And the importance of self-driven learning, discipline and taking responsibility for your life

The idea that education is fundamental to living a fulfilling and successful life seems self-evident to us. However, if we turn the conversation towards defining what we mean by being educated & achieving success, our current model for human development is bound to a paradigm which exacerbates our predicament.

What is our predicament?

From where I’m sitting I see that people are extremely restricted. Chained by their cultures patterns of behavior. Strapped down by should’s; duties, obligations, expectations of family, friend’s and society. Subjected to cycles of violence and trauma permeating through generations since our species ‘fall’ into history.

We are spelled into a corner by language that limits how and what we think.

This program is perilous for our authentic expression & connections, while distracting us from finding our truth and a meaningful mission in life.

How can we know who we are and what we want if we are not allotted the time and space necessary to discover this ground of our being?

Moreover, the mystery inherent in our existence is gradually stamped out from our first instant interacting with the “way things are done around here.”

This happens to everybody, everywhere. We are products of our environment.

Civilization seems to be killing our souls as well as the planet. Propelled along by the momentum of patterns and structures constructed to coerce our consciousness.

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." -Einstein

Consider how education is being handled in the standard schooling models.

No really, do that for a moment from your own personal experience…

I see kids from as young as 4 years old (like I was) restricted to spaces where their activity is monitored. They are pushed to fit a mold outlined by authority. School promotes, by design, hierarchies of power which imposed criteria for creating obedient citizens.

We are told to do as we’ve told.

This structure is very efficient at extinguishing curiosity in pupils. Education becomes an abstraction with the goal of grades, which mirrors cultural goals of grandeur. Get this, and then you’ll have that.

This means to an end mentality diverts us from what Terence Mckenna called “the felt presence of direct experience”. Which I would argue is your true education. Because it’s totally and utterly yours.

We are solely responsible for our own education. We assume that from the moment we are born when we learn how to walk and talk for ourselves. Learning is a natural process stimulated by necessity.

Our world is at a tipping point, a time of great transition. Now is the time to ‘unschool’ ourselves (if necessary) and return our awareness to needs.

Making peace in the home of our hearts.

Reference: Non-violent Communication, Marshall Rosenburg

Freedom as an Education Strategy