Sitting on Memstone

In between where I slept and ate for three years lay a happy place. Memstone was a memorial on which you could sit and look out over light and distance towards the mountains. Behind you was Devil's Peak, with the ivy covered residences on either side. It was an open skyed cathedral that made everything ok. Well... when exams and stresses didn't mean you just strode by tummy newly filled or rumbling.

I am busy reading Warren Berger's 'A More Beautiful Question' in which he looks at the art of questioning and tries to find a way to bring our inner three year old back to life. At the heart of asking questions is observation. Comedians look at people going about their lives. They are always looking for material and so they observe.  An Artist may look at the way the light falls a little longer, or concentrate when introduced to someone because the angle of their nose is interesting. An innovative business person may always be looking at how things are done and thinking how they can be done better. 

I don't think it is that we don't want to be creative or that we forget the things or people we love. For the most part I think we stop 'sitting on memstone' because there is something that has our attention. It is not that this thing, whatever it is, is not important - it is just that sometimes we stop looking at other things. We stop observing. The three year old still hasn't had to decide what they are. Maybe a policeman, a fireman or Batman.  Perhaps as computers and artificial intelligence free us up we will never decide what we are. The question will always be open and so we will always be looking. Education will cease to be about what you will be. It will be about how you will be. Part of that will be always looking for a more beautiful question.