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Today's
Meditation:
I
definitely agree with Jim here, but I do have a problem
with the concept of learning as we've come to know
it. I think that we put far too much emphasis on what
we've learned and not enough thought into how we've
learned it. So much of what we learn comes from
others, from the people with whom we associate, be they
family, friends, co-workers or colleagues. I've
learned the hard way, though, that not everything that
these people have "taught" me--through word and
example--was actually worth learning.
I
learned about limitation from my parents, for
example. I learned that the world is an unfair place
and that you can never get ahead and that life is a
constant struggle. They taught me based on their
histories and lessons, but what they taught me I've found to
be completely untrue.
I've
learned some very important things from some very
wonderful teachers, and I've learned a lot of garbage from
people who were so focused on what they saw as
"important lessons" in their own lives that they
truly didn't know that what they were teaching me was
simply wrong. I've learned over the years, then, to
immediately question what anyone is saying, and to look at
their own lives to figure out whether what they're trying
to teach me is actually right. It's probably the
most important thing that I've ever
learned--discernment. I don't want to learn about
relationships from someone who has never had a positive
relationship. I don't want to learn about money from
someone who is living paycheck to paycheck. I don't
want to learn about giving from a selfish person. If
anything, I can learn from them how not to do
certain things.
We
have to be careful about what lessons we take seriously
and which ones we reject. Sometimes we think someone
makes sense simply because that person says something that
agrees with our current perspective. That doesn't
mean that they're right, though--we probably like what
they say because it validates what we're thinking.
But we really learn nothing from them--learning takes
effort and it often goes against what we think we know,
and an unwillingness to challenge our own thoughts will
leave us stranded on islands of ignorance. Know your
teachers, and make sure that what they have to teach you
is something definitely worth learning.
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