The Misconception of Education

Education is a process of standardization where the only role for intelligence is how well you are able to learn the acceptable ways of doing things. Getting good grades has little to do with how smart you are in terms of understanding the underlying material. Rather it reflects how well you can adapt to the standards surrounding the material given to you to learn: how well can you complete tests, do multiple choice, use the vocabulary that is expected, and approach problem solving in the appropriate ways?

One will be better served early on to divorce feelings of self worth, competence, and intelligence from how well you do in school. There are too many other variables that go into grades.

The Manifesto of the Universal Donor

"About you the virtuous, my beauty laughed today. And, thus its voice came to me: 'They still want to be paid." -On the Virtuous, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Who is the true giver?

The giver is not a financier who invokes a debt with her gift.

The giver is not a puppeteer who attaches strings with her gift.

The giver is not the insecure who derives strength from anger, meanness, and discourteousness and loathes appearing giving or lenient.

The giver is not the gossip who obsesses about what other's will think of her gift.

The giver is not the vain who hopes her good name and reputation will be enhanced by the gift.

The giver is not the selfish who acts only from self-interest

The giver is not the flatter who gives insincere pleasantries in the hopes of influence.

The giver is not the clinger who holds on to those he bestows a gift without letting them go.

The giver is not the despot who demands a certain outcome from her gift.

The giver is the truly compassionate, the giver is the universal donor.

Giving for any other reason than the benefaction of the receiver of the gift can turn a gift into a weapon or a one ton lead weight.

Beware feeling smug in righteousness and gift-giving, if you do, it is likely you still want to be paid. Don't be a loan shark, be a true giver.

In the end, the world is a beautiful place because the world is not about you, its about everyone and everything else. That is payment enough. Have you asked yet why you continually forsake this truth?  

Drawing the World

A little boy once decided to draw the whole world. He started from the top and began drawing a big circle.

The pencil glided along in a curve, round the bottom, and back up again.

As the pencil was finishing its circumnavigation of the paper, the boy suddenly stopped.

The line did not match up to the starting point to form a proper shape.

"What shall I do, the whole world is incomplete, I cannot finish!"

In frustration, he drew a vertical line connecting the two mismatched ends.

The boy moved on. He proceeded to draw things in the world.

He drew llamas, and forests, tall skyscrapers, and rocket ships.

All the things in the world to adorn his picture.

As he was finishing drawing all the many things, he reached the mismatched ends again.

"Aha!" A few wavy strokes curving around the broken edge of the circle.

And with that, the boy finished the drawing with a perfect waterfall.

Drinking from a Firehouse

There are many ways to interact with the world these days. With the click of the mouse, you can be connected to the musings of millions of people: news reports, stock prices, sports scores, the latest gossip, cat photos, status updates and endless forums and message boards of debate and advice. 

Maybe the internet, and its accompanying access to 24/7 facts, figures, and emotions, should be classified as a 6th sense. Our brains already sort through gigabytes of data every single day through the five senses, but now our mind is flooded with additional abstract information transmitted by today's advanced communication networks.  

Sometimes it is good to step back and reflect on just how much information we are deluged in every single day. Its no wonder so many miss small details and feel overwhelmed and disconnected. Knowing how much is out there in the world can make us feel like we have so little in contrast.

The truth is each and every one of us is enough, no matter how hard we battle a feeling of incompletion. One might say it is one of our quintessential tasks: to mold meaning into the formless clay of the external world.

Be kind to yourself. You are influenced by more people, ideas, and random inputs than any humans in history. Take note when you are drinking from the fire hose. You are bound to be overwhelmed if you pay attention to too many things at once. Attention is a finite resource. We have more demands on this resource today, than would have been imagined not long ago. 

Its up to you to decide where and how to tune in. Calm the deluge and you can calm the mind. You do not have too little, we have too much!