Beyond the Quote

John Dewey Quote on Education and How The Process and The Goal Are One And The Same

“I believe finally, that education must be conceived as a continuing reconstruction of experience; that the process and the goal of education are one and the same thing.”
John Dewey, Educated

Beyond the Quote (Day 390)

Becoming educated and getting a degree are two different goals. What most of us have been taught to aspire to isn’t education—it’s accreditation. We’re taught that what’s most important isn’t what you learn along the way, but what paper you receive at the end—the one that says you’ve been “educated” by this College or that University. Which isn’t exactly unreasonable as those educational institutions are supposed to represent a certain standard of education. But, at the end of the day, after all of the “accreditations” have been handed out, what matters most isn’t the paper in and of itself—it’s the person behind the paper.

“Everyone automatically assumes that the present is the result of the past. Turn it around, and consider whether the past may not be a result of the present. The past may be streaming back from the now, like the country as seen from an airplane.”
Alan Watts, Sunbeams (Page 14)

Beyond the Quote (Day 388)

Seeing the past as being the cause of your present steals from you the accountability that’s needed to take ownership of your future. For, you can’t change the outcome of your future if you’re busy blaming what happened in the past. You have to realize, as Watts outlines above, that it’s the present that caused the past, not the past that caused the present.

“Truth is completely spontaneous. Lies have to be taught.”
R. Buckminster Fuller, Sunbeams (Page 23)

Beyond the Quote (Day 387)

I suspect that most people overthink the act of being—and it’s easy to see why. Think about everything that we’re exposed to on a daily basis. All of the advertisements, the images, the messages, the conversations—and think about how each of them communicate a different way of being. You can be the person who does this; who buys that; who believes this; who supports that; who interacts here; who chooses to go there; who speaks up about this; who follows people like that; who dresses like this; who spends their time doing that… the possibilities for becoming are, quite literally, endless.

“I tend to want every person to embody the best of humanity—for all of us to be givers and builders and dreamers. That’s not reality. At different seasons in life, we each fall into various categories. Even still, every one of us also has a strong behavioral tendency, and that is okay. I’m coming to terms with the fact that so-called perfection—this idea that everything should be beautiful and in order at all times—is just not going to happen.”
Alicia Keys, More Myself (Page 254)

Beyond the Quote (Day 386)

And as she says in her song, Authors of Forever, “Wherever you are, it’s alright / Whoever you are, it’s alright.” It’s okay to be who you are, where you are on your journey. None of us are perfect and we all lead imperfect lives. Expect perfection from someone—anyone—and you’ll always end up disappointed. Expect imperfection and you’ll at least be able to meet people where they are. Disappointment leads to emotional distancing and separation. Understanding leads to emotional advancing and connection.

“I do not sit down at my desk to put into verse something that is already clear in my mind. If it were clear in my mind, I should have no incentive or need to write about it… We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.”
C. Day Lewis, The Poetic Image, via Sunbeams (Page 15)

Beyond the Quote (385/365)

It starts out as a feeling. An inquisition. A hunch. A curiosity. A reoccurring thought. An observation. An idea. A single line of text.

It proceeds as an exploration into the unknown. A navigating of unclear roads. A charting of unexplored territory. An unraveling of knotted up mental yarn. A sorting through of an unorganized desk. As trains of thought.

“As soon as we associate reading a book with taking a test, we’ve missed the point.”
Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?

Beyond the Quote (Day 384)

Forcing yourself to learn is like trying to force the last of the ketchup out of the ketchup bottle. You can shake, squeeze, tap, and torture the bottle all you’d like, you simply won’t be able to get all of it out when in a rush. A lot of the ketchup will be stuck throughout the container and will only come out with time. This is why you flip the bottle upside down when you put it back away—so that gravity will move it down for the next time. Learning works the same way.

“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there “is” such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.”
Martin Luther King Jr.

Beyond the Quote (Day 383)

There is such a time as too late. Just as quickly as yesterday has already come and gone—so, too, will today soon fade away. Procrastination is a very real and deceitful combatant that is waging war on our most precious commodity—time. And if we continue to align with apathy and complacency—procrastination will surely win and leave us with nothing behind except a head full of ideas and regret.

“To confront a person with his own shadow is to show him his own light.”
Carl Jung, Sunbeams (Page 3)

Beyond the Quote (Day 382)

Like most, I can still vividly recall moments when I was caused a great deal of irritation, frustration, anger, and pain. Times when people didn’t follow through with their word, or when they would treat others unfairly, or when they did things that were irrational, nonsensical, or just plain malicious. And sometimes, those moments would get the best of me and cause an influx of negative, overpowering, blinding emotions. But what I didn’t realize then, that I can see more clearly now, is that the only reason I was able to see those shadows was because of my own light.

“The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.”
Abraham Lincoln, Sunbeams (Page 12)

Beyond the Quote (Day 381)

This is great news because it means you don’t have to have your whole life figured out right now. I think sometimes people forget that. The fear of not knowing how everything is going to play out in a year, five years, ten years, their lifetime—causes many people unnecessary anxiety and stress. And while it’s certainly beneficial to have a one year, five year, ten year, lifetime plan/ goal/ direction—it shouldn’t steal you away from what’s available to you now.

“Complexity is enemy of execution.”
Tony Robbins

Beyond the Quote (Day 380)

I have two bamboo plants. One in my living room and one in my kitchen. The one in my living room is dying. The one in my kitchen is thriving. Same bamboo. Same house. Same caregiver. Same fondness for both. The only difference is their location.

“The next message you need is always right where you are.”
Ram Dass, Sunbeams (Page 7)

Beyond the Quote (Day 379)

Did you read that right? The next message you need—not the next message you want. Most of us are pretty good at ignoring the messages we don’t want to hear. So much so that many of us, I suspect, become blind and deaf to their presence entirely. The problem, of course, is that those messages tends to be the very messages that we most need to hear. And how do we hear something that we’ve become deaf to? How can we see again the messages that we’ve become blind to? It’s actually quite simple really.

“Where there’s hardship, there’s ease.”
Quran

Beyond the Quote (Day 378)

At first glance, this statement seems like a contradiction. Where there’s hardship—tension, angst, and unease, seem to be the more appropriate pairings, wouldn’t you think? And while, yes, those tend to be the default feelings in response to hardship, they certainly aren’t the mandatory responses. In fact, there are no mandatory responses to any situation in life. It’s one of the few things that is actually 100% within our control—how we choose to respond to given situations. This becomes increasingly evident when you see someone masterfully navigate hard situations with ease and grace.

“Take long walks in stormy weather or through deep snow in the fields and woods, if you would keep your spirits up. Deal with brute nature. Be cold and hungry and weary.”
Henry David Thoreau, Sunbeams (Page 8)

Beyond the Quote (Day 377)

For when you are warm, satiated, and fresh again—you can truly be thankful. Hard to be truly thankful for warmth until you’ve felt cold. Hard to appreciate the satisfaction of a full stomach if your stomach never empties. Hard to understand the blessing of feeling fresh when sleeping in and lack of responsibility are your everyday norms. If you would like to keep your spirits up, it helps to remind your spirit of what’s below.

“You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.”
C. S. Lewis

Beyond the Quote (Day 376)

I might even take it one step further and say it is precisely when you stop setting goals and dreaming new dreams that you become old. Goals and dreams give direction. Direction gives reason and purpose for movement; progress; growth. Without direction, you become directionless; stagnant; immobile. Movement is the essence of life. Stagnation is the essence of death.

Would You Rip The Wings Off A Butterfly For An All-Expenses-Paid Vacation?

“For an all-expenses-paid, one-week vacation anywhere in the world, would you be willing to tear the wings off a beautiful butterfly? If so, would you be troubled enough to enjoy your trip any less? What about stepping on a cockroach? …Does a beautiful creature merit more compassion than an ugly one? If so, why? Do you injure yourself psychologically by destroying something you find beautiful? Is there a meaningful difference between pulling the wings off an insect and stepping on it? How much would it take to induce you to rip the wings off a hummingbird or dove?”
Gregory Stock, The Book of Questions

Beyond the Quote (Day 375)

I finished reading The Book of Questions in February of 2015 and for some reason, the above question is one that left a deep imprint on my mind. I noticed, especially as of late, that since I read it, for no obvious or connected reason, it has been randomly popping into my head—would I tear the wings off a butterfly for an all-expenses-paid vacation anywhere in the world? And every time, I work through the same answer I always do. But what strikes me is that, if I answer the same way every time, why then does it keep recurring?

“Of all people only those are at leisure who make time for philosophy, only they truly live. Not satisfied to merely keep good watch over their own days, they annex every age to their own. All the harvest of the past is added to their store. Only an ingrate would fail to see that these great architects of venerable thoughts were born for us and have designed a way of life for us.”
Seneca, via The Daily Stoic

Beyond the Quote (Day 373)

“Philosophia” is the Ancient Greek word for the “love of wisdom.” Wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment. It can be thought then, that those who make time for Philosophy are those who make time for better living. For, what is better living composed of but better experience, better knowledge, and better judgement?

“When there is no desire to satisfy yourself, there is no aggression or speed… Because there is no rush to achieve, you can afford to relax. Because you can afford to relax, you can afford to keep company with yourself, you can afford to make love with yourself, to be friends with yourself.”
Chögyam Trungpa, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, via Sunbeams (Page 3)

Beyond the Quote (Day 372)

If you feel like you can’t afford to relax, you should reevaluate what it is exactly that you’re trying to afford. Hustle culture has us working from the minute we get up until the minute we go to bed—and leaves many of us feeling like we STILL didn’t do enough. We stress about the things we didn’t finish, the things we have yet to start, and how we’re going to close the gap between where we are and where we want to be—so that we can finally… relax.

“One of the hardest things to do in life is to say ‘No.’ To invitations, to requests, to obligations, to the stuff that everyone else is doing. Even harder is saying no to certain time-consuming emotions: anger, excitement, distraction, obsession, lust. None of these impulses feels like a big deal by itself, but run amok, they become a commitment like anything else.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 11)

Beyond the Quote (Day 371)

How many time commitments do you have that you don’t even realize you have? I just recently started tracking my screen time on my iPhone and was shocked to see the results. Imagine if your mind had a “use-time” breakdown and showed you in a pie chart how much time you spent thinking about all of the things you think about every day. Would you be just as shocked as I was when I saw my screen time? I suspect even more so.

“Everything I do is in the gym so I’m always in gym clothes.”
Simone Biles

Beyond the Quote (Day 370)

Gymnasts perform some of the most incredible feats humanly possible. The ability to hold an iron cross; to twist multiple times through the air as they leap from a high bar to a low bar; to flip multiple times on floor routines and to watch them stick insane landings—they truly are some of the most impressive athletes in the world. And you better believe that every flip, twist, and landing is hard earned—never given.

“The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.”
Melody Beattie

Beyond the Quote (Day 369)

My goals for 2021:

1) On writing: Continue to write daily, but be more concise and deliberate in what I write. I’m limiting myself to a max of 3 paragraphs per reflection.