WHAT ARE YOU LIKE ON THE INSIDE?

WHAT ARE YOU LIKE ON THE INSIDE?

James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.
© December 17, 2008

“Either we have an immortal soul, or we have not. If we have not, we are beasts; the first and wisest of beasts it may be; but still beasts. We only differ in degree and not in kind; just as the elephant differs from the slug. But by the concession of the materialists, we are not of the same kind as beasts; and this also we say from our own consciousness. Therefore, methinks, it must be the possession of a soul within us that makes the difference.”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 – 1834), English poet and critic



A WRITER WRITES:

Hello Jim,

The Wizard of Oz parodied our cultural need for external verification and validation. As oft watched or read as that story has been, we still don't get the end.

My education was interrupted by lack of funds (and probably interest) and resumed after I had been working for seven or eight years and began to rise in management ranks. (How embarrassing, I hope there are no pictures of me on the company ladder.)

To my amazement, I felt learning was so much easier. It turned out, it wasn't learning but earning grades that was much easier. I mentioned this to one of the professors with whom I had developed a good rapport. Sort of complaining about spending so much money to get a degree while rehashing things I had already learned in the field. True to academia, he pointed out that the degree would legitimize my experience. Ten years later and deja vu in an MBA program.

A long path to make the same point you did. And to reinforce the Wizard of Oz. Even when the knowledge and talent are in you, there to be experienced by anyone willing to take the time to see it, people distrust their own perception and request the legitimizing document.

Now, PhDs are different in terms of depth. I have worked with PhDs and greatly appreciated that type of knowledge. It is very important to discovery and innovation in a particular field.

My preference for true creativity is the person with broad knowledge to medium depths that can bring together varied concepts to create new thought and challenge paradigms. Thanks for being that guy.

Michael


DR. FISHER RESPONDS:

Your journey and your geography give me an indication of what you are like in the inside. It is common knowledge that I refer to my wife, Betty, as “Beautiful Betty.” It is because her insides match the beauty of her outsides. When you arrive at that junction, you can never be anyone else’s person, ever, but your own.

Be always well,

Jim