Leif Erik Fossheim
Curiosity. Discovery. Wonderment. Analysis. Creativity. Vision. Education. Invention. Innovation. My opinion is such that the disciplines of logic and creativity - science and art - meld in a balanced individual. Population consisting of enlightened people such as these would lead to a conscious, deep-thinking society and healthily-governed planet. In the past, scientists and craftsmen were as much immersed in the creative worlds of art and spirituality as they were in the precise machinations of scientific method. I think in the coming age, where digitized creativity and ideas can rapidly take on substance and form, is the era that the humanity as a whole will have the chance to reach the potential of a truly enlightened beast. In this regard, I hold the art-scientists and polymaths most dear to my own path. Walking an adventurous life by diving into discovery and exploring the countless wonders the universe has to offer. It has become too common for the elite expert to rule by pieces and not by whole. Relying on disassembling, narrowly focused perspectives and knowledge sets. Though this has allowed us to take apart the clock to understand how it works, it does not tell us the impact of time. The whole picture is sometimes over-looked. Often, this narrow, reduction-centric, state-of-mind accompanied often by specialized career paths can lead to mental confinement and restricted imagination. There needs to be a balance, an equilibriium, a yin and yang to knowledge and understanding. Reductionism must marry Holism to find Clarity and Truth. Fellows such as Tesla, Da Vinci, Fourier, Michelangelo, Galileo, Su Song, Archimedes, Mendel, Fuller, and Escher embodied this. They provide the model for leaders and idols for an enlightened humanity. The path of science and design, of learning and then making, is a playful game. One meant to be danced along in awe and vision rather than stoically stomped along in determined destination. I am glad that I live on the cusp of that. Globalization, education, understanding, co-existence. Sustainability, Climate-Smart, Knowledge-Driven, Mindful, Balanced, Mother Earth and her Children. Perhaps the Mayans were right to prophesy the end of an Age for Humanity. An age that would sputter and burn, moan and die, leaving difficult tests only succumbed by cooperation and positivity. From the ashes of struggle, surpassing the peaks of challenges left by that former Age would rise a Golden Age rise. Perhaps they were right... But in that Old Age, the Age we live in now, albeit the the tail end, the tests have started. If one were to view the world as a system of cogs and gears, then the machinations are rumbling now. Humanity in their path has set something a kilter. The tests are coming to a close. Climate-change, Carbon-based Energy, Population Rise, Resource Scarcity, Pollution, Despeciation, Desertification, Terrorism, Greed. Perhaps this noisy unbalance originates from the same cerebral cellar space as Aristotle's Scala Natura, the ladder of life, with its arrogant hierarchy placing man atop the mound. Yet, we are of the Earth, not conqueror, stabbing flag down in victory. Living in the East for the last decade has concentrated my view of living harmoniously with Nature, as an integral part of it, not considering it a only a resource to use and abuse. There is a cycle here. Evolving for billions of years. Unbalance it and the system will adjust to eliminate that variable. That is unless Mankind can reach Equilibrium and ride the wave to Coexistence, and the People may walk that path of progress and make shiny, Man, like a dewdrop gem on the Web of Life. Recognition. Opportunity. Actualization. Integration. Synergy. Holism. Symbiosis. Evolution. Future.
Science. Afterschool Science. Rooftop Garden.