Once,
In 1974
My shrink
Told me I was
Too metaphorical.
Why didn't he tell me
To write poetry instead?
I'm gradually finding some peace in the conclusion that life is just plain metaphorical - or at least mine undoubtedly is. These days, a "New Age" paradigm known as the Gaia Hypothesis views the entire planet Earth as a living metaphor of sorts; which leads to my idea that each of us is then free to create, more or less, our own life-metaphors within that grand context, limited ultimately by our own imagination. Of course, practically speaking, we are all shaped by myriad influences such as inherited traits, parental and societal molding, and the political and demographic realities which have a great deal to do with which roads are taken and which are not, to borrow Robert Frost's meaphor from his famous poem. And so, what real value can what we call education (from the Latin word educare, meaning to lead out) have if it is anything less than a process whereby we each arrive at the fullest expression of ourselves for the limited time that we have on the good earth (106)?"
"...Don't our lives end up following the scripts that we - with plenty of help from our friends - have written for ourselves? While the never-ending debates over human dilemma/questions like "nature vs. nuture" and "free will vs. determinism" rage on, I have decided to throw in my lot with the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois of Six Nations) people of upstate New York, who have managed to hang onto small corners of their ancestral lands and thereby preserve a majority of their cultural traditions. They simply choose to refer to the idea of God, or Creator, of the Universe as, "The Great Mystery," and leave it at that . It saves a lot of arguing, without suppressing any of the wonder, which is why I like the notion so much (107)".
Giving Children space to invent their own Metaphors
"the intent at the freeschool is to allow each child ample time and space to invent, tear down, and experiment with metaphors of their own making... My wishes regarding students' plans of action (or lack therof) and their own ideas don't always intersect all that well. It's a dance ever day. In the end, I would say I practice non-interference more often than not, falling back during troubling moments on my ultimate faith that kids generally know themselves and their true needs better than I do. After a child has been in our school long enough for me to get to know him or her pretty well, I try to begin practicing a "technique" I once learned from nationally-known Oneida Nation author an teacher Paula Underwood Spencer. She calls it "new eyes," which simply means that every day teachers should try to look at their students as though seeing them for the first time.... Practicing "new eyes" is not nearly so easy as it sounds. But, if one begins to look at life as essentially metaphorical and at education as the fulfillment of possibilities, then one can readily see how the impact on children, when adults fixate and stifle them with pre-determined notions about who they are, goes far deeper than the scores on standardized achievement tests. This sobering realization always reminds me to exercise my "new eyes" as often as possible (108)."