A good traveler has no fixed plans
and is not intent upon arriving.
A good artist lets his intuition
lead him wherever it wants.
A good scientist has freed himself of concepts
and keeps his mind open to what is.

Thus the Master is available to all people
and doesn’t reject anyone.
He is ready to use all situations
and doesn’t waste anything.
This is called embodying the light.

What is a good man but a bad man’s teacher?
What is a bad man but a good man’s job?
If you don’t understand this, you will get lost,
however intelligent you are.
It is the great secret.

When I first took the job as Division Head in the spring of 2017 I immediately began to craft the 5 Year Plan documentation that everyone says you need. I drafted a pie-in-the-sky vision for the Middle School I was soon to be in charge of, and then created year long steps towards this goal. Year One I would do this, and then year two I’d add this, etc., and by Year Five I would have molded this Middle School into some perfect version I saw in my head.

I was quick to realize, however, how foolish this attempt had been. How could I ever begin to craft a vision for a community of which I was not yet a part? If I brought with me a vision, it would be influenced and dictated by the school I was coming from, and therefore I would be acting in bad faith towards my future school. Yes, there are lessons to be learned from previous experience, but Division Heads run into trouble when they allow those past lessons and past school ‘currents’ to obscure the needs/wants/norms/currents of their new school. I have seen administrators come in with an agenda they intended to hammer through, and by doing so punched fatal holes in the culture of the school.

I have plans for my new Middle School, but they are not set plans, and I am not intent upon arriving at them. Instead, I will hold my vision loosely, open myself to the Tao of this community and allow my vision to shift and change with the currents. I will make my vision like water in a lazy river; Unassertive, but not directionless, sometimes serene, sometimes turbulent but never stuck. I will not be rigid and the right way forward will disclose itself.

_/\_