It was probably the January semester, 1989 that I took a Rural Extension course on Leadership, at the University of Guelph, when I met Professor Al Laozon. He was my first prof to have us call him by his first name. The first prof to have us sit in a circle, despite there being about 24-26 of us in the class. He listened as much as he talked. And he quickly became a friend.
Al had us read The Tao of Leadership, which to this day is still one of my favourite books, and one that I call my ‘Leadership Bible’.
And while his class was one of my more memorable courses at university, it was his office hours chats that I most enjoy and remember. They were filled with insights and wisdom, but also with the things friends talk about, like our childhoods and stories of family members.
Yesterday I wrote a post about my struggles with going through the motions of my healthy living routines with low energy and effort. It helps me to share these things ‘out loud’ and I was able to push my workout harder than I have in weeks as a result. But another benefit of sharing is getting insights from readers, and Al was kind enough to share a comment. With respect to mediation I said,
“I’ve missed more meditations in the last 6 weeks than I’ve missed for the rest of the year. When I do meditate, it’s more like I am am having a quiet moment to think about random things. I can’t seem to focus on my breath any more than I could when I started my daily meditation routine almost 3 years ago.”
And to this Al said,
“Our routines, like life in general, ebbs and flows of its own accord. Be patient. I have had a meditation practise since 1991 and some days are good and other days, well the monkeys are running amok in the “store” despite my desire for them to quiet themselves. Somedays you just go with it.“
I also said, about listening to audiobooks,
“I’m an avid audio book listener, and I usually get through almost a book a week unless I am reading something that’s really long, then it could be two weeks. But I just took three weeks to listen to a 5-hour long book, and didn’t feel I got as much out of it as I had hoped.” And later added, “I’ll start a fictional novel even though I usually wait for the holidays to choose a book that I’m not learning from.”
To which Al commented,
“As for reading fiction, there is much to be learned from fiction. As I have often said, novelists often have more insight into humans and their behaviour than do the best of social scientists. Do not deprive yourself of that which can offer insight, nor dismiss it as simple entertainment or distraction. The arts offer much in terms of insights into our collective journey. After all, there is no greater means of learning than a good story, be it true or fabrication. I recently wrote elsewhere that science offers us knowledge, but the arts offer us truth. I will take truth any day over knowledge.”
All these years later, and miles apart, but Al is still my teacher, advisor, and wise friend, sharing insights I need to hear.
Usually I only ‘let myself’ read fiction on holiday breaks. But I’ve been drawn a lot more to fiction in the last couple years. It started a couple Christmas breaks ago when I received some free ebooks from Audible and I listened to a science fiction novel and got hooked into an epic series. Then I listened to a couple books that I never would have selected for myself, just because they were free… and I loved them. But reading fiction outside the holidays always came with a little self-imposed guilt.
Not anymore. Al’s words have given me permission to indulge guilt free. I will choose more fiction. Let me know if you have a favourite you’d like to share.
“Science offers us knowledge, but the arts offer us truth. I will take truth any day over knowledge.” ~ Al Lauzon
David, your discussion of fiction reminded me of an interview between Stan Grant and Dan Haesler where at the end of the conversation they talk about the power of reading, thinking and questioning when it comes to leadership. This is about going beyond one’s own world view and challenging your perceptions. I think that fiction is a powerful way of doing this.
As Ursula K. Le Guin touches on in her introduction to The Left Hand of Darkness:
“In reading a novel, any novel, we have to know perfectly well that the whole thing is nonsense, and then, while reading, believe every word of it. Finally, when we’re done with it, we may find – if it’s a good novel – that we’re a bit different from what we were before we read it, that we have changed a little, as if by having met a new face, crossed a street we never crossed before. But it’s very hard to say just what we learned, how we were changed.”
Ursula K. Le Guin https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness/MDveDQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
Two pieces of fiction that have left me wondering lately have been Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future. Both capture a world from many different perspectives vastly different from my own.
David, your discussion of fiction reminded me of an interview between Stan Grant and Dan Haesler where at the end of the conversation they talk about the power of reading, thinking and questioning when it comes to leadership. This is about going beyond one’s own world view and challenging your perceptions. I think that fiction is a powerful way of doing this.
As Ursula K. Le Guin touches on in her introduction to The Left Hand of Darkness:
https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/Blogger-Peer-Review/quotebacks@1/quoteback.js
Two pieces of fiction that have left me wondering lately have been Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future. Both capture a world from many different perspectives vastly different from my own.
Really appreciate the links you share Aaron, thank you.
Love this: “we may find – if it’s a good novel – that we’re a bit different from what we were before we read it, that we have changed a little.”
A little part of us ‘lives’ the words we read.
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Could not agree with Al more. I enjoy non fiction as well as fiction and most often find myself reading non fiction not directly related to my work. I believe – and maybe it’s rationalization I feed myself – there is much to learn from non-school related non- fiction that still improves my understanding and know I can later apply it to work…or not.
I absolutely agree David! About 90% of my non-fiction is not directly related to teaching and learning, or schools, but I’m always drawing connections to my work. I find this enriching and rewarding.