Journey (draft 2 of teaching philosopy by Bass)

Journey – Draft 2
(For My Students)
By Bass Mitchell

“The world is a book – and those who do not travel read only a page.”
-St. Augustine

“I soon learned that no journey carries me far unless,
as it extends into the world around us,
it goes an equal distance to the world within.”
-Lillian Smith

I’ll miss the sea, but a person needs new experiences.
They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow.
Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens.
The sleeper must awaken.
(Duke Leto Arteides to his son, Paul, in Frank Herbert’s, “Dune.”)

“Father… father, the sleeper has awakened!”
(Paul Arteides after he has made the journey to Dune)

Who are you?
You are a traveler. You were made to journey and be forever changed on it.
Since the very first moment you came into being,
You were made to grow, to explore, to discover, to dream, to be challenged, to learn of all that is without and to become all that it is in you to be.
You were created to journey to new lands, to new places and peoples, but also to those inner lands, to the depths of your heart, mind and soul.
You were made to stand firmly upon the earth, but also to look up to and reach for the stars.
From the moment you opened your eyes to see,
From the second you began to hear the sounds all about you,
From the moment you realized you had arms to stretch out,
From the second you reached out to hold the hand of a fellow traveler,
From the moment you began to crawl on your knees,
From the second you stood and began to step forward on wobbly legs,
From the moment you fell and scraped your knees and bruised your face,
From the second you got back up and tried again,
From the moment you found your voice,
That you could share what you were seeing, hearing, and discovering,
From the second you discovered within a mind with which to ponder it all,
That you could begin to make some sense of some of it,
From the moment you felt that thump, thump, thumping inside your chest,
That singing rhythm of your own unique being,
That you found also beating in some mysterious, joyful harmony with all hearts,
That you caught a glimpse of how your life might make a difference for other lives,
And until now and forever more,
You are a traveler. You were made for a journey.

Who am I?
I am a fellow traveler. I am on a journey, too.
I am still dreaming, exploring, being challenged, getting lost, learning about the world without and the world within.

I am an encourager of travelers.
I want to share with heart, hands, voice, spirit, mind and all my being with you,
that I might in some small way help you feel the joy and excitement of being on a journey.
I would have you discover in our time together the truth of these words, “Unexpected travel suggestions are dances lessons from God” (Kurt Vonnequt, Jr.)

I am a believer in you,
That there is a traveler within you
That you have a hunger, need and desire to make your life an adventurous journey
That even if you do not know the end or where you are on your journey, that you find the greatest joy is often the journey itself, not just arriving

I am a guide,
Having been perhaps longer on this journey than you,
Desiring that I might share some of the sites, insights, experiences and stories from my time on the trail,
Not that you must follow in my footsteps or travel to only those places I choose, but that you are able to forge and follow your own paths.
I do not know it all. Sometimes I have more questions than answers. Sometimes I struggle with the finding the right questions.
I am always seeking ways to become a better guide.
So I am excited to learn from what you are seeing and hearing and discovering on your journey.

Who are we?
We are fellow travelers. We are on a journey.
Our journey has brought us to this place, this time.
Our paths have crossed. For a time, we will travel together.
We are a band of pilgrims,
Seeking a new world,
making new discoveries, ones that we can make so much better together than ever alone.
For this time together we will explore, learn, question, challenge, dream, search, climb (and, yes, sometimes stumble and fall), but help one another back up and continue the journey.

How will we journey together?
Someone has said, “If you do not know where you are going, any road will lead you there.”
We will begin by coming together to talk about where we want to go, our destination.
I have my own destination hopes and dreams, of where I would hope to guide you. These are shared in the syllabus. But they are written in pencil, subject to revision as we talk, share, and journey to together.
Martin Buber said, “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler” (and I might add “the guide”) “are unaware.” Isn’t that a big part of the joy of the journey – you never know just where it might take you!
And I would remind us often also of the wise words of Henry Miller, “Our destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”

So it is that I will seek to get to know you, my fellow travelers.
Like programming a GPS, there is a place to text in where you want to go, and one for where you currently are, your location.
“Where are you on your journey?”
That is what I will always be asking and seeking to know (challenging you to ask it as well), realizing we are all at different places on our journey.

The routes we take, at least in the beginning, are shared in the syllabus.
But it, too, is written in pencil. It can and may well be altered as I learn more about where you are, where you wish and need to do, and gain greater insights into the routes to get us there.

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” Tim Cahill
So it is that collaboration rather than competition will be nurtured on this journey.
There will certainly be times when you are encouraged and need to sit by the path and be by yourself to study, to reflect, to process…
But there will be many times when we will travel together, sometimes with just another, sometimes in small groups, but always with a sense of journeying together.
Where I hope you arrive is learning the value of teamwork, of journeying with others in your professional and personal life.

“Half of the fun of travel is the esthetic of lostness” (Ray Bradbury). And Tolkien said it this way in his series, “The Lord of the Rings,” – “Not all those who wander are lost.”
Yes, you have permission to take some detours, to do some wandering.
A GPS determined route may be the straightest way to where you wish to go (or it may not). I have often found that it doesn’t follow the most scenic!
As Charles Kuralt said, “Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything!”
You can see from the syllabus that some of these scenic paths are already suggested for you (a variety of choices in how you wish to show what you are learning on this part of the journey – from doing a research paper, to creating your own website, to doing a travelogue, to making/showing your own film clips, and much more). But you may have ones to add to this and I am open to that.
Yes, you have the freedom and encouragement to take what you may think are more scenic routes and even make some wrong paths, to come to some dead ends in the process, for this, too, is part of the journey, and from it great things can be gained. I and your fellow companions on the journey will be there for you so that you do not get so lost you cannot find your way or you give up and decide to sit out the journey.

Yes, there will be ample times when we will stop for reflection.
Pacing and pausing are important for any journey.
We will pause to look back on where we’ve been, where we are, and perhaps make
some adjustments on where we wish to go and how best to get there.
We will also use this time and throughout the journey to keep an eye out for fellow travelers, that some are not getting left behind.

How will we know we have arrived at our destination?
It is my goal that we all arrive at our agreed upon destination.
In one sense, if you know where you are going, you have a pretty good measure then of determining your progress. Look around. Are you there?
A good guide really should so guide and work that no one is left behind.
This will also include getting feedback from me and each other about our journey, how we are doing, the progress we are making, so that opportunities for adjustments and do over’s and revisions and new thinking are given before some final grade or evaluation is made.

Yet, it is true that everyone travels at their own pace. Some may choose not to travel much at all or even to ever really join the journey. Much depends on your determination, discipline, a desire to make the journey, for a journey is not always an easy thing. It means going to new places, seeing new faces, getting away from the familiar, being stretched and challenged and made uncomfortable.

Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” To which I would add only if you are open to that, welcoming of change, real change within. As Twain also said, “No one likes change but a baby with a messy diaper!”

If some are unwilling, unable, or for whatever reason cannot make this part of the journey, it is a time for some real soul searching, not just for the student, but also for the guide. For to this guide, if any student gets lost or gives up, fails, then in some ways I feel I have failed as well. Hopefully we have taken enough rest stops to prevent this. But if it happens anyway, it is a time to examine why and how it might be prevented in the future by me, and what the traveler might gain from it for his or her continuing journey.

Where to next?
Whatever our destination in this time together, it is not the final one.
It is one of my greatest hopes and goals as a guide for you, my fellow travelers, to
design and learn to use your own MapQuest,
gaining insight into where you wish to go
and skill in plotting how best to get there,
always reaching out to fellow travelers for help and to give it,
not just for this time together
but even more so for your whole journey.

Mark Twain sums up much of what I have shared above when he wrote:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

In otherwise, dare to join us on this journey and enjoy every moment of it. You are a traveler. You were made for the journey. You can take it. You can make it. You will forever be changed. What adventures are ahead for you! And what an honor and privilege to share this part of it with you.