Breaking The Barriers, Passing Through The Portal
A year ago, my son and daughter (9 and 7 years old) asked me, daddy is there any portal in this world for us to go to another dimension? Then the next question that surprised me quite a bit was, daddy, is there any portal in the world for us to go to heaven and meet Jesus? I was amazed and did not expect they would ask me those questions. I am just wondering what made them think of asking that question. I guess that was because they frequently watch shows on the internet and today’s games that show that there is a process of human movement from one place (dimensional?) to another in the twinkling of an eye so that this movement brings people completely new experiences and knowledge.
When I read Meyer and Land’s book, I was surprised at how they compared the threshold concept to a portal that transforms the way a person sees, understands, and interprets something toward a new understanding that was previously difficult to access (Meyer and Land, 3). There are five characteristics of the threshold concept described by Meyer and Land. I will mention two of it. The first character is transformative (Meyer and Land, 7). Once a person understands something will bring himself to a significant change in the way he sees, understands, and does something. A good example Coven provides in this regard is learning to drive a car. Someone who initially cannot drive a vehicle and when he learns he must understand many technical things related to how to drive a car as well as understand the situation on the road where he is. Someone must learn to bring himself above all ignorance, fear, and anxiety. Once someone understands and masters how to drive a car on the road, there will be a transformation within him. The next character is irreversible (Meyer and Land, 7). Someone who already understands and masters how to drive a car on the road will not be able to return to a position of understanding where he does not know anything about it. That is what Coven also said, a teacher has difficulty empathizing with his students who still haven’t crossed the concept threshold.
Reading Meyer and Land’s writings and watching Coven then brought me to a fundamental question, am I still in a cave and enjoying being in it without wanting to find a “portal” to get out of there? To some degree, I admit that I am there! This can be seen when I first formulated my NPO, I was stuck to provide solutions right away rather than learning to understand what the real problem was and what my stakeholders needed. My passion is to help husbands and wives to strengthen their marriages. But on the other hand, my knowledge is still limited. I think I’m the one who is just about to learn how to drive a car on the highway.
I do have to learn a lot and also learn fast to achieve the target I want for my NPO. However, I also have to be aware of the ‘psychological vertigo’ syndrome so that it will only make me trapped to do ‘mimicry’ and experience a ‘lack of authenticity’ (Jennifer Booth in Meyer and Land, 177). Of course, there is anxiety in me at this time. I am still trying to reach the portal and pass it. I have to do it. It is a commitment. For that, I learned from this book some important things from the perspective of a student. For example, not only learn to understand how other people think about something but think as that person thinks. (Land, et al, in Meyer and Land, 199). Regarding the whole process in this study program and the topic of NPOs, I also need to listen using the ‘third ear’ to understand well (Land, et al, in Meyer and Land, 199-200). During my study in this program and during my NPO project which discussed marital enrichment, I also learned a lot and heard a lot. The important thing that I also learned is understanding the threshold concept not only talking about cognitive shift but also repositioning oneself concerning the subject (Land, et al, in Meyer and Land, 200). As said by Meyer and Land: “as students acquire threshold concepts, and extend their use of language concerning these concepts, there also occurs a shift in the learner’s subjectivity, a repositioning of the self. [. . .] What is being emphasized here is the interrelatedness of the learner’s identity with thinking and language. The threshold concept leads not only to transformed thoughts but to a transformation of identity and adoption of an extended discourse” (Land, et al, in Meyer and Land, 200).
Language, culture, and the educational system differences I’m facing in this study might be barriers for me to pass through the portal. I should motivate and push myself to the limits of my abilities to overcome those barriers and through the portal.
About the Author
Dinka Utomo
Dinka Nehemia Utomo is an ordained pastor of the Protestant Church in the Western part of Indonesia (Gereja Protestan di Indonesia bagian Barat or GPIB). He has served for more than 15 years. The first five years of his ministry were in the remote area of East Kalimantan, including people from the indigenous Dayak tribe in the small villages in the middle of the forest, frequently reached using small boats down the river. For more than 15 years, Dinka has served several GPIB congregations in several cities in Indonesia. He has always had a passion for equipping Christian families, teaching and guiding them to build equal relations between husband and wife, maintaining commitment, love, and loyalty, creating a healthy and constructive Christian family atmosphere, and rejecting all forms of violence and sexual violence. Dinka's beloved wife, Verra, is also a GPIB pastor. They have two blessed children. Dinka and his wife and children love to spend quality family time, such as lunch or dinner, and vacation to exotic places.6 responses to “Breaking The Barriers, Passing Through The Portal”
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As I read your post regarding the transformative nature of threshold learning, I actually found it quite liberating. The leader in us desires to have all the answers, or perhaps greater wisdom in the area of our NPOs. Yet, I wonder if the tranformation comes more easily if we step through the learning threshold knowing how much we personally are inadequate and desire to learn more?
I love that your children inquired about a portal to heaven. That is a beautiful thought. I have similar struggles with my NPO and trying to determine how all of this will work out or if it will. I have my own set of barriers that I have been dancing around. I completely identify with what you are saying. I think Ester is headed in the right direction, what if stepping through the threshold with all of our baggage is the key to transformation? I think it’s worth a try…we’ve come this far.
My 15 year old son just got his learner’s permit. On the day he passed the test he was riding in the passenger’s seat (I wasn’t going to let him try driving yet!) reading every single road sign out loud. I was laughing with him about his new found “driver’s language” and he says, “Mom, now that I passed the test for my learner’s permit, I see the world in a whole new way. I have a new perspective on everything!” He was kidding, trying to make me laugh even harder than I already was, but he was also correct. After studying for that learner’s permit, he knew things about driving that he never knew before and while he’s still not ready to drive my car down the busy road, he is stepping through the threshold of driving. Your post reminded me of this story when you talk about after learning to drive you can’t un-learn it!
I really appreciated the reminder you gave us from Meyer and Land, “as students acquire threshold concepts, and extend their use of language concerning these concepts, there also occurs a shift in the learner’s subjectivity, a repositioning of the self. [. . .] What is being emphasized here is the interrelatedness of the learner’s identity with thinking and language. The threshold concept leads not only to transformed thoughts but to a transformation of identity and adoption of an extended discourse” (Land, et al, in Meyer and Land, 200).
The transformation of identity is what makes the process of crossing threshold concepts so intriguing to me. I am not the same person I was at 35 because life has happened and along with life came a lot of threshold concepts to cross! Many of them I chose to cross resulting in a transformed identity. But, I loved your question, “What if I am still in a cave and enjoying being in it without wanting to find a “portal” to get out of there?” because I am sure there are many more thresholds I could have crossed that I chose not to cross, many more portals I could have passed through or caves I could have climbed out of – but chose not to. It definitely gives me something to think about.
Wow, the portal to heaven! I am reminded of the frequent sci-fi shows that my family watches with a “worm hole” that takes you from place to place. One moment you are on earth and the next you are not!
The “Leap of Faith” from unbelief to belief is truly a PORTAL. We cannot go back, we are forever changed, we make new connections to people and to the sanctification process is ongoing and dynamic. Bringing people to the cusp of the threshold and letting the Holy Spirit bring them through, brings a new meaning to the idea of academic thresholds.
I also like your comment, “Coven also said, a teacher has difficulty empathizing with his students who still haven’t crossed the concept threshold.” I would add that experienced successful teachers bring to the classroom an array of teaching tools and activities that meet students where they are. We strive to approach students with different styles of learning: 1) visual, 2) audio, 3) Kinesthetic (hands on), and 4) Reader/Writers.
Thinking about how we learn (metacognitively) and how our students learn helps us to reach back to those in the liminal stage….thanks for your comments…Shalom…Russ
Dinka, I think that this journey is so good for us all to realize how much we do not know, and it puts us in a position of learner, not expert. I know it can be uncomfortable, but it’s also kind-of fun to be a novice again. Maybe it will help us be just a little more like children that Jesus says the Kingdom belongs to.
Isn’t it interesting what our children can teach us? Of course it’s only natural they would read or learn about portals from pop culture and instantly wonder if they could take a portal to heaven to meet Jesus! What a great idea (unfortunately, the portal to meet Jesus is typically a one-way trip).
It seems pretty clear to me your takeaway from this interaction with your kids, combined with the learning about shifting perspectives in your NPO journey is not only opening yourself up to new possibilities but also helping you cross a threshold yourself!
I’m curious – on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is a full readiness and 1 is a no way you’re going to, where do you think you are today with being ready to cross this acceptance threshold? Where do you think you were six months ago and where do you think you’ll be in 12 months?