about
Wonder as the Key to Knowledge
We’re living through a strange age of ever-increasing novelty. Never in our history has human perception been so willfully shaped by an onslaught of seeming-omniscient information. This information is delivered through machines running complex algorithms that have been purposefully designed to deliver you your expectations, and little else.
We are amazing creatures, and we build amazing machines. The trick is to continue to tend the bottomless well of our unplugged imaginations for the infinite wonder and meaning it affords us in life. It is wonder that first moves the artist and the scientist into action. Curiosity is the spark and root of all our individually possessed knowledge; without it, everything is only meaningless data. From infancy to adulthood, it is the act of continually humbling oneself before the ever-present unknown that propels us into the acquisition of an ever-expanding base of knowledge.
The Order of Wonder’s mission is to address the growing distance between our perceived direct experience and the information we acquire via our machines and traditional education methods. My goal is to assist educators and institutions in harnessing and holding true to the boundless curiosity latent in every teachable moment. It’s time we go beyond the quest for resiliency in our understanding, attitude, and thinking – the lasting future is forged in our capacity to cultivate an antifragile imagination in ourselves and those that come after us. Resiliency is an act of standing solid ground amongst the increasing headwinds; whereas, antifragility is about being forever strengthened and propelled directly into them — the stronger the opposing force, the stronger you become.
Michel Anderson, M.Ed.
LinkedIn
Mission
To guide educators, teams, and institutions in evaluating and enhancing their learning programs through exploring & nurturing the fertile mental landscape between direct experience, acquired knowledge, and boundless imagination.
Values
To never stop asking why.
To forever hold curiosity over certainty.
To seek antifragility in thought & action.
To walk softly on Earth and leave a beautiful mark.
To know every human being to be a vortex of infinite mystery.
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
William Blake (1757-1827)