About mathematics, love, metrics, and me.
Mathematics & Love
For seven years, I was a high school mathematics teacher with a my job description of teaching mathematics to high school students.
But, really, I knew I had a much larger job: teaching lovingkindness.
My lofty, worthy goal did not follow a simple path like squaring both sides or multiplying by the reciprocal. What I aimed to do could not be taught formulaically. The path of getting students to value compassion is much more involved. Like teaching bicycle riding, I ran alongside my students enthusiastically. I praised when they felt hurt, disappointed, or frustrated; I encouraged when they lacked self-confidence. The path I used to teach my classes could be summed up with one word: love.
The goal of my classroom was never about getting kids to be another set of standardized parts. I wanted them to learn to love. The goal – of course – was almost nearly impossible to assess.
One can easily judge if a student knows the quadratic formula. Ask the student to produce it, then see if the slew of symbols matches the answer. However, having students memorize and regurgitate is psittacine (of, relating to, or denoting birds of the parrot family). My students learned about love and kindness in the way I patiently, enthusiastically, lovingly marvelled with them as they learned the simple elegance of separate the variable x from the letters a, b, and c, when all are in the form ax2 + bx + c = 0.
Metrics & Me
My dear reader, the rubber is meeting the road on this topic right now.
I am about to launch my biggest launch yet. I am so excited about the good this new program can do in the world. And I find myself looking to metrics for success. I want to see that hundreds of people have signed up for the program. (I want to see you to sign up for the program.)
And, while I know that the program’s success is not in how many people sign-up and that it’s not in how much revenue is made… I so want it. I want this to be a giant success. I want this new program to put Religion Outside The Box on the map and to be a proverbial cornerstone of Religion-Outside-The-Box’s work.
But, it can’t be about metrics.
Right?
When I was working at a brick and mortar congregation, would you say I was successful because we had an increase in the number of new members? Or, would you say I was successful because a congregant told me that she heard my voice in her head and that kept her from getting irate at the driver of the car that banged into hers?
That all being said, please meet my newest offering:
The 10-Day Spiritual Fitness Program
The 10-Day Spiritual Fitness Program answers the question “How can I get a richer spiritual practice?”
The answer? Ten easy to follow, beautifully-crafted, two-minute a day exercises.
I am very excited to share this with you.
The 10-Day Spiritual Fitness Program
- 2 minutes a day
- 10 PDFs
- 10 short videos
- 10 days
- 10 expertly crafted exercises
- Delivered to your inbox
No gimmicks. Nothing overly spiritual. No religious proselytizing.
Just an outside-the-box rabbi on a mission to improve spiritual health.
Free sample lesson.
I thank you.
(Please sign-up.)
-❤ rB
https://oldrotb.wpengine.com/10-day-spiritual-fitness-program-full/
With love,
