More than we deserve
Walsh invites us to think about what “we deserve in life.” He expresses disbelief in his deserving Bach and acknowledges his failings. Regardless, he invites us to “express our gratitude for the undeserved gifts.”
Gratitude is a seminal attitude, a gift that releases tensions, pauses conflicts, creates calm, and invites us to “do our share of the work of creation.”
Walsh’s thoughts extend well beyond. Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry in their book, The Universe Story, state that “There is no necessity that there be a universe.” They recalled the universe’s precarious beginning: “When it was unfolding, it could not have happened too quickly, nor too slowly. Had the universe unfolded one trillionth of a second more slowly there would be no universe.”
Walsh invites us to see the gifts around us: “crocuses, or friends, or stars, or rivers, or wildlife, or dogwoods, or children” and do “our share” in offering our gifts.
Imagine teachers asking their students to sit silently. (Any of us for that matter to sit silently). After a few minutes, play the first movement of Bach’s Second Brandenburg either from a recording or, from a visual. (Google “Brandenburg” for options.) Sit in silence until the end. Listen. Make no judgments. Just listen.
When the moment seems right, a teacher can read Walsh’s commentary and invite students to respond. She will be inviting them to recognize wonders of human creativity. Teaching, after all, belongs to the work of creation. Our lives, too, belong to the work of creativity.
Given that “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward” (Kierkegaard), I write to bring ideas and methods from my life as a teacher in the latter half of the 20th century to help teachers and the public to “live forward” in this century. My latest book, “Teacher in the Rye: Doing It My Way” is available on Amazon. And I welcome comments here on my Blog or by email at frankthoms3@gmail.com.
