Book 151 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title: The Cosmic Perspective

Book – Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Book Description: The essential universe, from our most celebrated and beloved astrophysicist.

What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson. But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in tasty chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.

Reflection:

I recently took something called the CliftonStrengths Assessment for a work-related event that our team was doing. The CliftonStrengths is 177 questions that you answer and then they send you back a personalized report of what your greatest talents are based on how you answered. Our team did this and then we all shared together so we could better get to know each other.

These tests are always fun and entertaining, but I often have a deep conflict with them. As a matter of fact, I think it is safe to say that I hate these types of tests at this point in my life. I hate that we lump people down into these narrow classifications and words to describe the essence of who they are or what they can become. I feel like these types of tests play into our human obsession to categorize and label everything like we all fit nicely into a tiny little box.

I remember taking a test similar test in my first job out of school. I was 22 and we had to take it for an upcoming team meeting. We completed the questionnaire before the meeting, and we were to be delivered our results by the person we hired to conduct a training seminar where we were were going to spend all day reviewing each person’s and breaking it down for team building exercises. When I first saw my assessment as I sat down in the conference room, I was livid. I felt like it described a totally different person and projected a future that was filled with nothing that I wanted. I remember arguing with the moderator that this can’t be 100% correct…right? I said, people can change, results can change, answers can change based on how you feel the day you are taking it…right? The moderator looked and me and flat out said, “This test is proven to always be accurate, and people don’t change.”

I was dumbfounded! I backed down and accepted that this “expert” must know something I don’t as I was 22 and didn’t want to cause a scene.

For the next 10 years of my career, I slowly started to believe in these types of tests, assessments, and categorization of people. Little by little, I began to deploy them into my daily activities. Before I knew it, I soon found myself talking just like that moderator had spoken to me. My assessment of choice that I used to preach was something called the DISC profile. I used this as my personal legend to interact with seemingly everyone I came across. I used it for leading my teams, myself, categorizing my friends, family, strangers, etc.

I thought I had people down, and you know what, I felt powerful and like I knew something. I felt like that moderator probably felt when he told me, “These tests are always correct, and people can’t change!”. I was living what I would call, “the Hogwarts Perspective”. Everyone and everything can be sorted, put into a box, labeled, and assumed that nothing will change.

Well, let me tell you…people can change and I’m living proof. Emilia changed everything!

That CliftonStrenghts assessment gave me back results that seemed like a totally different person than anything I’ve taken before in my life. That is because, I am a totally different person at this stage of my life. My number 1 strength was a “Learner” and one of my top strengths was “Connectedness”. I couldn’t pick 2 words that could have described 22-year-old Chris Sears less, to be honest. The certainly weren’t “Strengths”.

Connectedness surprised me a lot, but not too much if you’ve been following along with this journey. I’ve been living my values, and these strengths are what my values have guided me toward. With every new book Emilia and I read about plants, the universe, humanity, science, bacteria, fungi, or animals I truly believe and feel closer and closer to the interconnected nature, beauty, harmony, and balance of this incredible universe. I believe that everyone and everything has a role to play, and we all must do our meaningful work to keep it running.

Our world, this universe, and everything in it is truly incredible and interconnected beyond our wildest imaginations.

There is so much we don’t understand and will never understand. Learning and discovering is what this adventure is all about. I think Neil DeGrasse Tyson summed it up best when he called this view on the world, “The Cosmic Perspective”.

Let’s all do ourselves a favor and break out of our obsession of categorizing everything into a nice, neat box, and start to appreciate how infinitely complex, interconnected, multi-dimensional, and adaptable this universe truly is.

Question: What does the Cosmic Perspective Mean to You?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson