Act and reflect!

After all, that is the human condition

“Animals, which do not labour, live in a setting which they cannot transcend … [B]ut human activity consists of action and reflection: it is praxis, it is transformation of the world … Human activity is theory and practice; it is reflection and action.” Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970), p 98 (Penguin edition 2007)

There is no clearer statement for the need to engage in our world and to transform it through cycles of action and reflection.  Our young people need this capability and as adults we must model it for them and refrain from disengaging from this ongoing praxis ourselves.

By world, Freire is not referring simply to the physical world but also to the world we create in the self-world dialogue, which in turn further shapes the self. It is the world and our place in it that must be transformed through cycles of action and reflection.

Detail from Pedagogy of the Oppressed book cover

It is such a critical time where we are approaching real existential threats – climate change, nuclear war – where the only way out is for everyone to become more conscious, more able to transform our world, more resistant to the forces trying to make us apathetic and dependent.

It is young people who will bear the brunt of this struggle.  We must prepare them well to face it, to have the creativity, critical thinking and ability to collaborate that this work demands.

Education is the place to do this.

John Corrigan is an expert in helping individuals to bring their whole of mind to their daily life and increase their effectiveness and the effectiveness of those around them. This expertise scales from the individual to the team to the organisation. At the core of this work is the practice of encounter.  Earlier blogs can be found here.

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