Tuesday 28 April 2009

The Happy Accident

Lewis Hyde's brilliant study of various Trickster myths is subtitled "How Disruptive Imagination Makes Culture". The Trickster enjoys happy accidents. Hyde compares the Trickster attitude that he observes in the ancient Greek god Hermes and the Yoruba character Eshu to various modern artists like Picasso. Accepting good fortune and recognizing the unexpected gift is essential to creative imagination, he argues. "The agile mind is pleased to find what it was not looking for."

He quotes Picasso as having said, "In my opinion to search means nothing in painting. To find is the thing."

How do we help to create learning experiences that facilitate discovery and embrace chance? To paraphrase Milan Kundera. Repetition is mute but chance talks to us.

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