**3. Thinking, otherwise**

 In the challenging, complex landscape of life and in particular education, the idea of freeing the mind, and dwelling in the conscious/subconscious becomes not only appealing but almost a necessity in order to enhance curiosity, innovation and critical thinking. Additionally, it can enable the breakdown of barriers (such as those between subjects and the false binaries between cognition and emotion) and support the development of trans-subject, interdisciplinary connections. In this section we will discuss the role and importance of philosophy in implementing strategies towards the enhancement of these outcomes. Further we will examine the mystique and cyclical nature of time (via texts such as TS Eliot's poem, 'Burnt Norton') and consider how disrupting linear understandings of temporality can influence the ability to think deeply and process information, thereby resulting in novel ideas and discussions.

*Thinking, Alternatively: The Application of Art, Philosophy and Holistic Practice in the Teaching… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114039*

#### **3.1 Time and the mind**

Most would agree that life is run or even "controlled" by time; basic routines are all very much run against the clock. Our modern systems are centred around chronos (linear time) rather than aion (an understanding of time as cyclical, dynamic, insurgent, and connected to nature [10]). As Bridle [11] reminds us, '…the idea of global time - a single, universal standard, divided into hours and minutes, and shifting across time zones - is a recent one.' To imagine time working differently in education (whether it be primary, secondary, college and/or University) feels impossible; teaching sessions all have a set time frame and work to institutional clock rhythms. However, what if we could pause or interrupt time such that we lose that barrier? And how does that impact, not only on mental wellbeing but from an educational standpoint?

The issue of time is discussed eloquently in the late Kate Gross's podcast Private Passion [12]. While she lay gravely ill, Kate talked openly about her struggles with time and how she wanted to pause each moment to enjoy what she called 'the intensity of light and colour.' This has similarities both with the nature writings of authors such as Nan Shepherd and Tove Jansson, both of whom had a deep love of nature and were able to explore as independent spirits with the freedom of no time constraints; Shepherd in the Cairngorms, Scotland, and Jansson in a remote island off the Gulf of Finland. As with Gross, both, in Shepherd's words, 'immerse themselves' in their environments mind, body, soul and senses.

The common theme within the similar yet different scenarios is the desire to fully entangle body and senses with the environment in order to disrupt clock time. However, while Shepherd and Jansson had seemingly no time restrictions, Gross was terminally ill; a 'ticking time bomb'. It is interesting and almost ironic that as soon as the impending knowledge of death lies ahead, we value and want to pause or stop time. However, in life we feel the need to battle with time, unable to appreciate how the sheer enormity of pausing and soaking in the moment allows us to reflect, process and restore. It is as Gross states in her podcast, the need to 'look after our hinterland', not just in terminal illness but life itself.

Taking what Jasmine Ulmer [13] refers to as 'slow ontology' requires us to attune to time in different ways, working with artistic moments of flow, paying attention to the rhythms of nature, and disrupting linear processes which are restrictive and time bound. From an educational perspective this may involve taking learning outside - from closed classroom systems to the open flows of the natural environment - or paying attention to the ways in which learning extends outside school clock time to corridors, playgrounds and homes. These disruptions can be difficult however, particularly in the era of Coronavirus in which the language of speed, acceleration and catch-up is prevalent. In the classroom there is often a constant struggle to get through a dense curriculum or obtain a quick answer to a question so that learning can be evidenced, and the class can move on. The idea of even pausing, giving pupils time to absorb to process information, or reflect individually or with others can feel uncomfortable or risky, yet there is power in that pause regarding deep learning as well as wider human growth concerning being, becoming and thriving.

It is perhaps important at this point to clarify and define the three commonly known states of mind as explained via the Chambers Dictionary [14].

"Consciousness defines our thoughts and awareness, subconscious is defined as memories, motives, intentions and thoughts which the individual is only dimly aware, but which exert and influence on his/her behaviour and unconsciousness is the deepest inaccessible level of the psyche in which repressed impulses and memories are present in a dynamic state".

The concept of time and its relationship with the state of mind, is eloquently expressed in T S Eliot's [9]; the first of the four quartets. At the start Eliot states: 'Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future'. Alluding to the way in which our understandings and experiences echo the past, as well as recognising their connection to the future, Eliot emphasises the need to value time and take account of the present moment. He goes on to describe the moment of fixity of time when he states, 'Allow but a little consciousness, to be conscious is not to be in time' and it is within this state of mind, we can pause to appreciate to immerse process and deepen our understanding, that is so essential to building transdisciplinary subject knowledge and emotional creative human growth. Such rich experiences we have within the present/past are important not only in our human growth and ability to understand ourselves but to help others understand themselves also. Interestingly, Pullman in The Amber Spyglass ([15], p. 97) states: 'In the landscape of your mind' that 'conscious beings make dust'; emphasising the way in which thought, sentience and recognition can allow us to materialise knowledge (dust here being a physical manifestation of creative and sentient acts). This knowledge he describes as not a 'fixed quantity' but something that gets renewed all the time by thinking, reflecting and by gaining wisdom. Further to this, Pullman describes how through these actions of pause and reflection you can pass on wisdom and help everyone else to learn about themselves, thereby enabling them to 'keep their minds open and free and curious.' This understanding of learning as relational and distributed troubles the individualised nature of educationas-usual, in which the 'dust' of knowledge is owned and used as capital.

This social transfer of knowledge supports Kalanithi's ([16], p. 97) view that 'Human knowledge is never contained in one person; it grows from the relationships we create between each other and the world and is still never complete.' This highlights that the human mind cannot necessarily thrive on constant bombardment of learning content by rote subject knowledge alone, and that there is a need for a humanistic aspect, such that the desire for knowledge incorporates a social and emotional aspect as well as subject authority.

#### **3.2 Philosophical practices to disrupt clock time**

Deleuze and Guattari [17] suggest that philosophy should be a practice of creativity and development of new ideas, with education thus being not about repetition but creation: 'Philosophy is the art of forming, inventing, and fabricating concepts' (p. 2). Philosophical concepts can be activators, used to reimagine education, or to defamiliarize ourselves from schooling-as-usual. Bringing art and philosophy together with science thus allows for affective understandings and different modes of thought, or lines of flight, which allow newness in and new understandings of the world to be formulated. One such creative practice, which also subverts linear, individualised and time-bound practices of teaching, is community philosophy, or Philosophy for Children (P4C) [18]. Embedding philosophical inquiry into Science education can allow for slow thinking, deep exploration and connection of science to wider social, environmental and cultural issues. This methodology facilitates active listening, mitigates binary oppositional thinking [1], and empowers young people to reflect critically in a democratic way [19].

In P4C a facilitator introduces a stimulus related to a topic (e.g., photograph, video, news clip); students discuss it in small groups and then identify the related

#### *Thinking, Alternatively: The Application of Art, Philosophy and Holistic Practice in the Teaching… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114039*

concepts (e.g., justice, health, community). Groups then develop a question (via a democratic voting process), and the facilitator prompts wider discussion. Afterwards, participants engage in active reflection to critically examine how the process unfolded in terms of individual contributions, group dynamics and the creation or enactment of new concepts and perspectives. Such a practice has the potential to deepen understanding of topics such as ethics in science, as well as opening space to deal with complexity, appreciate different contexts and locations, and reimagine new ways to enact ethics in practice.

In a similar example of practice, Science teacher Tait Coles explains in his book, Punk Learning [20] the use of 'Question Formulation Technique' [21] and how it can be employed with pupils to disrupt teacher authority and provoke creative thinking. After introducing a stimulus (for example, an image of the digestive system), pupils are encouraged to create a list of questions about it, no matter how unusual, inappropriate or odd. Working with divergent thinking, rather than replicating the input of the teacher, is shown to foster creative and engaged responses as well as enabling students to work further on the crafting of incisive and thoughtful questions to provoke deeper engagement with scientific concepts. In this way, Socratic questioning techniques, with all their unpredictability, can disrupt 'teaching-as-usual' and open space for exciting perspectives which may well extend beyond the lesson time and walls of the classroom.
