"Tell me a fact and I’ll
learn. Tell me a truth and I’ll believe.
But tell me a story and it
will live in my heart forever."
I have had
an inspiring (and tiring) few days.
We have just
held our ISSR event – “Cracking Earth 2015:
Building Sustainability Research with Foundations”. With 23 Plymouth University speakers, 16
external speakers, 21 exhibition stands and about 240 delegates, the event was
a fantastic success with most importantly – lots of good conversation and
connections.
There were a
whole host of things that I found interesting, informative and useful – too
many to mention here. However, looking
back, for me, it was the stories, poems, pictures, jokes, anecdotes and quotes
that I found inspiring and it is these that stick in my head.
This got me
thinking.
In my
previous blogs, I have included a short story that influenced my thinking –
“The Blind men and the elephant” – December 2011, a collection of quotes that
have influenced my thinking (from Winnie the Pooh to Aristotle) (Jan 2014) and also poetry, quotes, metaphors and artwork that communicate sustainability to me (Sept 2014).
This also
got me thinking – what do other people find inspiring and would they be happy
to share this with others? Hence, on
the back of this blog, in the next few months, we will be launching a call
about Sharing Inspiration for a Cracking Earth.
The call will be open to staff, students in the first instance and external
partners who are connected to the ISSR.
It will not be an academic call for papers but rather a call for
Inspiration. Have you ever been to an
“American supper” or “potluck supper” as it is sometime called, this is how I
would like it to work, i.e. you bring your own inspiring story, anecdote, joke
etc and share it with other peoples inspiring stories.
Inspiring
short stories, quotes, poetry, jokes, anecdotes, metaphors, artwork, anything
really – just aspects that inspire you and may also help to inspire others
around aspects of sustainability.
Depending on the response we get, we would like to share this
inspiration far and wide. If you would
like, we would also like you to explain in less than 150 words, what this means
to you. Although you can also submit
items to be printed anonymously as well. This doesn’t have to be life changing
inspiration, just something that makes you think!
For example,
a colleague recently recommended that I read the book, “The Alchemist” by Paulo
Coelho. I really enjoyed the book and it
is a short story from the book that I recently found inspiring:
The
Secret of Happiness – an extract from – “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho
“A certain
shopkeeper sent his son to learn about the secret of happiness from the wisest
man in the world.
The lad
wandered through the desert for forty days, and finally came upon a beautiful
castle, high atop a mountain. It was there that the wise man lived.
Rather than
finding a saintly man though, our hero, on entering the main room of the
castle, saw a hive of activity: tradesmen came and went, people were conversing
in the corners, a small orchestra was playing soft music, and there was a table
covered with platters of the most delicious food in that part of the world.
The wise man
conversed with everyone, and the boy had to wait for two hours before it was
his turn to be given the man’s attention. The wise man listened attentively to
the boy’s explanation of why he had come, but told him that he didn’t have time
just then to explain the secret of happiness.
He suggested
that the boy look around the palace and return in two hours. “Meanwhile I want
to ask you to do something,” said the wise man, handing the boy a teaspoon that
held two drops of oil. ‘As you wander around, carry this spoon with you without
allowing the oil to spill.”
The boy
began climbing and descending the many stairways of the palace, keeping his
eyes fixed on the spoon. After two hours, he returned to the room where the
wise man was. “Well,” asked the wise man, “did you see the Persian tapestries
that are hanging in my dining hall? Did you see the garden that it took the
master gardener ten years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in
my library?”
The boy was
embarrassed, and confessed that he had observed nothing. His only concern had
been not to spill the oil that the wise man had entrusted to him.
“Then go
back and observe the marvels of my world,” said the wise man.
Relieved,
the boy picked up the spoon and returned to his exploration of the palace, this
time observing all of the works of art on the ceilings and the walls. He saw
the gardens, the mountains all around him, the beauty of the flowers, and the
tasted with which everything had been selected. Upon returning to the wise man,
he related in detail everything he had seen.
“But where
are the drops of oil I entrusted to you?” asked the wise man. Looking down at
the spoon he held, the boy saw that the oil was gone.
“Well, there
is only one piece of advice I can give you.” said the wisest of wise men. “The
secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget
the drops of oil on the spoon”
Cracking
Earth: What this means to me
This story
reminds me of the two meanings of Cracking Earth. For me, I am definitely more like the first
time the boy went around the palace.
Focussing on an earth that is cracking, falling apart and the
responsibility of finding solutions. Unfortunately, this sometimes means that I
forget that we live in a cracking earth. The story shows me that as well as focusing on
the task of finding solutions, it is also important to enjoy the natural beauty
of our cracking earth and to have a cracking time whilst we are here.
 |
| Dr Paul Hardman |
Dr Paul
Hardman
Manager of the Institute for Sustainability Solutions Research (ISSR)
ps – if you can’t wait for the call to be launched, please feel free to email me with your inspiration – paul.hardman@plymouth.ac.uk
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