Another thought—this notion of shedding one’s identity and adopting a new one has appeared over and over again. Author Brianna Weist argues there is an infinite number of ‘selves’ and that we can never be the same person twice. Biology, of course, tells us that our bodies are constantly changing. And progress requires change. It means leaving behind old versions and conceptions of the self (which are inherently limiting). The goal is to evolve, adapt, and improve in the process. As one sociologist at Brown explained to me, the issue is this cognitive bias we have of self-concept stability. It’s human nature to find comfort in a consistent understanding of the self, and we still find it incredibly threatening when our self-concept, no matter how limiting to our well-being it may be, is under threat. Life is about understanding that change is a positive force—without it we could never get better. Stephen Hawking put it well, he defines intelligence as the ability to adapt to change. And he’s right. This is what intelligent, successful, and happy people, organizations, leaders, organisms, nations, etc. do. They welcome change, they release hubris and they evolve. The role of a teacher, then, could be to create environments where students are encouraged to humbly embrace change, excited to learn new information that will change their lives, and liberated from their old, limiting notions of the self and understandings of the world.

My apologies for this long text, I’m finding that I often get taken over by the urge to write. The kindest thing I can do is let myself do so.