Liam loves his new science class at Urban Homeschoolers. In his Natural Science class last week, Mr. Guest took the class out onto the play-yard and recited the 100 letter word from Finnegans Wake that signaled the beginning of creation. The students all crushed together into a singularity, exploded into a universe and collapsed back into a singularity by the end of the word. Liam liked the word so much, I had Mr. Guest record it. Later, Liam animated the expansion and contraction of the word-as-universe over Mr. Guest's recitation.
It took Liam only seconds to assemble the images and to animate them. As he was saving the file, I saw dozens of recent creations listed - explorations of different effects and subjects, all with incredibly descriptive and creative titles. Liam loves language and languages, but he samples them, like he samples images and recombines them - using them in unexpected ways. The workings of a singular mind.
There is a lot of lip-service paid to the idea of "thinking outside the box," while at the same time trying to get the very minds that are wired to do that, to conform to a predictable "box." By allowing Liam to follow his passions, however different they may be from the box that we know, his mind is exploding with ideas.
I recently saw a comparison between the structure of the human brain to the structure of the known universe. Beautifully similar, aren't they? Both are complex and can only be grasped by readjusting your expectations of what's possible. We may never understand it fully, but we'll see far more by widening our lens and letting in more light than by a narrow focus on the expected.
Every day, Liam's singular mind explodes anew. Or, in the "word" of James Joyce, "Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk!"
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| This image and an interesting article about studies showing how the universe functions like a brain can be found here: http://themindunleashed.org/2013/07/physicists-find-evidence-that-universe.html |
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