The Learning Project: Rites of Passage

The central question in all of our lives is how to live, and—one way or another—we find ourselves on this path, on a journey toward an answer. Here, thirty-five exceptional survivors who are either starting, in the middle, or nearing the end of their life’s path tell of the secrets they’ve found.

Nothing prepares you for life. No schooling asks the big questions, and you will find no direction outside yourself. Some of us look for meaning in the mind, others in nature, family, community, or work, but the only place you’ll find it is in your heart. The heart can only be lived; it can’t be explained. When you reach the end of your life—and all of us will at some point—what things you’ve picked up have given your life meaning?

All of the people, through these rites of passage, are being drawn toward, are now immersed, or have spent their lives working more deeply toward a greater appreciation of themselves. The first love of your life can only be yourself: who you are, what you’ve been given, what you can offer, and what you are becoming.

These are not sanitized versions, self-help aphorisms, pigeonholed people, or bedtime stories. These are authentic rites of passage, unfiltered, and unfolded by layers. Lives like yours: confusing, complex, uncertain, and in the process of finding their roots.

Some will guide you toward all you want, others explore horrors you can only hope will never call. Some have changed our world, others are doing so now or will in the future, and still others tell secrets you’ll never learn unless you join them here, in The Learning Project.

“In a society deeply committed to time-wasting, Lincoln Stoller has given us something of a miracle in his Learning Project, a window out of our claustrophobic darkness into the consciousness of others, a momentary intimacy with the essences which animate flesh.”
— John Taylor Gatto, twice New York State Teacher of the Year; recipient of the Alexis de Tocqueville Award for Excellence in Education.

“The Learning Project provides a Rosetta Stone for living a self-made, satisfied life; an intuitive understanding worth more than its weight in gold… I highly recommend this book to anyone in the process of pursuing their dreams—that should mean everyone.”
— Alexander Khost, founder, and facilitator of Voice of the Children NYC

“This is a wonderful collection of choices, risks, doubts, struggles, failures, and triumphs from widely differing backgrounds, personalities, chosen paths, and ages—from 15 to 93—of remarkable, adventurous lives… I recommend this book to anyone, but especially to people thinking about how they themselves might leave a well-worn path for something new and heartfelt.”
—Peter Grey, PhD, President of Alliance for Self-Directed Education. Author of Free To Learn.

“The sheer diversity of the stories in this massive work, from individuals who forged their own trails, shows there are so many more ways to learn than the model our culture currently supports… Message to all: accept yourself as you are, take yourself seriously, and keep going!”
— Wendy Wolosoff-Hayes, psychotherapist, energy healer

“I have never read a book like this. The author allows the individuals interviewed to explain their learning/cognitive processes. The result is profoundly intimate and illuminating. As an ‘educator’, traditionally trained, I appreciate this unique format… A wonderfully humane book!”
— from an Amazon Reader Review

“I absolutely love this book!… It helped me appreciate the choices I've made, the directions I've taken, and how unique and individual each of our lives truly are, yet how similar… I can't even describe all the ways I have benefited from this book.”
— from an Amazon Reader Review

Lincoln Stoller grew up around and was mentored by artists, engineers, scientists, athletes, and educators recognized as some of the greatest of the century--including three Nobel Laureates in physics and a handful of world-famous mountaineers--as well as by numerous visionaries, mystics, shamans, and madmen. He has published in the academic and the popular press as an astronomer, physicist, software architect, neurologist, anthropologist, psychotherapist, explorer, and educator. He is an assessing editor at the Journal of Mind and Behavior, has written three books, and has participated in the founding of three schools for young people. As a teenager, he traveled the world climbing mountains and, in the process, fell 1,000 feet off the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies, swam across the arctic sea, crashed his airplane, collapsed his horse, stepped in quicksand, survived frostbite, starved, poisoned himself, survived a major earthquake, was buried in an avalanche, and became a cultural ambassador to families in Central America, Mongolia, and the Caribbean. During this time he attended seven colleges, got a doctorate in Quantum Mechanics, became certified as a hypnotherapist, glider pilot, and rescue diver, founded a software company specializing in business automation, designed and built two houses, and was awarded a patent in computer software. After moving from New York to British Columbia, Lincoln now works with clients in the areas of brain training, sleep, spiritual emergence, medical hypnosis, and entrepreneurship. Committed to supporting mental health, personal growth, and social evolution, he blogs and podcasts regularly. He can be reached through his web site at mindstrengthbalance.com.