Adapted from “Exam Time,” Christian Science Sentinel, 2006
11–20–2006, 04:59 PM
franciscusjuni
So I did sit and eat.
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Manchester, UK
I have a big fat chunk of work to be doing—two major essays on areas of literature that are still fairly unfamiliar to me. And that’s in addition to the two research proposals I really need to have produced in the same space of time.
At the start of this semester, this workload would haunt me occasionally, when I wasn’t able to forget about it. Without having the essays completed and in my hands, the idea of doing so seemed like an impossible task! The notion that I simply wouldn’t be able to complete everything satisfactorily, or indeed at all, dogged at me, filling me with no small fear.
So how have I dealt with this? By working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, to make sure I get something done? Nope.
I’ve been turning to know that as I need the ideas to come — they will come. My essays are beautifully structured, complete, and deep, and are ready on angels’ wings for me to discover. It does not seem to matter that I can only spend short stretches of time working at them. Every hour is productive because I’m not scratching around in the dust for answers… they are ready formed and coming from above.
This is my same experience of exams, too. Give the ideas space. They’ll come, no matter how much or little time you have.
11–20–2006, 12:36 PM
Inge
Moving Mountains
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Virginia, USA
I just finished a major haul on my 2nd year paper (sort of a Master’s thesis) which ended with me presenting it in a workshop of my peers and professors where everyone offers criticism and ideas to improve the draft. The actual writing of the paper itself was a HUGE demonstration, but one that is way too long to detail here. But the one thing that I clung to wholeheartedly along the way was the idea that Mind knows all of its ideas—be they papers, be they people, whatever. They belong to Mind and Mind will ensure their expression. And I was able to really see that along the way—pieces from past papers were perfect for sections of this paper, I finally found books that I had been looking for in concept for 6 months, new theoretical foundations came out, etc. etc. etc.
I’m the youngest in my department and one of the few women, and while I didn’t feel totally pressured to prove myself, there was a sense of comparison—am I good enough to get to hang out with these people whom I consider so smart and so interesting? I did quite a bit of work preparing for the presentation, both humanly and metaphysically, and the morning of the presentation, the thought came to me, “What are you being compared to?” In thinking about that question, the answer came to me that I was only and always compared to God—He is the model and standard for my perfection. And likewise, He is the model and standard for my peers as well, and our motives weren’t to criticize God’s perfect work, but to bring out those qualities in our work. Needless to say—the workshop was amazing, so supportive, and the paper has actually turned into what will be my dissertation.
I think the idea works for exams, though, as well, especially in terms of grading. Our teachers/professors are not holding us to human standards of “goodness,” but we are all aspiring to see that expression of the Divine, and grades are there to reward that expression, not to penalize or diminish it.
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