Kim Hermanson's Blog, page 8

Play takes us beyond the bounds of what our minds think is reasonable

Perhaps the reason why creativity is given short shrift in academia is because it has a light, playful energy, rather than the heavy, dense energy of facts, charts, research….and heavy books that have been sitting in dusty corners of the library for a hundred years.

I got my Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and I love research. There’s definitely a time and place for weighing ourselves down with information.

But once in a while, we need to step out of what is known into what we don’t know.  And for that, we need play.

Play is effective because it takes us beyond the bounds of what our minds think is reasonable.

An attitude of play will engage your curiosity and allow you to create in the moment..

It’s impossible to learn if we already believe we know.

The ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus said, “It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.”

When you know something in your mind to be true, is there open space in your mind for another view? Not likely. When we’re certain that we “know,” we’re at risk of trouble, because we now have something static rather than something that’s fluid.

Certainty is a closed loop.

What we need to do is find a way to-know-and-not-know at the same time–hold what we know in one hand and hold the other hand open. We are fully aware of all the expertise and information we’ve acquired, but we’re not letting it close our minds to other possibilities. We are holding one hand open to other ways of knowing, other things that we can’t come up with on our own.

Keith Haring said, “If there is no mystery, there is only propaganda.” We need mystery for the expansion of our knowing to happen.

How to heal with metaphor (the secret language of your brain). New article on Tiny Buddha

“Metaphor, the language of the right hemisphere, is a language that seeks intimacy with the world…. it FEELS its way.  It’s how we receive higher knowing…. it’s how Spirit, the Divine, higher consciousness (or whatever you call that realm of higher wisdom) speaks to us.”

“Consciously or not, metaphor is how we learn, grow, and heal.”

Click here to read my new article on the power of metaphor in Tiny Buddha:  https://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-to-heal-through-metaphor-tap-into-the-secret-language-of-your-brain/

Principles of Getting Messy

Principles of Getting Messy:

Teaching and learning are courageous. They take us into unknown places with unknown outcomes.Being a learner (letting yourself get messy) is what encourages creative insight to happen.There’s always possibility under the surface. It’s just that you need a certain way of looking to see it.

From Getting Messy: A Guide to Taking Risks and Opening the Imagination for Teachers, Trainers, Coaches and Mentors by Kim Hermanson

 

We humans are blessed with the ability to imagine a world beyond the ordinary

Albert Einstein said that imagination is the “highest form of research.”

The Australian animal pathologist William Ian Beardmore Beveridge (1908-2006), said that facts and ideas are “dead in themselves. It is the imagination that gives them life.”

We humans are blessed with the ability to imagine a world beyond the ordinary. Let’s make good use of this gift.

Tapping creative powers that are only accessible when we move beyond our thinking

In my book Deep Knowing: Entering the Realm of Non-Ordinary Intelligence, I demonstrate how to tap divine wisdom and creative powers that are only accessible when we move beyond the linear mind. 

Creative power is Godlike. When we’re on fire, nothing can stop us.

Can a boulder block a stream? No. The stream is going to go somewhere whether the boulder is there or not. A boulder can’t stop it. The Deep Creative is the power of that stream and it’s possible for us to harness it. 

Because our culture has been so highly focused on knowing and perceiving through the left hemisphere, we’ve dismissed the extraordinary powers of our right cerebral hemisphere. The language of the right hemisphere is metaphor and engaging with it in a deep way will shift your state of being, align you with your own deep knowing, and hook you up to an incredible realm of divine wisdom. This intelligent realm knows what you need for your whole life to change. 

For more on the power of metaphor and deep knowing, check out Deep Knowing.

The next step of human intelligence is love.

During the final hearing for my Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Chicago, my advisor, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi pulled me aside and whispered to me: “NEVER use the word heart in a job talk.”

My Ph.D. dissertation was on how adults learn in everyday life and I’d mentioned the heart too many times. Mihaly could tell I was making the stodgy professors on my committee uncomfortable.

At the time I felt he was criticizing me. But looking back so many years later, I understand that Mihaly was speaking from his own experience. He was trying to protect me from the derision he’d experienced at the U of Chicago. (He soon left the U of C for greater academic freedom at Montclair Graduate School in California.)  

I believe it’s becoming more obvious that the heart is the source of our greatest intelligence. And scientists’ research on the “heart field” is beginning to prove it.

“To ancient cultures, the heart was a sophisticated organ capable of both perception and a unique form of analytical thought,”  said Stephen Harrod Buhner in his book, Ensouling Language 

“Love is the next step of intelligence,” said  Hazrat Inayat Khan. While Mozart said, “Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.”  ​

And Nishida Kitaro, one of the most significant and influential Japanese philosophers of the 20th century stated, “Love is the power by which we grasp the ultimate reality. Love is the deepest knowledge of things.”  

Check out my full article here:

https://www.kimhermanson.com/2022/02/01/love-is-the-soul-of-genius-and-revolution/

We’re the most human when we’re being creative.

Creativity allows us to prioritize the present moment over our thinking.

We’re the most human when we’re being creative.  And when we give something–a project, a seminar, a relationship, a dilemma–space, the next right action naturally presents itself.

After I finished my Ph.D., I moved to the wilderness… of northwest Montana

After I finished my Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, I tried very hard to do what I was ‘supposed’ to do—interview for an academic teaching position at some sort of prestigious university. But I couldn’t do it. Instead, I moved to the wilderness of northwest Montana. Here’s what happened instead:

I developed self-reliance. In the city, my go-to response was to get the nearest person to help. But here in this remote area, there were no neighbors to be called when emergencies happened.I developed a wide skill set. In rural and remote areas, by necessity, you become a generalist. I did things I never would have done had I remained in the city.I developed openness.  In the city, I held staunch beliefs about issues such as the need for gun control. Living in the country, I developed a deeper and more fleshed-out understanding of diverse viewsI developed leadership skills. In the city, civic organizations can feel large and intimidating. In a rural setting, everyone pitches in.I developed passion for different things.I discovered the freedom of identity.

Check out my full story on Tiny Buddha: “Our Creative Genius Shows Us Possibilities the Rational Mind Can’t See” : 

https://tinybuddha.com/blog/feeling-stuck-and-unhappy-your-rational-mind-doesnt-have-all-the-answers/

Certain metaphors for change are present in all cultures.

There are certain metaphors for change and transformation occur over and over again in the world’s literature. 

They are:

Transitioning from caterpillar to butterflyAwakening from the dream of realityUncovering the veils of illusionMoving from captivity to liberationPurification by inner fireGoing from darkness to lightMoving from fragmentation into wholenessJourneying toward a visionReturning to the sourceDying and being rebornUnfolding the tree of our life

If you want to check out my article on universal metaphors for change:

https://www.kimhermanson.com/2017/10/22/11-universal-metaphors-for-change-that-are-present-in-all-cultures/