Wow, Never knew that. Pithed, well I'll be. Only last month I used the boiling frog analogy in a paper. Thanks for the heads up on the brain dead aspect, will think twice before using that analagy again.
Surely enjoyed, good one. There are few frogs here, and I think they chosen to be in the toilet or winery. I pick them up from toilet and let it outside, or sometime to in my fishpond. But they come back. And one frog always on my wine tank, even in the middle of winter when I believe they should be sleeping. I never heard of put a frog in the water and warming up Ryan .... oh no... that's so cruel .... but I was so fascinated frog anatomy, touching their nerves how and which part of body moves etc (its cruel too I know it ). Back to your story. Because frog live with instinct, human is losing instinct with having brain which works good for us, but sometime stupid. By the way, do you know how frog protect themselves in water from birds? Have you seen how?
I always seem to find myself in the frog’s position position with each new job. It can seem obvious to take actions and jump out of the boiling water but not so simple when outside of the boiling water I have bills to pay. Anyways thank you for sharing this, great post!
The illustrations - I'd simply assumed were yours - you in that "gone fishin'" dinghy - but your Afterword and explanation - the final illustration - the sheeple-like escalator in pursuit of the dangling-until-death - brilliant. And insights into some of your own pathways was interesting. I can't speak for others - though I do marvel at some of the stories of former students, old friends - how they reached where they did. I can only speak to my own story in total detail though earlier to-day I traced the pathway of a former student (in my classes for some drama and some senior Japanese language study). She arrived from Germany as a primary school entry girl with her parents. After her matriculation she studied drama at a rural university. After graduating became a ship-board entertainment officer - later a Captain Starlight in a major Children's hospital - and on a nationwide tour to small remote and regional hospitals. Following this positions in teaching became available - Drama and English-teaching - rural NSW and big-city postings - and then marriage and a move inter-state - now involved in schemes targeting disaffected rural youth. She visited me once in Japan with a pâtissier cousin from Germany - he worked at the annual Davos Economic Forum - but the last time my wife and I saw him he was back in Bayern - retraining to become a teacher (German TAFE system) of pastry-making. As for me - raised in a fundamentalist Protestant sect - I expected the Lord and His Second Coming would occur before I sat my middle school then senior high exit exams. It didn't. Although I had prayed for examination success I was also conscious that God helped those who helped themselves - I had not neglected my studies. Instead of going to a sect related college I had instead a scholarship to university - what was called a Teachers College Scholarship. Off I went to Sydney. First the degree - then a professional Dip.Ed. year. While struggling through a loss of faith (inevitable, I guess) i had a "gap year" before it existed in the form we understand and took a cadetship in an area of work which was mind-numbing - retail. It confirmed for me that mark-ups and mark-downs and haggling customers was NOT for me. I went back to my Dip.Ed. - which turned out to be a foundation program - newly constructed - a small group - we were 19 in total - innovative and student centred - examining all kinds of long-held verities and finding them lacking. Comparative education and curriculum design - and a prac. teaching regime lasting throughout the year from February to October meant much to reflect upon. And so to teaching - finding colleagues and students alike - such a wide display of characters and backgrounds and achievements - impossible to make predictions other than for successful futures - no matter what earlier record cards said of my students - and especially not if one judged from so-called IQ testing! Some years at different ends of the state led to marriage and serious travel abroad - a kind of Grand Tour matched with "finishing school" elements - readjusting what was "known" with altered and mind-expanding perceptions living in other lands - learning something of the languages and histories of those other countries. To cut this short - my professional life remained in Education - not only in Australia but for many years in Japan, too. It took different forms - never up-a-ladder - always in the classroom - and always rewarding, thrilling, exactly where I wanted to be. I was never any kind of frog in a slowly boiling pot (and thanks for explaining that analogy - a bit like the exposé of Golding's Lord of the Flies - or of those experiments separating Stanford (?) students into guards and prisoners!. I followed leads, applied for positions, accepted inadvertent guidance from seniors - never rejected possibilities if they interested me. I've reach my senior years with no regrets re my professional life. Thanks again, Ryan, for more thought provocation!
Just last night - thinking of Alex's illustration - I had tried to contact Ian - an old friend from years ago - we were both Education Officers - I was Secondary ESL - he was art/design - I learnt that he had passed away - a cancer - just two years back. On our living room wall we have a framed pencil sketch he mocked up for me for a paper I was to distribute at a teacher seminar. The paper was The Deep End of the Schoolyard - a line from a poem by kinsman Les Murray referencing his wife's DP origins - the early days post-arrival in Australia - fitting the ESL classes I had just recently been teaching at Homebush Boys HS - a clump of half-demountables set up in quite literally the deep end of Homebush Boys HS playground. Ian's illustration captured perfectly the alienation of such circumstances. Like you - I wish I had artistic talent of such level - my father did - though he was gone by the time I was two - killed as a passenger in a car accident. Mid-1951. And he played half-a-dozen musical instrument. I play none.
Social reading, in honest respect, can be inlightment, true gut check , past years reflection, future thoughts,and the path we either fallow ,or blaze. Best is the honest trail, an spoken truth, as you, and I ,not in need of hind sight. Memories ,that's what blazed my indevors & all the chances offered I never turned down. I to have no regrets, honestly,or I wouldn't be wearing I'm at today, pretty happy,pretty sound in mind, & praise the Lord ,I'll wake up tomorrow,and avoid them carrots ,& pots of water ,at 66,& blaze my Bar-B-Q a bit more than the roads & trails.
N.Calif. USA, Happy Tails to You ,& never stop teaching,even oll dogs can learn new tricks for kicks.
Good for you, RV. And yes - the honest trail and the speaking of truth - not dissembling or obfuscation - not being owned by the corporate juggernauts - if we can be so lucky! Jim
Such a timely post Ryan, yesterday I visited the site of my first ever job, an apprentice with the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne with my wife. We spotted a plaque at a tree that had been planted in 1981. This huge Eucalypt had been planted the year we were married, we were both in awe of this magnificent tree that has grown to such a stature during our married lifetime. As a 16-Year-Old I hopped on the train from our little farming community and started an apprenticeship 46 years ago. My wife asked me “Do I wish I had stayed?” which I have been ruminating over and now I read your post.
As a teenager I explored several possible futures, none were of an academic nature and all possibilities were encouraged by my parents without judgement. While it was never articulated, I believe the message was for me to follow my instincts and do whatever makes me contented. There was never a discussion about what the pay would be where it might take me and I don’t think I considered that either.
I left after 3 years, the public service medical officer wanted me to stay on light duties as I had a minor back problem. (no back to work rehabilitation plans in those days). My solution was to leave and return to the farm to help with the shearing, back fixed!
For the rest of my working life and no business training I was with one business for 20 years then a change for the last 15 years and just kept falling on my feet as businesses evolved over the years. They both however worked out that golden handcuffs were an excellent technique to retain my services, but I believe I managed to maintain a healthy life balance despite long hours often returning to office late at night to maximise family time.
The golden handcuffs did have me at times thinking Sometimes, Someday.
However, my perspective both in the past and now as I reflect is there is a point where I was in a very healthy space being in acceptance of my situation and making the most of it without putting energy into pursuing future potential gains.
There is some frustration with being unable to express this clearly while my jobs did Choose Me I am very happy and content with my choices in how I responded to whatever life dealt me.
I picture my big Eucalypt symbol and smile as I reflect on my journey thus far, indeed a fortunate life to coin a phrase from A B Facey.
Thank you. I love the way that you are exploring consciousness and the response to intense energies. Perhaps the conception of darkness is another example of an experience experience, which has not been put under much contemporary scientific investigation.. Everybody has their own opinion about the darkness. But has anyone really started a discussion on it? I would like to start discussion now.
“There I s no such thing as darkness - there is only a space upon which we have not yet imagined with our light” A Genuine Human Scientist. Dr Anthony Sharkey MD
Absolutely love this one Ryan.
Thanks Sally! So happy you enjoyed it!
Wow, Never knew that. Pithed, well I'll be. Only last month I used the boiling frog analogy in a paper. Thanks for the heads up on the brain dead aspect, will think twice before using that analagy again.
Yes, that came as a massive surprise to me too! I had been incorrectly using it for decades.
Congrats on the podcast episode!
Surely enjoyed, good one. There are few frogs here, and I think they chosen to be in the toilet or winery. I pick them up from toilet and let it outside, or sometime to in my fishpond. But they come back. And one frog always on my wine tank, even in the middle of winter when I believe they should be sleeping. I never heard of put a frog in the water and warming up Ryan .... oh no... that's so cruel .... but I was so fascinated frog anatomy, touching their nerves how and which part of body moves etc (its cruel too I know it ). Back to your story. Because frog live with instinct, human is losing instinct with having brain which works good for us, but sometime stupid. By the way, do you know how frog protect themselves in water from birds? Have you seen how?
I'm not so worried about frogs anymore now that dogs are reading AND commenting on my posts!!
I always seem to find myself in the frog’s position position with each new job. It can seem obvious to take actions and jump out of the boiling water but not so simple when outside of the boiling water I have bills to pay. Anyways thank you for sharing this, great post!
I know what you mean. I seem to go from one pot to the next, get out and then am forced back in. Thanks for reading.
The illustrations - I'd simply assumed were yours - you in that "gone fishin'" dinghy - but your Afterword and explanation - the final illustration - the sheeple-like escalator in pursuit of the dangling-until-death - brilliant. And insights into some of your own pathways was interesting. I can't speak for others - though I do marvel at some of the stories of former students, old friends - how they reached where they did. I can only speak to my own story in total detail though earlier to-day I traced the pathway of a former student (in my classes for some drama and some senior Japanese language study). She arrived from Germany as a primary school entry girl with her parents. After her matriculation she studied drama at a rural university. After graduating became a ship-board entertainment officer - later a Captain Starlight in a major Children's hospital - and on a nationwide tour to small remote and regional hospitals. Following this positions in teaching became available - Drama and English-teaching - rural NSW and big-city postings - and then marriage and a move inter-state - now involved in schemes targeting disaffected rural youth. She visited me once in Japan with a pâtissier cousin from Germany - he worked at the annual Davos Economic Forum - but the last time my wife and I saw him he was back in Bayern - retraining to become a teacher (German TAFE system) of pastry-making. As for me - raised in a fundamentalist Protestant sect - I expected the Lord and His Second Coming would occur before I sat my middle school then senior high exit exams. It didn't. Although I had prayed for examination success I was also conscious that God helped those who helped themselves - I had not neglected my studies. Instead of going to a sect related college I had instead a scholarship to university - what was called a Teachers College Scholarship. Off I went to Sydney. First the degree - then a professional Dip.Ed. year. While struggling through a loss of faith (inevitable, I guess) i had a "gap year" before it existed in the form we understand and took a cadetship in an area of work which was mind-numbing - retail. It confirmed for me that mark-ups and mark-downs and haggling customers was NOT for me. I went back to my Dip.Ed. - which turned out to be a foundation program - newly constructed - a small group - we were 19 in total - innovative and student centred - examining all kinds of long-held verities and finding them lacking. Comparative education and curriculum design - and a prac. teaching regime lasting throughout the year from February to October meant much to reflect upon. And so to teaching - finding colleagues and students alike - such a wide display of characters and backgrounds and achievements - impossible to make predictions other than for successful futures - no matter what earlier record cards said of my students - and especially not if one judged from so-called IQ testing! Some years at different ends of the state led to marriage and serious travel abroad - a kind of Grand Tour matched with "finishing school" elements - readjusting what was "known" with altered and mind-expanding perceptions living in other lands - learning something of the languages and histories of those other countries. To cut this short - my professional life remained in Education - not only in Australia but for many years in Japan, too. It took different forms - never up-a-ladder - always in the classroom - and always rewarding, thrilling, exactly where I wanted to be. I was never any kind of frog in a slowly boiling pot (and thanks for explaining that analogy - a bit like the exposé of Golding's Lord of the Flies - or of those experiments separating Stanford (?) students into guards and prisoners!. I followed leads, applied for positions, accepted inadvertent guidance from seniors - never rejected possibilities if they interested me. I've reach my senior years with no regrets re my professional life. Thanks again, Ryan, for more thought provocation!
No definitely not my drawings Jim. Another talent I wish I had though!
Just last night - thinking of Alex's illustration - I had tried to contact Ian - an old friend from years ago - we were both Education Officers - I was Secondary ESL - he was art/design - I learnt that he had passed away - a cancer - just two years back. On our living room wall we have a framed pencil sketch he mocked up for me for a paper I was to distribute at a teacher seminar. The paper was The Deep End of the Schoolyard - a line from a poem by kinsman Les Murray referencing his wife's DP origins - the early days post-arrival in Australia - fitting the ESL classes I had just recently been teaching at Homebush Boys HS - a clump of half-demountables set up in quite literally the deep end of Homebush Boys HS playground. Ian's illustration captured perfectly the alienation of such circumstances. Like you - I wish I had artistic talent of such level - my father did - though he was gone by the time I was two - killed as a passenger in a car accident. Mid-1951. And he played half-a-dozen musical instrument. I play none.
Social reading, in honest respect, can be inlightment, true gut check , past years reflection, future thoughts,and the path we either fallow ,or blaze. Best is the honest trail, an spoken truth, as you, and I ,not in need of hind sight. Memories ,that's what blazed my indevors & all the chances offered I never turned down. I to have no regrets, honestly,or I wouldn't be wearing I'm at today, pretty happy,pretty sound in mind, & praise the Lord ,I'll wake up tomorrow,and avoid them carrots ,& pots of water ,at 66,& blaze my Bar-B-Q a bit more than the roads & trails.
N.Calif. USA, Happy Tails to You ,& never stop teaching,even oll dogs can learn new tricks for kicks.
Good for you, RV. And yes - the honest trail and the speaking of truth - not dissembling or obfuscation - not being owned by the corporate juggernauts - if we can be so lucky! Jim
Such a timely post Ryan, yesterday I visited the site of my first ever job, an apprentice with the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne with my wife. We spotted a plaque at a tree that had been planted in 1981. This huge Eucalypt had been planted the year we were married, we were both in awe of this magnificent tree that has grown to such a stature during our married lifetime. As a 16-Year-Old I hopped on the train from our little farming community and started an apprenticeship 46 years ago. My wife asked me “Do I wish I had stayed?” which I have been ruminating over and now I read your post.
As a teenager I explored several possible futures, none were of an academic nature and all possibilities were encouraged by my parents without judgement. While it was never articulated, I believe the message was for me to follow my instincts and do whatever makes me contented. There was never a discussion about what the pay would be where it might take me and I don’t think I considered that either.
I left after 3 years, the public service medical officer wanted me to stay on light duties as I had a minor back problem. (no back to work rehabilitation plans in those days). My solution was to leave and return to the farm to help with the shearing, back fixed!
For the rest of my working life and no business training I was with one business for 20 years then a change for the last 15 years and just kept falling on my feet as businesses evolved over the years. They both however worked out that golden handcuffs were an excellent technique to retain my services, but I believe I managed to maintain a healthy life balance despite long hours often returning to office late at night to maximise family time.
The golden handcuffs did have me at times thinking Sometimes, Someday.
However, my perspective both in the past and now as I reflect is there is a point where I was in a very healthy space being in acceptance of my situation and making the most of it without putting energy into pursuing future potential gains.
There is some frustration with being unable to express this clearly while my jobs did Choose Me I am very happy and content with my choices in how I responded to whatever life dealt me.
I picture my big Eucalypt symbol and smile as I reflect on my journey thus far, indeed a fortunate life to coin a phrase from A B Facey.
Thanks for sharing Reece. It sounds like you've ended up at the place you were meant to be.
Butbutbut…the CARROT! I almost h
a
a
v
e
i
…
Step away from the carrot!
Thank you. I love the way that you are exploring consciousness and the response to intense energies. Perhaps the conception of darkness is another example of an experience experience, which has not been put under much contemporary scientific investigation.. Everybody has their own opinion about the darkness. But has anyone really started a discussion on it? I would like to start discussion now.
“There I s no such thing as darkness - there is only a space upon which we have not yet imagined with our light” A Genuine Human Scientist. Dr Anthony Sharkey MD
First post I read here on Substack, and for this reason, I'm staying.
Also, such a timely post. I am the frog right now.
This is the first article I read on substack. I think I will continue using the app. What a breath of fresh air.
Wow, great work, Ryan. You’re inspiring! I’m so glad I found your substack.
Made me think my recent past decisions for 5 min straight
Thanks
Thanks
So glad i stumbled upon this. I’m at that time of my life where i need to learn to leave the pot right away.