Originally posted: March 13th, 2007

Reflection upon re-reading and re-posting:

Until now I have been adding my reflection at the end of these re-posts. However, I thought with this post it should come first. Why? Because it is important that I share the date of the original post before quoting other bloggers who were expressing views/moods they may not currently hold.

Of all my posts, this one really seems forward thinking and, well, prophetic. We truly are ‘heading map-less into new, and uncharted territory’. And we really can ‘be the change we want to see in the world’. This can be an exciting time to be an educator… we must remember that even when things are challenging!

– – –

It has been eerie. Unsettling.
I’ve been restless. Dissatisfied.
… and I don’t think that I am alone.

Wesley Fryer is scaring people with Karl Fisch’s presentation “Did You Know” remixed by Scott Mcleod

“Shock and awe” may not be the best formula for conversations and learning. Maybe I need to craft and share a more basic, simple message, and avoid overwhelming people with too many scary statistics and ideas.”

Will Richardson is ‘Stuck’.

“There’s nothing new here, really. I know. What’s new for me at least is that if feels like my lens for all of this is changing. And that’s why I’m stuck as to what to write about here. My learning and classroom learning look very different. I will never enter another physical classroom as a “student” again, and that’s by choice. That physical space just doesn’t cut it. And schools are all about physical space. And control. And content.”

Kelly Christopherson feels stuck too.

“Really, we, as educators, live in a world of dichotomy – where one part of our world is moving so quickly it takes our breath away while the other side hardly seems to move at all. There we are, stuck in the middle trying to somehow bring these two together. Some people are doing a fantastic job while others are so overwhelmed that they stick with what they know, which, we are finding, doesn’t fit with our present students which is causing some serious problems.”

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach sees schools with more walls than windows. (Read this!)

“Let’s Rethink It
Order and discipline in a time of tremendous social change in the 19th Century. Well, It is the 21st Century and once again it is time for social reformers to rethink the reasons and ways we are educating our young.”

Tangled in the web I find Stephanie Sandifer, who thinks Action Plans are Overdue. She points me back to Sheryl and Will (whom I had already read), as well as Miguel Guhlin, who in turn writes about Sheryl’s post.

Miguel’s post (overall) is more upbeat… yet this paragraph sticks with me,

“At the risk of sounding cynical, here’s a quick response on Saturday morning: Schools fail miserably about instilling democracy in our children…voting, democracy education are distractions from the REAL curriculum schools teach from and about. Democratic values are also antithetical to our schools since they are restrictive, controlled environments…they are top-down controlled, in the “strict father frame” that George Lakoff describes that tolerates no back-talk, no discussion, no questioning. Socrates would not only be drinking Hemlock, he’d be…well, you can only execute someone once.”

Miguel’s optimism comes later when he says, “…let their voices, that of the learners, ring throughout our schools, voices that speak of relevance, authenticity, and human connections…in ways that cannot be denied.”

This sounds like my friend Dave Sands who says ‘it is students who will change education’. But it isn’t coming fast enough, there are too many ‘walls’ denying our students, too many flame snuffers.

This isn’t new. I’ve been here before.
From my first post:

“In a hundred years or so, everyone now alive in the whole earth will be dead – is this not so?”… “It would therefore be possible for the human race to run its affairs quite differently, in a wise and benevolent fashion, in a relatively short time.”

…”And so?”

“The purpose of education,” said Wizard Prang, “is to make sure this doesn’t happen.” …”The purpose of a system is what it does.”

To my first collection of other posts, where I found so many people writing and talking about how schools don’t fit kids: Square Peg, Round Hole… Time and again I am finding myself in these lulls of impatience, frustration and dissatisfaction.

– – – – –

But it is all making sense to me now.
Well, that might be overstating things… but I have found some clarity.
Have you heard of The Celestine Prophecy?

book cover

Well now I give you, ‘The Web2.0 Prophecy’
My little mock-up of the Celestine Prophecy cover

What spurred this comparison on? My thinking can jump around quite a bit, it went something like this:
We are reaching a group consciousness around ‘where we are’ compared to ‘where we should be’ with the use of technology and schools… ‘reaching a group consciousness’ reminds me of the 100th Monkey Effect… actually, this is like a web version of the Age of Aquarius… which reminds me… what were the ‘9 Ideas’ or ‘Agreements’ I read about in The Celestine Prophecy about 10-12 years ago?… No wait, they weren’t Ideas or Agreements, they were… (Google search the book)… ‘Insights’! …(reading) …Wow, I can really see some parallels here!

So, here is my comparison. I will box in the text about the Celestine Prophecy Insights from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Celestine_Prophecy, Monday Dec. 12, 2007 – I’m just realizing that a date is essential when quoting a changeable text). I will then put my slant on how ‘”WE” are progressing through the insights in relation to the ‘WEb’


The Web2.0 Prophecy

THE FIRST INSIGHT . . . A CRITICAL MASS A new spiritual awakening is occurring in human culture, an awakening brought about by a critical mass of individuals who experience their lives as a spiritual unfolding, a journey in which we are led forward by mysterious coincidences.

A New Web Awakening

Thank you to Alan November, Stephen Downes, Will Richardson, David Warlick and others, for leading the way and helping to awaken us.

– – –

THE SECOND INSIGHT . . . THE LONGER NOW This awakening represents the creation of a new, more complete world view, which replaces a five-hundred-year-old preoccupation with secular survival and comfort. While this technological preoccupation was an important step, our awakening to life’s coincidences is opening us up to the real purpose of human life on this planet, and the real nature of our universe.
The awakening to a whole new era.
Thomas Friedman paved the way in print,

World is Flat by Thomas Friedman

and Karl Fisch added his multimedia presentations.
(2020 Vision – A thought provoking look at the future – 15:45)

– – –

THE THIRD INSIGHT . . . A MATTER OF ENERGY We now experience that we live not in a material universe, but in a universe of dynamic energy. Everything extant is a field of sacred energy that we can sense and intuit. Moreover, we humans can project our energy by focusing our attention in the desired direction…where attention goes, energy flows…influencing other energy systems and increasing the pace of coincidences in our lives.
We = Energy
Time Magazine tells us that WE are
Time’s Person/People of the Year.
Time Magazine Cover

Professor Michael Wesch shows US that WE are the power of the web.

– – –

THE FOURTH INSIGHT . . . THE STRUGGLE FOR POWER Too often humans cut themselves off from the greater source of this energy and so feel weak and insecure. To gain energy we tend to manipulate or force others to give us attention and thus energy. When we successfully dominate others in this way, we feel more powerful, but they are left weakened and often fight back. Competition for scarce, human energy is the cause of all conflict between people.

The Struggle for Power: Elitist -vs- Ubiquitous

On the one hand we have Four Eyed Monsters’ video

“Humanity Lobotomy”: Net Neutrality Open Source Documentary

and on the other, $100 Laptops.

– – –

THE FIFTH INSIGHT . . . THE MESSAGE OF THE MYSTICS Insecurity and violence ends when we experience an inner connection with divine energy within, a connection described by mystics of all traditions. A sense of lightness–buoyancy–along with the constant sensation of love are measures of this connection. If these measures are present, the connection is real. If not, it is only pretended.

Web Mavens rather than Mystics

We have the pioneers: Vicki A. Davis has soared, so has Darren Kuropatwa.

We see the potential!
(I had a glimpse.)

– – –

THE SIXTH INSIGHT . . . CLEARING THE PAST The more we stay connected, the more we are acutely aware of those times when we lose connection, usually when we are under stress. In these times, we can see our own particular way of stealing energy from others. Once our manipulations are brought to personal awareness, our connection becomes more constant and we can discover our own growth path in life, and our spiritual mission–the personal way we can contribute to the world.

We are Connected

Personal (public) blogs (with others commenting) rather than personal (private) diaries.
MySpace, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Explode.us, Flickr, YouTube, and personal
connections as described in A Story About a Tree.

– – –

THE SEVENTH INSIGHT . . . ENGAGING THE FLOW Knowing our personal mission further enhances the flow of mysterious coincidences as we are guided toward our destinies. First we have a question; then dreams, daydreams, and intuitions lead us towards the answers, which usually are synchronistically provided by the wisdom of another human being.

THIS IS WHERE WE ARE STUCK!

On the bright side:

We have the Creative Commons;

Creative Commons License

We used to only dream of flying,

Second Life - Zok Flying

and;

We see the potential for providing wisdom to others.

Wikispaces

But we seem to have impediments to our dreams; challenges and limitations that stall our dreams.

All the quotes at the start of this post belong here… they are symptomatic of how (not why) we are not collectively moving forward. This isn’t about blame or excuses, rather it is about recognizing that things are not necessarily FLOWing as well as they could.

– – –

THE EIGHTH INSIGHT . . . THE INTERPERSONAL ETHIC We can increase the frequency of guiding coincidences by uplifting every person that comes into our lives. Care must be taken not to lose our inner connection in romantic relationships. Uplifting others is especially effective in groups where each member can feel energy of all the others. With children it is extremely important for their early security and growth. By seeing the beauty in every face, we lift others into their wisest self, and increase the chances of hearing a synchronistic message.

THIS IS WHERE WE NEED TO BE NOW!

We need our ‘guiding coincidences’ to be ones that are nurturing and powerful.

We need to collaborate, empower one another, and see potential rather than roadblocks. This is important for our children/our students, but it is equally important for us. Our ‘synchronistic message’ can’t be “impatience, frustration and dissatisfaction” as I mentioned earlier.

Our message must be uplifting. But an uplifting message isn’t enough!

We need financial support, visionary leaders, moral compasses, inspiring role models, enriching professional development, and meaningful collaboration. We also need minimally restricted content and unlimited access… these are all building blocks that ‘increase the frequency of guiding coincidences’… these are the things that inspire us, fuel us, connect us, and allow us to see the potential in ourselves and each other. We truly can ‘Be the change we want to see in the world.’

– – –

THE NINTH INSIGHT . . . THE EMERGING CULTURE As we all evolve toward the best completion of our spiritual missions, the technological means of survival will be fully automated as humans focus instead on synchronistic growth. Such growth will move humans into higher energy states, ultimately transforming our bodies into spiritual form and uniting this dimension of existence with the after-life dimension, ending the cycle of birth and death.

Web3.0 or Web3D

Gary Hayes has some ideas about where are we going next.

This is both a scary and an exciting time… but mostly it’s exciting

Reading what I have said regarding the Seventh and Eighth Insights, I am keenly aware that some of us are not ‘stuck’, and that some of us are experiencing those ‘guiding coincidences’ where everything is coming together. However, I think currently this is the exception rather than the norm

My question to you is this: When we are stuck, when things aren’t coming together, when our universe is not unfolding as it should, how do we make things FLOW?

I ask this since we are heading map-less into new, and uncharted territory.

6 comments on “The Web2.0 Prophecy: An Adventure

  1. Excellent article with overviews of so many important things. Did you write this yesterday!? 😉 Guess you are a prophet. So, tell us, what’s next? (Maybe a grassroots effort of teachers to help promote the effective use of these tools!?)

  2. I resonate with many of these ideas, but disagree that “we don’t have a map.” I think educational theorists like Dewey, Freire, Holt and others wrote “a map” for us years ago. Progressive education has been misunderstood and misapplied in many cases. Digital technologies offer the opportunity to blend learning in transformative ways, and the information glut highlights our dire need for new skill sets alongside traditional ones. Our need to be critical thinkers and media literate is really not new. Many skills touted as part of “the new literacies” or “new methods of teaching” have actually been around quite awhile. In some cases, they look new because of their digital face, or their potential digital face.

    One risk which is presented by using the term “prophesy” is that some people might mistakenly think the changes we are discussing here (and in many cases hoping for) are inevitable. While on a macro scale, taking a longer view, we probably will see many changes inevitable (like 1:1 learning) at a micro level and in the shorter term, the advancement of this learning revolution and vision will be highly dependent on the actions of local leaders.

    Nice synthesis of ideas here. Beware the dangers inherent in prophesy, however. Historically prophets were never popular people. The torches and pitchforks tend to come out when the voice of the prophet is amplified with noticeable volume.

  3. I just heard about the web 2.0. I am well aware of the dangers of being a prophet but I don’t care. I’m too old to be afraid.

    The old testament prophets were not fortune tellers. They paid attention to what was going on around them that others were ignoring and tried to tell them what was likely to happen if they continued to be purposefully ignorant.

    And yes, when the disasters they predicted happened they were blamed. The common wisdom must have been ‘How else could he have known about it?’

    As I understand web 2.0 it is a way we can be connected without the domination of corporate america. It has not yet been stolen as were newspapers and radio.

    As long as we allow the ruling class to intimidate us we can never be free. We must have the means to communicate with each other.

    Am I correct?

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