UTNE 2nd article

greenspun.com : LUSENET : MEd Cohort III : One Thread

The article I read in the "UTNE Reader" issue 8/98 was the "Eight ways to think like Einstein" by Michael Michalko.

Joy P. Guilford, psychologist, along with some others, who the article does not name, "...have demonstrated, creativity is not the same as intelligence." (p. 73) This result explains why past research attempts to connect intelligence and genius have not been 100% successful.

The article goes on to say that "normal" people, like you and me, think "reproductiviely". This is a process by which we sort through all that we've learned and experienced and then use what works for us to solve a problem. This process can cause stagnation because we do not seek all of the possible solutions. We quit after the solution is found. "If you think the way you've always thought, you'll get what you've always gotten." (p. 74)

Geniuses want to figure out several ways to look at and solve one problem. This process of thinking "productively" (p.73) is a common characteristic of geniuses.

The eight thinking strategies used by geniuses to produce their own ideas and theories are as follows (pp. 75&76): Geniuses 1. "...look at the problems from all angles." (they don't "...merely solve existing problems; they identify new ones." 2. "...make their thought visible." 3. "...produce." 4. "...make novel combinations." 5. "...force relationships." 6. "...think in opposites." 7. "...think metaphorically." 8. "...prepare themselves for chance." The "...first principle of a creative accident" (p.76) is when one tries to do something, fails and then ends "... up doing something else." (p.76)

"When you find something interesting..." (p. 76) the advice offered to us all, is to stop, drop everything and take it (the new) and run with it. Maybe we should teach students to be more creative and who knows, we may be encouraging the emergence of a "new" genius! But again, time and curriculum restraints are and will continue to be a hindrance in many classrooms. I do believe, though, that a teacher who may be enlightened on this subject may be able to "detect" a student with potential and nurture him/her in ways that can be encorporated into the classroom.

-- Anonymous, January 02, 1999

Answers

After reading many of the articles on religion in the Utne August '98, it became very hard for me to stop reading until I had a good view on all of them.

I chose Ken Wilber's article on Science and the Soul. He had some very insightful and indepth ideas about religion and the consciousness.

Ken had read and studied about many different works of others dealing with religion and with the science part of it. He discovered how diverent these disciplines were. As he stated "science wasn't wrong, but it was brutally limited and narrow in scope, it denied the existance of soul and spirit altogether."

So as he went on to study the many different types of religions as well as working with the conscience, he discovered they were all saying something true, but that none of them had entirley figured it out. Some the "Greats" were dealing with different levels of consciousness, and none had put them altogether.

What he was attempting to do was: find the common core amongst the world's great religions and what he found was that there is a mystical or esoteric core, which is concerned not with beliefs, myths, or dogma, but with direct spiritual experience. Whether it be; Zen Buddhism, Christianity or whatever, the whole point of their religious practices is experiential. If you "follow these specific ways" then this is what will happen. This is a good experiment for scientists also. If this then this. Which does put the two areas together.

What area that needs to be of more idepth is: what area of our conscience were we in when we approached this enlightenment? Which becomes more of a personal area within all of us. We all need to know where we are at personnally and we need to understand that nothing happens overnight. It takes a long time to begin to use and practice spirituality, it is not a weekend venture.

I felt this article to be very interesting, especially now that I am reading the Quality School along with the Utne reader. Both areas stress so much about listening to our inner selves, yet few people and children especially, don't know how to go about this. As intriguing as all of this sounds, I wonder how much has been done with younger children and where they stand with all of this.

Submitted by Sara

-- Anonymous, January 02, 1999


Moderation questions? read the FAQ