The Discovery Issue

Volume 8 Issue 7, March 2009

From the moment we are born – perhaps sooner – we exist as learning machines, designed to adapt and bend to the strange and unfamiliar contours of an alien world bursting with wonder. The human brain – marvel of marvels that it is, the most complex thing that it itself has yet been able to discover in the universe – is a living, growing, changing network of cellular connections that somehow work in conjunction to produce the human condition. This neural circuitry is no more set in stone than we allow our opinions to be, and the choices we live, the roads we take, and the discoveries we stumble upon every day act continually to reinforce and rearrange how we view the world and our place in it.

One of the things I have continually rediscovered in my time at the helm of our dear magazine is how utterly surprising the end results of the particular artistic impulses at work inside each one of us are. I’ve always wondered what goes on inside other people’s heads – and have had to discover through much confusion and embarassment that there’s no use trying to guess, double-guess, or assume what the answer might be. My involvement with Blueprint has afforded me the opportunity to extend to my friends and to our community the chance to offer each other a glimpse into the creative processes whirling around inside the minds of those walking, dreaming, doing, and discovering all around us on this campus and in this town each and every day. I treasure what I have learned about them and about myself through this process, and thank you all for playing along with this crazy little game of mine. (Surprise! Deadline was yesterday! Think fast!)

‘Discovery’ is something that happens when we accept that we are among unknown circumstances and must let the flow of the world around us guide our thoughts and actions to new truths and new skills. When we open our minds to new expressions and points of view we grow the depth and value of our own contributions to the world – and with a whole universe out there to explore, the limits of our personal discovery and development in this lifetime are far beyond any horizon. To paraphrase William James, my greatest discovery (so far) has been the understanding that you really can change your life just by changing your attitudes. Good luck with finding your own path to peace.

Thanks for all the fish, and see you on the other side!

Mark Ciesluk
Editor-in-Chief