“He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.”
~Albert Einstein
~Albert Einstein
If you had to choose, who would you say is more capable of novel ideas, the novice or the expert? Would you be surprised to learn that it is the novice, not confined by what is known, who is more likely to generate new and unusual concepts and solutions?
I spent the weekend with my young friend for whom nearly everything holds wonder and whose imagination knows no bounds. Today, I watched the fresh faces of so many young students walk through the door for the first day of school. I was reminded of the concept of the beginner’s mind.
When we’re young and so much of the world is new to us, we are open to considering new information, practicing new skills and taking risks. As we mature, relying too much on our expertise or experience may interfere with our ability to consider new possibilities—to see a challenge or an issue from a new point of view.
How does your need to already know get in the way of new discoveries you might make? What challenge or project might benefit from the wonder of the novice?
We are lucky because in our profession we get to witness the novices coming up with the novel ideas on a regular basis. They really help me see things from a different perspective and I apprecitate their imagination. I am really in awe of some of the things these young people come up with...their new discoveries. I might think I already know it all, but they always let me know directly or indirectly that I don't! Every challenge or project would benefit from the wonder of a novice or even a different perspective...someone that is a novice to that situation.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is one of my favorite things about teaching that regularly I am surprised by the insights of young people. I love to be made to think in a way that had not yet occurred to me--to understand something better with the help of a child! It is a good exercise to have to reconsider (also on a regular basis) what it is you truly know.
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