Wisdom and the Open Window: Seniors and Lifelong Learning

"In times of change, ‘learners’ inherit the Earth, while ‘knowers’ find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."  ~ Eric Hoffer

So often when we reach the age where wisdom is supposed to sing us magically to the end of our days, we find instead, the dull monotonous clang of knowing.  Knowing everything. Knowing it all. Knowing there’s nothing else to do or to learn. Friends and family stop asking questions of us because they’ve heard the same answer time and again. The fact is, we’re tired of the same answers too. We wait for luminous insight to inhabit our bodies and we wait and we wait.

Knowing is like a fortress where the mortar and bricks concretize life. Knowing is a closed door; learning is an open window. Lifelong learning asks us to seek the larger parts of ourselves around every corner, invites us into the largest conversations with the world. It can be following a yearning that has been with us all our lives or discovering a sprouting seed in our aging garden that we never knew existed and begs to be tended.

Learning can take the form of meditation, photography, exploring native culture, tending bees, or making friends with your computer. And you won’t find “for seniors only” programming within our calendar.  We have come to understand the richness of what can happen when all generations share and learn together. Learning is what brings us alive and asks us to open to more and more of life’s treasures. Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” Growing beyond the bounds of our comfort zone means stepping into the light of the unknown, perhaps walking alongside our fears or biases, and always brings us closer to a space of wide open wonder and possibility. It is here, in this space, that wisdom’s whisper sometimes is heard. It’s waiting for all of us. We just need to step to the window and listen.

Tess Wixted

Program Associate

Join us at http://www.royalroads.ca/continuing-studies/

What dreams may come

Hurrying to catch my bus to work last week, my eyes followed the course of hard, cold streets and sidewalks as my thoughts ticked off the day's endless list of to-dos and to-wants. I happened to glance up long enough to see the waxing light of day stretch its pastel arms into the eastern sky. For the slightest of moments the pink dawn appeared to be a dream of cherry blossoms coloring the bare tree branches along the street. I paused and smiled at the portend of spring, crinkled and fresh like crepe paper tucked behind the outline of sleeping bark and hopeful buds.

Dreams come in all forms. The light is returning, bringing with it glimpses of dreams yet unexamined and those fully awakened. Joanna Macy, Buddhist scholar, writer, and spiritual activist, has been living the dream of mindful, purposeful work for most of her life. Her pioneering guidance in The Work That Reconnects and The Great Turning, our shift as a culture from an industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization, has inspired and opened countless numbers of people to the deep possibilities that lie sleeping within them.

In her latest newsletter, Joanna writes:

"The other night at dinner, as we were sharing news and views, my Creation theologian friend Matt Fox said, 'Courage is the first sign of the Spirit. It is the root of all the other virtues.'

I loved his saying that. It caused me to think how courage is the essential ingredient of truth-speaking, how it sparks our fervor and our self-respect, how it lets us discover new strengths, new allies. And I got to reflecting on how lucky I am that the work I do acquaints me with so many courageous people."

Yesterday on my same route to work I noticed the first cherry blossoms opening in the trees. The light of the pale blushed beauty of the petals and the dark strength of the gnarled gray bark set their opposites in beautiful alignment. Our courage lies in seeing the light and the dark in union and stepping into our truth with fervor and respect.

What do you see when you look to the sky?

Join Joanna Macy this summer for nine days of intensive training in The Work That Reconnects. Click here for more information.

Tess Wixted
Continuing Studies Associate

Visit us at http://www.royalroads.ca/continuing-studies

Happiness and education are connected...

Educator and philosopher, Nel Noddings (2003) wrote “Happiness and education are, properly intimately connected.”  (p.1). Nel has contributed significantly to educational theory with her philosophy of the ethics of care and wellbeing and what we have come to understand that she means by this line of thinking is that those who experience satisfaction in their lives synonymously seem to be those who continue to develop themselves, and in turn contribute positively to their societies. And while “happiness” in this context refers to a sense of hope about the future and current feelings of wellbeing,  educational experiences that foster personal growth and expanded awareness can do much to support this. 

Here we are just a few days past January – the month named for the Greek God Janus who looked both into the future and the past as the double-faced force of new beginnings. What better time to reflect on where we have come from and what lies ahead and ask ourselves how happiness and education together might shape what is arriving in 2012?  Happily, the university supports continued learning and with that invitation comes a responsibility for us all to keep learning, keep developing, keep contributing.  This is a fortuitous time to   glimpse a fresh perspective on human resources, tell our story and connect with others on social media, expand your emotional intelligence, learn to facilitate difficult conversations, develop your leadership, manage your energy, learn about systems thinking and have the courage to change while building teams that trust. So much to learn!  

Such a gift is waiting for us all … and perhaps a way to happiness too as we learn together. 

Hilary Leighton, M.Ed.
Director, Continuing Studies