WEBVTT

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Hi, this week we've been thinking about certainty.

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We've seen that certainty can be helpful. It

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gives clarity. But it can also lead to a closed

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mind. And a closed mind can limit growth. It

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can lead to us believing things like, I'm not

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wired for math. Or more broadly, this is just

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who I am. But we've also seen something deeper

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about what math really is. Math is about pattern

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recognition, seeing structure, relationships,

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and how things connect. And once we begin to

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see patterns, we can begin to ask a new question.

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Are these patterns fixed, or can they change?

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I'm part of a non -profit called Change Course.

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We work with individuals who have patterns of

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drug abuse, crime, and deep discouragement. And

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when I spend time with people in that program,

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sure, I notice there are difficult patterns in

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the past. But I also see something else. New

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patterns. Patterns of kindness, gratitude, humility,

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and hope. They remind me that the patterns of

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our past do not have to be the patterns of our

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future. And isn't that what we've seen in math

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this week? For a long time, math was built on

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a single way of seeing the world, like a flat

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plane. But over time, mathematicians discovered

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something more. There were other ways to understand

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space, other structures, other possibilities.

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And once that shift happened, everything expanded.

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In a similar way, change in our lives can feel

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difficult to imagine. especially when we've lived

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in the same patterns for a long time. But math

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gives us perspective. It took thousands of years

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to develop a clear understanding of change. It

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wasn't until calculus that we had a framework

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for how things grow, shift, and evolve. Change

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in our lives is just as complex. But it is. For

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example, my own story is different from many

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of the people in the Change Course program. I

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grew up with a loving family, access to a good

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education, and strong values like discipline

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and hard work. And I'm deeply grateful for that.

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But when I looked more closely, I saw something

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else. What began as confidence slowly turned

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into arrogance. a pattern of believing I was

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right. And once I saw it, I realized I had something

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to learn, especially from people whose experiences

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were very different from mine. They have helped

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me grow in kindness, in humility, in awareness.

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And that's one of the things I appreciate about

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math. Math does not... play favorites. What is

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true is not based on power, status, or appearance.

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It is an open invitation to discover, to learn,

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and to grow. Next week, we will explore that

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more deeply as we think about truth, how we know

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something is true, and how we prove it. But to

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finish this week, I'm sitting with these questions.

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What patterns in my life are good and worth preserving?

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And what patterns might need to change? This

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is Intersecting Us.