I’m nearing the end of my first course at BC—and it has truly been one of the most transformative learning experiences of my life. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by this fact, given that the subject of our learning is, in fact, transformative learning…

As we near the end of the course, we are moving away from some of the theoretical and foundational concepts and shifting towards discussing some of the practical implications of what transformative learning means for us, both as educators and as learners. And I find that in this regard, I’m not necessarily learning anything new, just re-learning old lessons at deeper levels.

One such lesson being re-learned is an insight I gained from my freshmen Old Testament class with Marv Wilson, who said that in order to be a good learner, we must balance humility and confidence. Through humility, we recognize that we have something to learn, and through confidence, we recognize that we are able to learn it. In one of our recent class readings Parker Palmer, quickly becoming one of my knew heroes, offers his own insights related to this idea:

If we are to open space for knowing, we must be alert to our fear of not knowing and to our fearful tendency to fill the learning space. First, we must see that not knowing is simply the first step toward truth, that the anxiety created by our ignorance class not for instant answers but for an adventure into the unknown. If we can affirm the search for truth as a continually uncertain journey, we may find the courage to keep the space open rather than packing it with pretense. Second, we must remember that we not only seek truth but that truth seeks us as well. When we become obsessed with our own seeking, we fill the space with methods and hypotheses and reports that may be mere diversions. But when we understand that truth is constantly seeking us, we have reason to open a space in which truth might find us out. (To Know As We Are Known, 72).