Lifespring Book Excerpt: Inquiry and Possiblities

The most relentless enemy to learning is what you already know. This is a pretty radical statement. For most of us, schooling focused on information, logic, and answers as the cornerstones of learning. Virtually every investigation or inquiry was undertaken to arrive at a concrete conclusion and to expand our reservoirs of factual knowledge. Accuracy and style of presentation were the keys to success. In contrast, the Lifespring trainings open another avenue for learning. They are inquiries which provide opportunities to explore what is invisible in most education settings: how you think; why you see the world the way you do; what your predetermined assumptions about life are how your interpretations determine your identity, your behavior, and your accomplishments. We don't offer you answers or techniques, give you assignments, or test you on your recall. We engage you in a uniquely thought-provoking and stimulating journey into new territory.

The work we do at Lifespring is not about what you know, being right about you know, acquiring more knowledge, providing answers, or acquiring on-the-job skills; it's not about filling in the blanks of what you know you don't know. This work is about uncovering new possibilities--expanding the opportunities available to you by allowing you to think and act in innovative ways. This work is about what you don't know you don't know.

"Possible" means being within the limits of ability, capacity, or realization; what may be done or may occur according to nature, custom, or manners; something that may or may not occur. Possibility, then, isn't some cosmic fantasy, hope, or wish.

It takes the conditions of a specific time and place in history to open up new possibilities. Space travel is a good example. Would flying to the moon have been possible for prehistoric human beings? No. Given their interpretation of the world, the possibility of space travel was not yet opened. Obviously the technology was not available, but more importantly, prehistoric human beings had no vision of or concern for getting to the moon. As we define it, possibility is grounded in temporal reality.

Possibilities are distinct from options; a possibility is something that doesn't exist, but could be invented, while options already exist. Lifespring's effectiveness is based on our ability to open up new possibilities through inquiry and invention rather than merely proposing answers or presenting finite opinions.

Although, by definition, what is possible is bound by the limits of what already is, we are less likely to be available to possibilities if we are searching for specific, absolute answers. There are no obvious or absolute answers to the complex questions of life. The conversation that engages you in questioning is one that allows for possibility and creativity. Inquiry for the sake of contemplation, however, is not the destination of our journey; it is merely the vehicle that will help transport us. Contemplation alone does not generate action. You must harness your insights and consciously apply them to your practices in order to manifest what you say you want.