Charles Fort
Charles Fort
"My liveliest interest is not so much in things, as in relations of things. I have spent much time thinking about the alleged pseudo-relations that are called coincidences. What if some of them should not be coincidences?"
In Our Story
Petra finds a book in "the giveaway box outside" of Powell's bookshop. "The book had a cloth cover with several dark stains, and the paper was thick and creamy, soft at the edges. The title jumped out at her: Lo!" (p. 41) "She tucked it under her arm." (p. 42) "That night, flipping around in Lo!, Petra was more and more amazed. She had never seen a book like this. ... " (p. 43)
"Calder borrowed Petra's copy of Lo! that afternoon. She was right: Fort was an extraordinary thinker. He looked fearlessly at occurrences that no one could explain. Even better, he looked everywhere for patterns. Calder understood the man's fascination with connecting things that didn't seem related, and he admired the way Fort challenged the experts." (p. 73)
Fort Quote
"Wise men have tried other ways. They have tried to understand our state of being, by grasping at its stars, or its arts, or its economics. But, if there is an underlying oneness of all things, it does not matter where we begin.."
The Man himself
In the early twentieth century Charles Fort put together great quantities of exhaustively documented 'puzzling evidence.' This is data which science is unable or unwilling to explain, such rains of fish or blood, mysterious animals, or manufactured artifacts in deep strata. Fort collected numerous accounts of aerial phenomena prior to the invention of aviation, including huge cylinders and spheres in the sky. Many of these would today be considered UFOs.
For more than thirty years, Charles Fort visited libraries in New York City and London, assiduously reading scientific journals, newspapers, and magazines, collecting notes on phenomena that were not explained well by the accepted theories and beliefs of the time.
Charles Fort was a skeptic and a writer. He was a rebel, but one without a set system of ideas; and anyway, he was brave and brilliant. He encouraged people to question everything. It was said that one of the peculiar traits of a fiction writer’s personality is a stubborn refusal to believe what all sensible people know is true, and maybe that is why Fort attracted so many writers to his battlements. His friend said of his work... “It encourages the curious to question, the prying to pry, the inquisitive to inquire. Is there an higher mission on earth? I deem not.”
Maybe we need a few Charles Forts.
Critical Thinking and Growth Mindset
If someone possesses a fixed mindset, their mind is made up. These thinkers are definitively set on a given outcome or result whereby they believe that how it is, is how it will always be without ever believing they have the ability to change the outcome. Their thoughts are perceived as finite. A fixed mindset contributes to remaining stuck. A growth mindset is the opposite of a fixed mindset. A growth mindset encourages individuals to believe in change, and believe that they can improve in the future. A growth mindset can have a multitude of benefits that will increase intelligence. Unlike a fixed mindset, a growth mindset needs to be nurtured and developed in order to thrive.
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A growth mindset is more than just about accepting feedback or having an open mind. It means receiving, accepting, and then learning from the experience. It also involves, coming up with an action plan or strategies for improvement and continued growth. It means embracing failure and being okay with failing because you know that, no matter what, you are learning and that setback is not final. It’s being able to maintain a belief about yourself that even if you fail you will succeed. A growth mindset is an ongoing process, and it’s not always an easy task, but it is a valuable way to help develop talent and strengths.
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