Foreword: Enlightenment, Apocalypse, and Other States of Mind (E-Book) (Colorado Bar Association)

Abstract

Kevin Rhodes is an audacious man. In this book, he dares us to be audacious right along with him.

Kevin asks us to become self-reflective. He challenges us to question the status quo and he urges us to reinvent ourselves. He explains how we can get stuck and he offers a path forward. In short, Kevin empowers growth.

An idea that connects Kevin’s work with my work is a fervent belief that we can do better. We can live better lives and we can create better cultures. In a society that has been constructed around the black and white principles of success and failure, Kevin redirects us to consider how we can grow and change.

I have been thinking about growth and change, in terms of improving learning and teaching, for my entire career: first as a middle school teacher; then as a law student; a corporate trainer; an education doctoral student; and law professor. Kevin and I are both synthesizers of research and of ideas. We bring important information to busy people. I am honored that Kevin chose to think about, highlight, and bring his impassioned insight to my law journal article Killing Them Softly, in which I wrote about the neuroscience of learning and the impact of stress on cognition, and offered recommendations for improving brain health.

Kevin reminds us that the pursuit of growth and change is an imprecise, and often scary endeavor. But each of his short essays prods and coaches on the benefits of taking brave steps to effect growth and change. We can design better cultures and curate better lives. This can become our new normal. Kevin advises it takes perseverance, courage, and intensity to improve humanity. And science.

In one of his Running Past Our Limits posts, Kevin invites us to acknowledge the “kid’s soul living in an adult’s body” that each of us has within ourselves, which may be his best tip for empowering growth and change in his readers. Let Kevin awaken your “kid’s soul!”

http://kevin-rhodes.com/enlightenment-apocalypse-and-other-states-of-mind-book/