A SINGLE FLOWING FORCE

     No real music ever comes from my classroom, but there’s always the harmony of thoughts that seem to have the mysterious skill of appreciating and assisting each other. The thoughts my students and I think in a certain class period may show no superior wisdom – may, in fact, appear ordinary and undistinguished – but they always seem to mix and mingle in useful ways. They’re like the currents that carry rivers along, each one a separate stream yet each a part of the powerful river itself. I always sense this harmony in our thinking – this intermingling of thoughts into a thoroughly unified flow of intelligence. This may sound strange, even naïve and somewhat ridiculous, especially considering the differences among us as we sit in my classroom, but my years as a teacher have carried me to the conviction that thoughts – those supremely powerful forces of life – like to live together in agreement more than in argument. My students and I make countless thoughts in each of my classes, and under the surface of seeming confusion I sense an almost melodious stream of wisdom. I can almost hear it sometimes -- a musical movement of ideas that would rather flow together than fight. I sometimes sit back in my chair and listen as the thoughts of the students surge along in a discussion. It’s like sitting beside a stream and seeing, not various currents working against each other, but a single flowing force heading somewhere in harmony.