Build Your Own Kaleidoscope

Stetson University

Stetson University

 

by Beth Paul, Ph.D.

I was a curious child with many different interests. Never-ending interests kept me amused and occupied in my youth. As I grew older, my different interests often frustrated my parents. Make up your mind! Choose a direction. Focus.

As I matured into adulthood, my yen for different interests became a fascination with different perspectives, ways of knowing, and methods of inquiry that have guided (and often complicated) my professional and personal development.

Beth Paul, Stetson University
Beth Paul, Ph.D., provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs

I am always thinking, wondering, tilting and turning — fascinated by the complexity of our world and driven to understand the meaning and significance of my life in its context.

There are so many elements, so many layers, and so many moving parts! How can we make sense of it all so that we can make the most of the life we are given?

I received two special gifts on my eighth birthday that, in hindsight, I have realized were formative in my complex quest for a meaningful life: a yellow-and-red kaleidoscope and my grandmother, who came to live with us.

I will never forget the first time I looked through that kaleidoscope — the beauty that was at once complex and simple awed me. And every time I looked, the image was new.

Each novel image was even more beautiful than the last.

I will also never forget the unconditional acceptance my grandmother, Martha, gave me, appreciating my varied and ever-changing interests.

She listened to me try to make sense of it all, asked me challenging questions, suggested new perspectives, and had faith in my potential for a meaningful and coherent life. When I would get exasperated and overwhelmed, she would say, “Go get your kaleidoscope.”

In no time, I was reminded anew of the coherent beauty that could be created out of seeming chaos.

As I later discovered my passion and purpose in higher education, these two gifts became organizing concepts for the kind of learning that I believe is imperative for our world. One, of course, requires holistic learning that prepares individuals for an evolving, meaningful and significant life.

Stetson University provides a special personal learning community that guides our students in creating their own kaleidoscope — a guide for a lifetime of perspective, wonder, awe, beauty and inspiration.

So, let’s create a kaleidoscope, shall we? Here’s what you’ll need:

  • A scope through which you can orient your vision;
  • Mirrors that facilitate multiple reflection;
  • An unending supply of diverse elements — the more diverse the better, no matter if broken or whole — with appreciation for the space between them too;
  • Glass that is transparent so that as you look through it nothing is hidden; and
  • Sources of light.

The process of assembling your kaleidoscope requires your own handiwork and creativity, and the guidance and models of others around you will enhance your experience.

You will build your kaleidoscope in such a way that you can switch out the diverse elements — just like different courses, disciplines, professors and learning experiences.

In the process, it will mesmerize and delight you. It will create infinite possibilities, perspectives and ideas.

You will have to exercise creativity, adaptability, critical reasoning and collaboration. And you will learn to distill meaning from complexity, to think and see in different ways, to see connections where they may not be immediately apparent and to appreciate beauty.

Stetson UniversityEvery time you look through your kaleidoscope you will see something new, unique and beautiful. Ah! Finally! This must be the meaning of life!

The image you behold will delight you, such that you may want to hold it still or somehow preserve it. But as soon as you put the kaleidoscope down, the image is gone. And when you pick up the kaleidoscope again, with that fleeting feeling of loss and the return of chaos, something new and different and beautiful will appear, delighting you again and again and again.

Through a Stetson education, we learn that life is constantly changing. We are constantly challenged. We cannot hold life still. We discover new things.

Things fall apart.

Sometimes the light is too dim, clouding our vision.

But with the kaleidoscope Stetson has helped us create and with the daring and courage to shake it up, hold it up to the light, look through our non-dominant eye, and peer inside, we will see things we have never seen before.

We come to believe in possibility and transformation. We realize that there is something larger than an isolated element — larger than I — that encompasses difference and provides meaning and coherence to this life we are given.

Over our lifetime, our kaleidoscope will ensure endless wonder and delight in our search for meaning. It will allow us to see everyday objects in extraordinary and unpredictable ways.

The infinite complexity that we create from something so simple will amaze us. And we will be awed by the beautiful coherence that can be created from something so complex.

When faced with a challenging problem, our kaleidoscope will free our mind and spark creativity and new ideas.

When overwhelmed by stress and the complexity of life, our kaleidoscope will refocus and calm us, reminding us of our sense of purpose and meaning in this magical life.

If ever you misplace your kaleidoscope, Stetson friends will always be there to lend you theirs.

I have a collection of kaleidoscopes in my office just in case.

Beth Paul, Ph.D., is Stetson provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. Read more answers to big questions in the June 2015 issue of Stetson Magazine.