Given a society that values action rather than contemplation, how would implementing mindfulness into school curriculums alter the decisions of young adolescents affecting their habits and impacting their mental, physical and spiritual health?
Berger’s work A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas, prompts the reader to ask questions that are creative, innovative and actionable, thus leading to tangible outcomes. He defines a beautiful question as one that is “ambitious yet actionable … that can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something that might serve as a catalyst to bring about change”. (Berger 2) The aforementioned question was finalized by my own personal inspiration, its formation according to Berger’s stipulations, and the influence of two lecture speakers.
Foremost, this question was inspired by a chaos theory called the butterfly effect. The theory is the idea that two identical items can be on identical trajectories. However, a small shift (that would be considered insignificant) would result in two completely different outcomes; to the point that it would be unrecognizable that the two trajectories were once identical. This knowledge motivated me to ask how do the small aspects build the bigger picture that is our life. Are we all one small, seemingly insignificant, choice away from living a completely different life? We frequently ponder the big things such as where to go to college, but rarely the small things such as should I eat eggs this morning or should I drive/uber to work. This aspect of the question seeks to prompt the reader to think about, contemplate and implement methods to live more mindfully and intune with themselves. This intunement enables them to make decisions that are more beneficial for their lives.
Secondly, this question was inspired by the school system , as mindfulness is something that is taught and schools are sites of knowledge and education. However, Berger identifies that these sites are flawed. Questioning is punished instead of rewarded due to the relinquishing of power that must accompany questioning. (Berger 3) This question aims to prompt readers to contemplate how the education system is flawed in other aspects. For example, knowledge is prioritized to certain subjects. Math and science receive more notoriety and funding than other disciplines, such as music and art. This question aims to bring about change in the school system, forcing it be more holistic in its approach to educate young adolescents. It is creative and innovative in it’s subject material, as society values action rather than contemplation and it suggests prioritizing a differing discipline than the societal norm. It is actionable in its goal to increase mindfulness and inner contemplation by altering school curriculum and teaching methods, resulting in a tangible change in how young adolescents make decisions.
Two lecture speakers influenced and deepened my understanding of my beautiful question. One lecturer presented on the intersections between theatre and Berger’s ideals of a beautiful question. There is power and leadership in creative expression. Art mirrors reality. When your watching a play or a musical, for that duration of time you are no longer living everyday life but transfixed on the subject matter, causing you to think about reality differently. Due to this lecture, I was able to identify the correlation between creative expression and mindfulness. Through both creative expression and mindfulness, you are able to perceive and look at life through a different lense, impacting your thoughts and decisions.
The second professor presented on the intersections between astronomy & physics and Berger’s ideals of a beautiful question. He told an anecdote of one of his own students. This student majored in astrophysics but had a plethora of opportunities resulting in jobs across many fields throughout her career. He told this story to inform us that there isn’t one right way to do things, and that one seemingly fixed decision can result in many outcomes. He left us with the question, “Where is everybody”. I interpreted this question as, why isn’t everyone engaged with one another as they used to be? I came to the conclusion that it is due to external factors, such as social media, but can be alleviated through mindfulness.
Works Cited
Berger, Warren. A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas. New York: Bloomsbury, 2014.
