In order to escape the technological addiction that has mystified the 21st century, it is not enough to take smartphones, laptops, and video streaming services away. They must be replaced with something better. Something deeper. Something more satisfying.

In this blog, I will put forward one compelling alternative to digital saturation. It isn’t the only alternative, nor is it a sufficient one. But it is necessary. Here I have in mind cultivating the intellectual life. By this I mean the world of story and imagination. Thoughts and ideas. Concepts and principles. The life of the mind. 

The Road to Recovery

Sadly, like some prehistoric species, the intellectual life is all but extinct in some minds. I don’t mean this in a condemning sense. It is merely a diagnosis. We have become so acquainted to consuming that the idea of cultivating the intellect sounds incredulous. At best, it sounds boring. Why think when one can switch to auto-pilot?

In theory, people are first taught to cultivate an intellectual life in school. Or are they? For most of us, school was a pragmatic transaction from day one. First-graders may be six, but they are not dull. Their social acumen is developed enough to pick up on what matters in the classroom. The usual suspects include grades, prizes, and teacher-approval. 

Imagine, however, if the first day of school was an orientation to cultivating the life of the mind. No talk of a syllabus, grade criteria, or course objectives. Instead, the teacher begins by comparing one’s mind to a garden. Gardens don’t pop into existence weed-free and fruit-bearing. They must be tended, weeded, watered, and cultivated. As does the mind. The intentional teacher, dedicated to her craft, inspires her students to cultivate an Eden in order to discover that the labor is its own reward.

People coming from schools who implement traditionally modern methods to motivate learning may struggle to cultivate the intellectual life at first. “What will I get out of it?”, “This is boring”, and “I would rather do something else” are all common reactions. But if one can move beyond these initial obstructions, there is hope for recovering interest in intellectual matters. It will take time and effort, but it is possible.

The Importance of Self-Feeding

Once the intellectual life is conceived, it requires self-feeding for sustenance. This is the brilliant insight of educator Charlotte Mason. She insisted that the life of the mind will die if it remains dependent upon the sustenance of others. This is because the mind is like an organism, a living thing that needs to take care of itself. A nascent organism that depends on other organisms will be parasitical at best and fizzle out at worst. It is up to each individual to cultivate the life of the mind through feeding it regularly.

How does one feed the intellect?

This may sound surprising to some but reading, generally speaking, is not the precise answer. There are two reasons for this. First, not all books nourish the mind in the same way. Tech addiction is one major obstruction for cultivating the intellectual life and another is a diet of shallow books. Stories that are morally vacuous, sensationalistic, and stylistically weak fall into this category. These books won’t nourish the intellect any more than a sugar-glazed donut will nourish the physical body (even if it tastes good).

Good books must be chosen for self-feeding and, subsequently, they must be chewed upon. This is the second reason that reading is not, generally speaking, a sufficient path to the self-nourished intellectual life. Our minds need to act upon that which has been read. They need to do something with the knowledge that has been encountered. How often do we read something, probably too quickly, and try to recall it later with no success? We never gave our minds time to assimilate, or digest, that which has been encountered.

For Charlotte Mason, narration is the ideal way for students to assimilate knowledge. Give children the opportunity to narrate the text without looking back, after a single-reading, and the process for self-feeding begins. The mind comes alive as it processes in real-time what it ingested moments ago. The ideas of the text become part of the mind of the student. 

Making Time for Quiet

To cultivate the intellectual life , one must first recover and nourish it. Then one must sustain it intentionally. 17th century polymath Blaise Pascal famously wrote, “All of man’s problems stem from his inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Pascal’s observation is more than relevant for us today as we inhabit this present age of distraction. Technology is one contributing factor for incessant distraction, as I have already suggested.

Another factor is that most of us live in suburbs or cities. We are surrounded by people, pets, activities, stores, restaurants, and things to do. It is very difficult to find a place that is quiet and unoccupied. Professionally speaking, our work may not be physically laborious, but it mentally exhausting. And more often than not, our personal lives provide no respite. We are constantly on the go, bumping into people and things like electrons.

The solution to such mental crowdedness in order to sustain the mind is to carve out space for solitude. To be sure, minds can be nourished in social settings. Engaging thought-provoking questions, spirited debate, and penetrating discussion are all worthwhile intellectual activities. But the mind also needs time alone with no immediate distractions. It needs time to slow down, process, and reflect. It needs time to be alone.

Of course, this is easier said than done. Most of us begin feeling antsy after sitting still with no distraction for more than a few minutes. Our minds grow nervous, eager for something new to seize our attention. In reality, however, what the mind needs, even if it doesn’t realize it, is space to think. Perhaps surprisingly, making time for the mind to work brings unexpected rest.

The Benefit of Such a Life

Despite what has been written thus far, some readers may continue to struggle to see the value of the intellectual life. “What benefits will it bring?” they will wonder. “How will this support my personal advancement?” 

Questions like these miss the mark. To be sure, there is productive value in the intellectual life. I have already alluded to some examples. The nourished intellect, on average, will be more resilient than one that has been depleted. It will be more efficient in work settings. It will more effectively grapple with everyday problems. 

But here lies the paradox. The real benefit of the intellectual life is the joy of learning. One in pursuit of a nourished intellect for the sake of external benefits will eventually fizzle out. The work will grow too difficult and the benefits will no longer be perceived as worth it. Joy must accompany the process for the intellectual life to remain viable.

The good news, though, is that there is grace. As humans, we often begin our pursuit of good things for wrong, or imperfect, reasons. But amidst these mixed motivations, God can use these moments to transform us. He graciously conforms us to His image, revealing to us the goodness of Himself and the eternal reward of life with Him. When it comes to cultivating the life of the mind, we pray for God to reveal truth to us through the Holy Spirit and shape our affections to desire it and Him more and more.

Conclusion

As the apostle Paul writes in his closing remarks to the Philippians:

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you (Phil. 4: 8-9 ESV).

Amidst the busyness we all face in the modern world, may we make time for the intellectual life, reflecting on what is true, honorable, lovely, and just. Ultimately, as we engage in such reflection, may our minds turn to Him who is the manifestation of all these, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word who became flesh.

Recommended Reading:

Mind to Mind: An Essay Towards a Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason and Karen Glass

Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal’s Pense’es by Blaise Pascal and Peter Kreeft

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

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When I think of leadership, my mind goes directly to Theodore Roosevelt’s famous quote:

“It is not the critic who counts…The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly … who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt, “Citizen in a Republic,” 1910

However leadership is to be understood in terms of traits, it is manifested in Roosevelt’s image of “daring greatly.” Leadership is bold. It is messy. Leadership takes calculated risks, which leads to both glowing victories and temporary setbacks. In a phrase, leadership requires courage. And yet, paradoxically, despite what has just been said, courage entails vulnerability.

Like all organizations, schools are made up of leaders. Teachers are the leaders of their classrooms. Administrators are leaders of their divisions. And board members are the overseeing leaders of the school. These various examples of school leaders prompt a thoughtful and prudent understanding of educational leadership, which I hope to persuade readers should include courage and curiosity.

The Curious Leader

Over the past few years, Dr. Brené Brown has led the way in emphasizing courage as the paramount trait of leadership. Brown, a social work research professor at the University of Houston, defines a leader as “anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential” (Dare to Lead, 4). She goes on to explain that, according to her research, the courage she speaks of is not a static trait. Instead, it is a collection of skills that can be taught, observed, and measured. These skills include embracing vulnerability, living out values, risking trust, and overcoming failure.

Brown is right to point out that leadership is fundamentally about people and processes. As leadership expert John Maxwell quipped, “He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.” But what I appreciate most about Brown’s definition is that she emphasizes the reality that leadership requires “finding.” Finding what? The potential in people and processes. This emphasis on “finding” is striking. It reveals that leadership exists in an ongoing state of not knowing…of continuous searching in order to find. This searching process requires a key trait that all educators do value: curiosity. 

Courage and Vulnerability

As a social work expert, Dr. Brown’s research is centered on human beings, and in particular, the way human beings interact with one another. She rose to prominence in 2011 when her TedTalk “The Power of Vulnerability” went viral on YouTube. It currently boasts nearly 13 million views and is one of the top five most watched TedTalks online. 

According to Brown, vulnerability is the most accurate measuring tool of courage. It is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change. Before I explain why, let me acknowledge that the name Brené Brown and the topic of vulnerability both tend to have a polarizing effect on people. From what I’ve discovered, people either love what she has to say and find her insights into personal growth and leadership brilliant. For others, she is yet another proponent of a secular ideology, but with a social worker’s twist. 

Let me suggest that Brown’s emphasis on vulnerability offers educational leaders, and Christian educational leaders in particular, some valuable insights into the human condition, even if these insights need to be shored up with biblical theology. (Note: for a thoughtful analysis of Brown’s work from a Christian perspective, I commend this article, which translates some of her secular terminology into more familiar Christian language.)

So what is vulnerability and why does Brown insist it is the key measuring tool for courage? 

Vulnerability is “…the emotion we experience during times of uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure” (19). It is therefore present in nearly every worthwhile decision leaders make. Whenever a leader puts his neck out there and declares, “Let’s go that way!”, he places himself in a potentially vulnerable situation. There is credence to the pioneer adage “You can always tell a leader by the arrows in his back.” Courageous leaders step out into the unknown, take calculated risks, and force themselves to endure emotionally turbulent, pressure-filled circumstances.

The Courage to Rumble

In her book Dare to Lead, Brown disposes of a number of myths about vulnerability, the chief one being that vulnerability is tantamount to emotional weakness. According to her qualitative research, which in part consists of interviewing hundreds of senior leaders, no one has yet to give an example of courage without vulnerability. Circumstances that require courage are those in which a person is in some state of uncertainty, risk, or emotional exposure. In one memorable interview with a soldier, the young man acknowledged, “I can’t think of a single act of courage that doesn’t require managing massive vulnerability” (23). 

So then, how does a courageous leader respond to vulnerability? Rather than flee or downplay feelings of uncertainty or emotional exposure, Brown advises leaders to rumble with it. Brown defines rumbling as follows:

“A rumble is a discussion, conversation, or meeting defined by a commitment to lean into vulnerability, to stay curious and generous, to stick with the messy middle of problem identification and solving, to take a break and circle back when necessary, to be fearless in owning our parts, and…to listen with the same passion with which we want to be heard” (10).

This resolve to rumble, for Brown, is the key to becoming courageous. And I assure you, it occurs everyday in schools everywhere. Teachers rumble when they respond to student misbehavior with the desire to shepherd rather than merely punish. Parents rumble when they refuse to assume the worst about a teacher but instead seek first to understand. And administrators rumble when they debate challenging issues in which a clear path forward is not immediately evident.

Where is Courage to be Found?

Brown’s understanding of courage as a collection of skills employed in moments of vulnerability is framed in a quintessentially modern sort of way. It is explained in psychological and sociological terms with an emphasis on self-awareness and authenticity. As a result, you might be wondering how her understanding of courage squares with the way it was understood in the classical tradition. In antiquity, for example, courage is listed among the virtues as a moral attribute of excellence. It was demonstrated most notably in wartime when a soldier would fight the enemy, refusing to abandon his post. Courage, as a virtue, was reserved for moments when one may very well have to choose between life and death.

Or was it? Even in the Greco-Roman tradition, things are not always as simple as they may seem. In Plato’s Laches, for instance, Socrates directly contests the notion that courage is reserved for exclusively wartime scenarios. As he engages in conversation with Laches, an Athenian general, the question is raised whether courage necessitates its typical martial, glorious manifestations. After Laches suggests that courage is remaining at one’s post as the enemy approaches, Socrates disagrees. He responds that some situations actually call for courageous retreat (Laches, 191a). If Socrates is right, then sometimes true courage calls for standing down rather than up. This feels strangely Brené Brown-ish in some ways insofar as retreat requires some sense of feeling vulnerable yet responding to it with confident rumbling.

As the dialogue proceeds, Laches, not to be easily outdone (does he know who he’s up against?), offers a second definition of courage: the wise endurance of the soul. But again, Socrates provides an example to contradict this definition, demonstrating that sometimes courage can be the foolish endurance of the soul. At this point, Nicias, a fellow Athenian general, jumps in, suggesting that courage is the knowledge of the grounds of fear and hope (196d). And although this definition may be preferable to Laches’, it, too, is problematic. For it implies a myopic focus on the future, when courage itself is not quite so limiting. Courage, after all, takes into account not only what is to be feared or hoped for in some future state, but also what has happened in the past and what is happening in the present.

I will spare readers the remainder of the exchange, but suffice it to say, characteristic of a socratic dialogue, the group does not settle on a definition of courage. And yet, paradoxically, Laches and Nicias both seem to demonstrate the courage to admit they are wrong by the end of the dialogue.

For those who criticize Brown for her reconceptualization of courage in terms of modern sociology and emotional vocabulary, I respond that she may not actually be that far afield. True, it is not how the ancients spoke, but her analysis of vulnerability and the connections she makes to courage seem to be getting at something true about the human condition nonetheless. To act courageously, one must be experiencing some degree of uncertainty or fear; otherwise, why the need for courage? And although Brown’s writing may be geared toward “first-world problems” they are problems nonetheless.

Moreover, it is worth noting that courage, if it is anything, is complex. We should therefore expect modern research of the social sciences to glean new insights about it. Courage, however, we want to define it, comes in all shapes and sizes. It is not reserved for only wartime scenarios, as Socrates and his friends agreed, but instead can be found wherever humans can be found, schools included.

The Call for Curiosity

So what of curiosity? I have written at length about courage but where does curiosity come in? Remember, for Brown, rumbling with vulnerability is the fundamental skill of courage building and, overtime, leads to grounded confidence. Brown writes,

“In tough conversations, hard meetings, and emotionally charged decision-making, leaders need the grounded confidence to stay tethered to their values, respond rather than react emotionally, and operate from self-awareness, not self-protection” (168).

It is in moments like these that courage kicks in. But curiosity must as well. This is because rumbling with vulnerability is a skill that must be learned and practiced. And one only seeks to learn if they are curious. So Brown here isn’t thinking of curiosity in its typical intellectual sense. Instead, she has in mind the sort of curiosity that remains calm about present ignorance due to a hopeful resolve to experience a fresh encounter with knowledge. Curiosity is the feeling of deprivation we experience when we identify and focus on a gap in our understanding. The more we know, the more we want to know. In this way, curiosity propels leaders to move past fears of failure, judgment, or looking foolish, and, instead, lead their teams toward trust, openness, and collaboration.

Brown actually references the latest learning science as she thinks about curiosity and growing in the skill of rumbling with vulnerability. Like any skill, rumbling takes practice. It is not easy to learn but easy learning does not build strong skills. Referencing the NeuroLeadership Institute, she makes the point that effective learning needs to be effortful. The brain needs to feel some discomfort when it’s learning–this is the concept of desirable difficulty (170). 

Therefore, each leader must develop, through practice, the ability to remain courageous in vulnerable moments. Brown writes, “Building the grounded confidence to rumble with vulnerability and discomfort rather than armoring up, running away, shutting down, or tapping out, completely prepares you for living into your values, building trust, and learning to rise” (166). 

She goes on:

“We’re scared to have hard conversations because we can’t control the path or outcome, and we start coming out of our skin when we don’t get to resolution fast enough. It’s as if we’d rather have a bad solution that leads to action than stay in the uncertainty of problem identification” (171).

Remaining at peace in states of uncertainty is a core principle for Brown and a key reason why curiosity is both an act of vulnerability and courage. Curiosity is content without certainty and knowing all the answers. It is not concerned with saying the right thing or knowing ahead of time how people will react. Instead it remains focused on rumbling with vulnerability, embracing the unknown, and pursuing further knowledge in order to lead most effectively.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, school leaders need courage and curiosity in order to engage in the important work of finding the potential in the people they lead and the processes they oversee. It takes courage to develop this potential through mining for conflict and leaning into vulnerable situations. Likewise, it takes curiosity to embrace uncertainty along the road to knowledge and understanding. Schools thrive when its people thrive and people thrive when they feel a sense of belonging, connection, and shared values. May school leaders rise to Dr. Brown’s challenge to lead courageously and remain “in the area,” trusting in God as their rock and foundation at all times.

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Along the way, I was impressed by the unity of thought among the Educational Renaissance writers, as well as the presence of quite a few memorable maxims in the midst of all that dense (or playful) educational theory and practice.

A maxim is usually defined as a short pithy statement that expresses a general truth or rule of conduct. Since many of you have joined the Educational Renaissance community in late 2019, I thought a review of some of the most memorable maxims of 2019 might inspire you to read through old articles to find something of value for your educational work as you enter 2020. Now admittedly, some of these “maxims” are pithier than others, and I had a lot of high quality contenders with 29 articles to date, so it was very hard to decide on the best ones. I’ve put them in order of the sequence in which they were published.

But before our list of maxims we have a few announcements to share with the community as we close out the year.

End of 2019 Announcements

As a team we reviewed our work since August in a meeting last week and one of the things we were most proud of was keeping our commitment to produce a quality new article every week. With the demands of teaching and administration and our standards for quality, this was no easy feat, even with the three of us now laboring away together. Our goal has been to publish every Saturday morning to give you a consistent source of inspiration every weekend to prepare you for the next week of educational work. If you aren’t receiving our weekly updates, be sure to sign up for that through our pop up form.

For 2020 we’ve got a lot of exciting plots and plans for promoting a rebirth of ancient wisdom about education in the modern era. For instance, Patrick is working on a new eBook on implementing habit training in the classroom. This will be a great pairing with Jason’s very successful eBook on implementing narration. Likewise, Jason plans on turning his Flow of Thought series into an eBook and continuing to write and share more on narration through other venues, and either through revising the narration eBook or turning it into a full length treatment of the practice. Kolby’s still thinking through options for a longer work and connecting with venues. Lastly, earlier this month we had our first podcast recording session and had a blast recording together a long discussion on the idea of an educational renaissance and a short discussion of Aristotle on excellence. We don’t plan to launch the podcast for some time, but stay tuned for more announcements about that in the coming months.

Please let us know of any exciting ideas or suggestions you have for Educational Renaissance as a community member. We’d love to work toward building more of a community around our unique message of ancient wisdom for the modern era. If you haven’t followed our page on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, take a moment to do that, and share articles and resources you really like through social media; it really helps us get the word out. And now without further ado…

20 Memorable Maxims from 2019

1. Like “the air we breathe” the culture and curriculum of a school can either endorse the beauty and dignity of self-mastery, or subtly undercut it through neglect and cynicism.

-From Educating for Self-Control, Part 1: A Lost Christian Virtue

2. The classical tradition made virtue the main goal of education and let the chips fall where they may on less important matters.

-From Educating for Self-Control, Part 2: The Link Between Attention and Willpower

3. We want a sense of satisfaction and great mastery to propel students to see that hard work can be meaningful and satisfying rather than an obstacle to a trivial reward.

-From Overcoming Procrastination

4. Freedom and obedience are not dichotomous, but flow from each other.

-From Authority and Obedience in the Classroom: Reading Charlotte Mason’s Philosophy of Education

5. The customs and culture of a school or home are not a neutral factor in a child’s education, if moral excellence is our goal.

-From Excellence Comes by Habit: Aristotle on Moral Virtue

6. Knowledge of God is not just first in sequence, but first in rank of importance.

-From Easier Than You Think, Yet Harder Than You Think: Teaching the Bible to Children

7. The training of the mind through the classical liberal arts and sciences is thus the antidote to the natural disorder of the mind.

-From The Flow of Thought, Part 1: Training the Attention for Happiness’ Sake

8. Starting a new chapter is an excellent time to take stock of your core principles.

-From New to School: 5 Principles for Starting the Year Well

9. Only after developing due reverence for a child’s existence-as-person, can we then properly ascertain methods for her education.

-From Educating Future Culture Makers

10. A strong pedagogy trains students to become independent learners as they engage in deliberate practice rather than simply fact-crammers for an upcoming test. 

-From Strategic Instruction: Optimizing Classroom Instruction for Small and Large Classes

11. Too many classroom “learning activities” focus too much on what the teacher is doing as entertainer, while students sit back passively.

-From The Flow of Thought, Part 3: Narration as Flow

12. There is no standardized test for faithfulness. Faithfulness is a quality that is measured in time spent being obedient to a calling.

-From Liberating Education from the Success Syndrome

13. Of course, the highest intellectual motive is that of curiosity, which should be aroused and cultivated in any way possible.

-From Attention, Then and Now: The Science of Focus Before and After Charlotte Mason’s Time

14. But we must not forget, as Luther cautions us here, that the greatest asset of any society is not its physical infrastructures or technological developments, but the minds, hearts, and souls of its members.

-From Why Luther Believed Christians Should Study the Liberal Arts

15. Habit training as a spiritual exercise enables us to live in Christ, to have Christ as our habitude.

-From Christ Our Habitation: A Consideration of Spiritual Habit Training in Education

16. Thinking along the lines of the liberal arts is more like a mental game than a utilitarian bid for power, money or success.

-From The Flow of Thought, Part 4: The Liberal Arts as Mental Games

17. When we apply ourselves to deep and meaningful work, getting in the flow and cultivating valuable skills along the way, a certain lasting joy and fulfillment is the result throughout the process.

-From In Search of Happiness, Part 1: The Road of Virtue

18. Meaningful, complex and important work requires the kind of attention that can cut through distraction.

-From Habit Formation: You, Your Plastic Mind, and Your Internet

19. The move of turning conversation into a learnable skill puts it back in the realm of education, where it ought to have stayed.

-From The Flow of Thought, Part 5: The Play of Words

20. The behaviorist can with consistency treat children as mere animals to be poked and prodded with carrots and sticks, but the Christian must lead souls and inspire hearts.

-From Marketing, Manipulations, and True Classroom Leadership

Hope you enjoyed these memorable maxims! Let us know which is your favorite in the comments, and be sure to share quotes and articles with your friends and colleagues.

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