teaching to learn

“Thus, to learn is the same as to teach unless you are not teaching what you are learning; in which case you have done you/them little good.”

~ Ra Material: Law of One (Book One), p74

My favorite college professor was Dr. Carlton Brett. The man would have given Albert Einstein a run for his money in a look-alike contest. His cinder-block lined office was half the size it should have been due to the floor-to-ceiling stacks of Geology journals and photocopies pouring from every crevice, and the variety of museum-quality fossils-turned-bookends only added to the charm. He would have made an excellent Harry Potter extra.

His lectures were jam-packed, and sometimes even included those rocks-for-jocks types who managed to roll out of bed before noon. The man was passionate about teaching, and equally so about the new students coming in as well as his returning students brimming with fresh ideas.

Carl’s field trips were legendary. Not only did I manage to fill an entire lab notebook in one week about the igneous rocks of upstate New York, I got tipsy on a swing set with him and a group of other students, talking about anything *but* rocks before crashing in our tents.

Good times, good times.

My point?

Right, my point…

The man is a fantastic teacher. He remains to this day an avid field researcher, and he shares his joy with every one of his students. Two months after tossing back a glass of champagne with his graduates, he took a two-person boat across the Gulf of Maine to the Shoals Marine Lab where my friend Mike and I were finishing up our field course for our degree in July 1997. He just wanted to say hello.

The man lives and breathes *life*.

I may not know what the heck I’m doing with regards to writing… or family… or spirituality… but the least I can do is share my journey — my mistakes and my discoveries — so someone else can benefit from my own educational experience.

If we’re not teaching, are we really open to learning?

Press Release: George Rieveschl Award for Distinguished Scientific Research for 2010: Carlton E. Brett

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