It is about you and me and the way we live our lives.
It is about why we learn, what we learn, how we learn, and where it leads us ...
What if we could learn to change ourselves simply by learning to understand ourselves better?
What if this understanding becomes the change we always wanted?
"Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire."
— William Butler Yeats
Ok, that sounds true, but what is this fire?
This fire is our natural passion for learning, discovering, and creating. It is the fire that uncovers all our talents.
How does one light it?
By being attentive and sensitive. By changing the current paradigm — in which insensitivity thrives — to a paradigm in which sensitivity makes space for our human potential and talents to blossom.
What does that mean?
It means that sensitivity is a prerequisite for the emergence of intelligence and the uncovering of talent. Sensitivity comes with self-knowledge. The more we learn about ourselves, the more sensitive we become. The more sensitive we are, the more important this self-knowledge becomes. In this context, self-knowledge doesn't imply knowing one's preferences, tendencies, or likes and dislikes. Here, it simply refers to basic, natural, psychological self-knowledge. This type of knowledge deals with the natural functioning of the mind.
Where do we start?
With our motivation. With the investigation of our motivation! Motivation plays a central role in any learning process or system alike. Motivation is the energy that is needed to get started, to carry on, and to complete whatever we pursue. It is what keeps us going.
But we do need to look at what our motivation sets in motion. What is our aspiration? What is our inspiration? This is essential to know for motivation is like a matchstick. The fire that it lits, will reflect its underlying aspiration. Fear will ignite ambition. Trust will ignite passion. And whatever inspires us to do something, will reveal itself in its result.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
— Jiddu Krishnamurti
The motivation that is born out of trust generates openness and sensitivity. Sensitivity always implies the presence of nuance and space. It is highly interlinked with creativity. Only the sensitive are truly creative and the truly creative are sensitive by definition.
Sensitivity and creativity are at the center of our natural evolution. We need a deeper level of sensitivity and creativity in our educational systems and society. That means we need a deeper level of understanding and knowing ourselves.
“To understand life is to understand ourselves,
and that is both the beginning and the end of education.”
― Jiddu Krishnamurti
Safe and sensitive — physical and psychological — educational settings can work wonders.