Today's
Meditation:
I've been
fighting ignorance my whole life long, both my own and
that of other people. In my own life, I don't like
not knowing things, so I do my best to learn all that I
can about almost everything. I realize that what I
know is less than one drop of water in an ocean relative
to all there is to know, but I do what I can to minimize
my ignorance. As a teacher, I try my best to help
other people work past their ignorance and embrace
knowledge, to learn things that are important to them in
their lives so they won't miss out on things they don't
know about.
Many
people view ignorance as willful, and while there is such
a thing as willful ignorance-- choosing not to learn about
a certain topic-- we often don't know about things because
we don't know that we should know about them. If
I've never heard of something, then how do I know I want
to learn about it? This is why it's important always
to stay alert and to pay attention to those things that
are important to us in our lives, so that we can know more
about things that we really do need to know about.
I
don't want to be ignorant because if I am, my life is
going to be much less rich, much less fulfilling.
I'm going to be able to help others much less when what I
don't know is more than what I do know. My ignorance
is curable, but it does take some effort on my part to be
aware of what I'm ignorant of, and then some more effort
learning those things I need to know in order to overcome
my ignorance. There is much to learn and know on
this planet, and while I'll never know it all, I can do my
best not to be ignorant of many things.
One
of the things that life requires of us if we're to make
the most of it is constant learning, and after we've
learned a lot, constant teaching. I don't want to
make silly mistakes and miss out on important things
because I don't know about them, and I teach others what I
can because I don't want them to miss out, either.
After all, I've lost much of my ignorance due to the
teachings of others, so it's good to return the favor.
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