The ModPo MOOC

For the past 10 weeks I have been engaged with a world-wide community of people who shared an interest with me, surely a myriad of interests, but specifically that of learning more than we had already known, or thought we had known, about American Modern and Contemporary poetry.

There were as many different reasons for us becoming engaged; at least as many reasons, I'd venture, as the number of people ethereally in communion, and probably for more reasons than the wisest of us could fathom. The conception/innovation that brought this happening to fruition was the MOOC, or Massive Open Online Course. In this particular case, a Coursera MOOC called, endearingly: ModPo.

One can browse/search for terms such as Coursera, MOOC, and ModPo, and quickly learn the nuts and bolts, nitty-gritty of these technological wonders that are changing the methods of society's new approaches to educating its thirsty members, but therein one would find only a small part of the unfolding story.

For, therein would be missing the truest knowledge of the possible value of a MOOC such as ModPo; its value to an individual, a community of individuals, a society of individuals, a culture of individuals, and finally, its value to a planet of individuals who share a simple, single purpose: to fulfill the urgent need to share with each other. An ancient and, out of necessity, a desire, an impulse, a full-blown resurgent instinct for survival.

Sharing is what the ModPo MOOC does best. Sharing not only knowledge, but compassion, wisdom, empathy, illumination, friendship, love, understanding, frankness, reverie, longing, soul, peace, and solace. Life itself, in all its chaotic splendor that ties the wide Universe that binds us.

It is literally a space where the Living and the Dead, the Young and the Old, the Learning and the Learned commingle and shall and will connect, because all share their never-ending journey on This--

One infinite line upon which everything that exists, and everything that does not exist, can be separated from each other only by a matter of degrees.

This is not Metaphysics, folks. This is the one Reality that I know to be true.