In this time of year, when so many honor the Holy Spirit, I offer you this, my own spiritual experience…

In this episode I present listeners with a brief overview of how, together, we might begin to rethink the whole idea of education. The established "education" system ... is dead, period! Therefore, it's time for us -- that's right, you and me -- to develop the capabilities that will be required to create a new system, one that, gradually over time, will empower and inspire future generations of students to take charge of their own education and participate in the progress of society. I'm excited about this initiative, and my hope is that you, too, will take part in what's now starting to become possible. More episodes (and blogs) will follow -- I promise! --  where I will dig deeper -- beyond this overview -- into the depths (and heights) of each concept introduced here!

I was thinking about how to welcome the new year in a world that is disintegrating before our very eyes, and then I stumbled upon this indigenous wisdom. This gratitude, which continues to draw me in, has helped me to regain my footing and illumine the path forward. I, therefore, wanted to share it with you... my dear brothers and sisters in humanity!

This is it, listeners, the culmination of my series of diary entries that examine the phenomenon of modern anger. It's, I think, what we've all been waiting for, the truth we need to overcome the chronic underlying anger that holds us back -- in order that we can begin to engage in the process of advancing toward the vision of what we as individuals and society can become ... individuals who are active agents in the progress of our own lives and protagonists in the furtherance of civilization as it moves forward in the direction of material prosperity and universal, spiritual peace, for all humankind.

Well, so far in this exploration of modern anger, Mr. B has considered various ways that anger is often expressed in society today, the true emotion at the root of modern anger (you might be surprised!), and, most recently, what exactly serves to trigger our feelings of anger. Now, the time has come for Mr. B to explore why exactly,  we react to anger the way we do: Why do we tend to run and hide from feelings of anger? Hmm... Here's a hint. It has something to do with the way that we have been taught to understand the meaning of power in society today!

In this diary entry, Mr. B continues to explore the phenomenon of twenty-first century anger: What triggers anger?!? He's already taken a look at some ways that anger is expressed in society today. He's already denied, then admitted, his own anger. Mr. B has even explored the truth about anger, of what emotion truly lies at the deepest root of this modern phenomenon of anger. (If you haven't already listened to that entry in this series, you may be surprised!). Now, in this episode, it's time to dig just that bit deeper ... into what actually triggers anger, what brings anger to the surface, and into why the frequency and intensity of modern anger, individually and collectively, seem to only keep on rising.