Dealing with unforeseen circumstances Today, the world felt like a crucible of serendipity. While visiting my father-in-law in a hospital in another part of the country, I received a message from my best friend, the philosopher Rene Gude. He had been admitted to that same hospital after a unfortunate fall. I went to see him, finding him alone in a dark room with a reading lamp. He was proofreading a new manuscript by German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, tears streaming down his face. He had just received a cancer diagnosis but couldn't yet bring himself to say the word.

'Who is the Führer of this program?'"

I spent an hour by his bedside, he had rather that we talked 'world affairs' for now, as we did every Wednesday morning. We started discussing snippets from the manuscript as a distraction. The book, which would later be titled "Du solst dein Leben ändern," was a plea for education based largely on Frankfurt School ideas. Sloterdijk's words resonated deeply: "In any education you receive, always ask yourself, 'Who is the Führer of this program?'" The deliberate use of "Führer" was striking.

Do we need to declare our approach, publish a kind of manifesto?

These conversations touch me profoundly. While we focus on "learning" rather than "teaching" or "education," I find Sloterdijk's point valid. When we push people out of their comfort zone and into the learning zone, shouldn't they be able to ask about our vision and core values? Perhaps we as educators should make a declaration, a sort of oath.

Given our eclectic mix of action learning, challenge-based learning, and peer learning, it might be beneficial to provide participants with more clarity about our learning approach. I plan to articulate this in a manifesto soon. While these approaches differ, they share a common DNA - learning through experience, with intention, seeking challenges to create space for open-mindedness. The educational philosopher Dewey has been a tremendous inspiration in this regard.