樸 Starting with an 'A'

Zion National Park

樸                  My favorite principle for creating possibility of the Zanders’ is the practice of ‘giving an A.’ Imagine a classroom, a community, a family, a workplace where everyday you were given an A and you gave others the same.  What potential would awaken?  What collaboration could be attained?  What possibilities would evolve? Imagine a place where we all worked together to bring out the best in each other; to discover the gem hidden inside, that special piece of the divine. 

This is the essence of P’u  (pronounced Poo) and means the uncarved block. In Taoism it is naturalness or the "primordial state" of all things,  the source for all spontaneity and creativity.  It is all potential, all possibility. To attain P’u one must free themselves from selfishness and desire, and appreciate simplicity.   This concept is the central theme for another book I love, The Tao of Pooh where this ‘bear of little brain’ is P’u. 

To quote the Zanders’, “Michelangelo is often quoted as having said that inside every block of stone or marble dwells a beautiful statue; one need only remove the excess material to reveal the work of art within. If we were to apply this visionary concept to education, it would be pointless to compare one child to another. Instead, all the energy would be focused on chipping away at the stone, getting rid of whatever is in the way of each child’s developing skills, mastery, and self-expression.

We call this practice giving an A. It is an enlivening way of approaching people that promises to transform you as well as them. It is a shift in attitude that makes it possible for you to speak freely about your own thoughts and feelings while, at the same time, you support others to be all they dream of being. The practice of giving an A transports your relationships from the world of measurement into the universe of possibility.” 

I have always called ‘giving an A’, generosity of heart.  And, in order to be generous to others, you must be generous to yourself first.  If you have no room to be generous to yourself, you have nothing to extend to others.  This is where the practice of loving-kindness comes in.  The Dalai Lama says, “We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves” and that starts with loving-kindness today.  Since today is all we have...

... Today, you have an A.  

I wonder what will bloom?