Whispering Wednesday

Hari OM

It came to me in the night, the whisper this week. 

"School."

Really? Why on earth would school be whispered? I was trying to sleep, but now this word entered before the trip to Nod, delaying departure somewhat.  Not for too long, though, for the basic reason made itself known without too much effort. When we attempt to make any advancement in life, we have, for all intents and purposes, to put ourselves back into a learning - and, therefore, school - situation.  

Source; Google Images

This is obvious when it comes to any skill or technique, be it a recipe for our next meal beyond our current knowledge and skill or the maintenance of a vehicle or other mechanical item. These days it is possible to learn so much even just by watching others on the internet. Need a new fancy stitch to knit or crochet? Want to know about best practice for keeping houseplants? Want to try out a dance move but need step by step instruction? You name it, there is almost certainly a place or person to which you can turn for guidance, placing yourself in the role of student to learn from the 'one who knows.' We can, all of us, learn to paint by numbers - although even then, we still have to apply ourselves. We have to make efforts to get involved and commit to completion.

We may also check around for varying points of view and see if there are different approaches to the same matter. Where there is a wild difference between those approaches, we may think twice about following through. Where there is clear consistency, albeit with individual tweaks, we are more likely to trust what is being 'taught' and give deeper value to what we are learning. 

As adults, we can be prone to thinking that we know our way and no longer require to learn. This would be a mistake. 

Long past, I decided that life itself is school and that there would be something in each and every day to be discovered, learned and digested. (Sometimes to be rejected, but only after due consideration.) That decision to accept the teachings which came my way, regardless of how small or apparently insignificant, has served well. Whether it be a new word, or a new context for the usage of a word, or all the way through to an actual return to school as I did for gurukula, it has also meant that this life has been lived with very few things occurring to look back and regret. 

To make oneself open to learning - even of opposing views or hard to hear things about oneself - is the best way to expand the personality, become fully self-aware and build authenticity into existence. It is the way to become truly 'adult'... rather than remaining caught in the old patterns held over from childhood and being forever insecure and unsure. 

Inherent to schooling, to gain the best from it is to have an inquisitive nature, a questioning mind, and an assertive intellect. To have all these and waste them by always eating the 'same food' would be to waste ourselves. Would that not be a crying shame?