Have you ever visited the south rim of the Grand Canyon?
If you come via Interstate 40, either from the west (Barstow, California) or from the east (Gallup, New Mexico) you drive north through flat desert plateau — if you’re lucky in timing your visit, there may be some spring desert blooms. If not, it’s brown, sere, unfriendly and, at first glance, boring.
Then suddenly, BLAM! Right in front of you is one of the truly majestic sights on this terrestrial globe: the Grand Canyon, stretching from horizon to horizon. Even if you’re expecting it, its vastness is startling. It’s enough to bring a gasp of awe and wonder from many people. It’s what people truly call “awesome” – it can take your breath away.
Or maybe it’s been a gray, cloudy day, all day. (We have a lot of those in the Pacific Northwest). Then, perhaps near sunset, an opening in the clouds suddenly lets through a brilliant shaft of golden light, transforming the green of the trees with its honey-like glow.
Moments like that occur at times as you learn — you can’t make them happen, either as student or teacher, but you can prepare the ground for them. Some people call those times “Aha! moments”, when you realize that you’ve broken through a mental barrier in your thought, and something “dawns on you”. That’s a telling phrase. You are indeed blessed if they happen over again.
It may be a sudden understanding of a previously-obscure piece of poetry. It may be a glimpse of the intellectual elegance of the connection between integration and differentiation in calculus. It may be an insight into why a particular war was won (or lost). It may be suddenly seeing the limitless stretch of time involved in the seemingly-simple phrase “ages of ages” when studying the Creed.
This isn’t merely “fun”, but it is enjoyable.
This isn’t merely “beautiful”, but deeply meaningful.
Moments like these keep the inquiring, learning mind active and rewarded. They are the goal of real teaching, real learning. They are the bond between student and teacher, because the teacher is always also a student, and the student also teaches.
That’s part of what we aspire to, with Scholars Online.