On Teaching: "Largeness of Mind"

One of my goals as a teacher is to help my students realize how large their minds are. It’s a big job, because I’m sure they all feel, as probably most of us do, that their minds are the opposite of large – not just small, but tiny. They probably picture their minds as wee blobs inside their skulls – miniature factories that struggle all day to push out answers to questions and solutions to problems. They probably feel utterly insecure as they attempt to keep their little brain-workshops manufacturing ideas during class. It’s a shame, because I believe they are missing a wonderful truth about their minds, and all minds. They think their minds are small, but the truth is their minds are actually part of a mind that has no end. They think their thoughts come from a miniscule lump of flesh inside their skulls, when in reality they come from the vast universe itself. One way I can help them to understand this mysterious fact is by repeatedly asking them, “Where did that thought come from?” When they give a brilliant answer, which they often do, I can subtly cajole them into inquiring whether such a marvelous idea could have come from a tiny chunk of flesh inside their heads. Perhaps in this way, I can slowly help them to glimpse the grandness of the thinking process and the vastness of the phenomenon called intelligence. Perhaps I can lead them to the beginning realization that their thoughts (about 50,000 each day!) come from a larger place than they have ever imagined, and that they dwell in, and are a part of, that place.