All Things Pass

I enrolled in a class called the Tao of Leadership. It contrasts Eastern philosophy and contemporary Western management and is based in part on the writing of Lao Tzu. This is a beautiful poem about the need to let go and let things emerge differently. When we grasp it is not leadership. It is an illusion.

radiatingblossom's avatarRadiating Blossom ~ Flowers & Words

All things pass
A sunrise does not last all morning
All things pass
A cloudburst does not last all day
All things pass
Nor a sunset all night
All things pass
What always changes?
 

Earth…sky…thunder…
mountain…water…
wind…fire…lake…

These change
And if these do not last

Do man’s visions last?
Do man’s illusions?

Take things as they come

All things pass

 
~~ Lao-Tzu ~~

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About ivonprefontaine

In keeping with bell hooks and Noam Chomsky, I consider myself a public and dissident intellectual. Part of my work is to move beyond (transcend) institutional dogmas that bind me to defend freedom, raising my voice to be heard on behalf of those who seek equity and justice in all their forms. I completed my PhD in Philosophy of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. My dissertation and research was how teachers experience becoming teachers and their role as leaders. I focus on leading, communicating, and innovating in organizations. This includes mindfuful servant-leadership, World Cafe events, Appreciative Inquiry, and expressing one's self through creativity. I offer retreats, workshops, and presentations that can be tailored to your organzations specific needs. I published peer reviewed articles about schools as learning organizations, currere as an ethical pursuit, and hope as an essential element of adult eductaion. I published three poems and am currently preparing my poetry to publish as an anthology of poetry. I present on mindful leadership, servant leadership, schools as learning organizations, how teachers experience becoming teachers, assessement, and critical thinking. I facilitate mindfulness, hospitality retreats. and World Cafe Events using Appreciative Inquiry. I am writing and researching about various forms of leadership, how teachers inform and form their identity as a particular teacher, schools as learning organizations, hope, nonviolence and its anticipatory relationship with the future, as essential elements to teaching and learning. Academic publications can be found at Ivon Gile Prefontaine on ResearchGate

8 responses »

  1. Do man’s visions last?
    Do man’s illusions?

    Thank you, for the poetic reminders!

    Reply
  2. Catherine Johnson's avatar Catherine Johnson

    Great quote!

    Reply
  3. Ah the impermanence of the wor(l)d but the permanence of Lao Tzu’s words.

    Reply
  4. yes, this was definitely worth a reblog!

    Reply

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