So, what is education? I think education is learning, right? Even if we have the best teacher in the universe, if we have no interest, if we are lazy, if we don’t want to learn, if we don’t pay attention, it’s completely useless, a waste of time. So that’s why in education, the main part is oneself. And it’s a constant education in life, from the moment we are born to the moment we’re passing away, we’re still learning something new. Even though theoretically we died many times, we are relearning; so basically, education is a learning, an understanding, growth, evolution but, of course, you must be humble in order to do that. And in many cases, the more we learn, the more we know, the more we think, we don’t have to learn anything else, we become very proud and then we’re like, “Oh I know everything already.” So, we get stuck on our ideas, we are not open to others ideas, we’re not open to learning, we think our point of view is the only correct one, and we’ll even fight to maintain that point of view, and then we become ignorant.
So, wisdom is when you know that you don’t know anything, and you’re open to learning. That’s the real wisdom because everything is changing, everything is movement, vibration; nothing is stable, nothing is all the time the same, unless, of course, we talk about space, etc., but this is another story.
We’re talking here about what we can see, what we can feel. So, because everything is changing, we must always keep relearning. If you think about it, everything we see, how we understand, it is based on a memory; if you wipe out the memory, you can’t even open a door. That’s why, if you think about it, memory is what makes us think that we know. But if you take out the memory, then we don’t understand anything. But also, if you think about it, how do you know this memory is correct? How do you know it’s a real memory? It’s happened many times, I know many stories – it’s the same story, three or four different versions, each person has a different version, they’re different. And nobody knows which is the real one and what really happened. Each person is sincerely talking based from their memory, that shows very clearly that everybody has completely different perspectives. So, it’s mainly based on where you are, which is your circumstance.
When you see the reflection of the sun on the ocean – I like this example, that’s why I always use it – when you see the reflection, you see it coming to you based on where you are, the spot that you are. The person on the other side of the beach is seeing their own reflection of the sun on the water. Each person only sees a thin path of sunlight on the water coming towards them. But the truth is that the whole ocean is shining. When you go on the plane, you can see it, the whole sea is golden. So, this is a metaphor to talk about reality. What we see is only a small part of what really is, but we hold onto that as if it’s the center of the universe, the most important thing, our perspective is the only real perspective, like that.
So that’s why education, if you are humble, then you can always be learning, and that’s what life is about. One of the things about life is learning, constant learning, it never stops, not even in the moment of your passing away. So always look at life as something new, something fresh; when you wake up in the morning, your first thought should be: How can I be of benefit? Then when you learn, you learn based on that intention. When you go to sleep, you think: How was I of benefit, and what can I improve? That is your intention. Otherwise, what’s the purpose of life? If you think about it, for example, in Buddhism or Dharma or the warm-heart philosophy, if there is nobody, then how can you practice? How are you going to practice patience or compassion if you are alone in the universe? Dharma only works if there’s sharing, if there’s many people, many sentient beings.
Because of course, you can think that meditating alone in a cave, you can meditate on compassion, but that compassion is always based on sentient beings, including the sentient beings that you cannot see in all the dimensions of all the times. So of course, the whole purpose is the company, the sharing, the understanding, the growing together. Otherwise it’s not really a lot of meaning; if it’s only about me, me, me, me, then it’s not interesting. Even if you’re in paradise all by yourself, what are you going to do? I’m joking. But I know many people who like to have silence and to be alone, and this is what they treasure the most. Of course, it’s important because if we’re not calm inside, if we’re not able to love ourselves or help our self, then how are we going to help anybody? It’s ridiculous.
Without discipline, wanting to help sentient beings is ridiculous. First, you must start with oneself, train your mind, train your body, of course, and then from there, you start slowly, slowly, slowly.
Now that I have a son, I saw very clearly. I realize that a baby, you can’t teach them how to walk on two legs, you can’t teach them to walk on four legs, but you can walk on four legs or walk on two legs, and then they will see that, or four legs also. At the beginning, when he was not walking on four legs, I’d walk in front of him to help him to learn, then he will see. That’s why, the baby, he learns himself, you cannot learn for him or teach him, you know. He only himself can learn. That is the basis of education, starting from each individual, and always be humble enough to know that we know nothing, and then you’ll be wise.
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