Yoga Philosophy > Education vs Wisdom?
Your experiences can make you wise ... Or they can close you down. Your experiences can color your life in a way that keeps you living in the past or opens you up to new awarenesses. The only thing that makes you wise is wisdom. You may get exposed to it from other teachers, you may learn it from experience; either way you recognize wisdom by the expansive feeling it creates in your heart.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I feel like that is a very strong (and true) statement... The only thing that can make you wise is wisdom. It's all in your perception. I know people who encountered ww 2 and the depression and at the end of their lives, it has hardened them. And sometimes, I see such in my own experience. I feel like I am wise and have a good outlook on life but there are times where I have trouble letting the things that have hurt me go. I feel in that area I can grow.
AlexandriaS
Here is a lesson in Letting go:
1. You make the choice to let go.
2. You notice and stop yourself whenever thinking about or talking about the let-go thing sneaks up.
3. You substitute some other thing to think about or do - preferably something that feels good.
4. You get your sleep; rest well and give your thoughts a break
5. Wake up each morning and start appreciating
No school can teach you this but it is a very wise lesson to learn. Schools, in fact, teach you to study history so as not to repeat it. But it seems that looking at the past is EXACTLY what keeps you repeating it! So just how smart is our educational system anyway?
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I like this topic because it comes up in my life all the time. Fortunately for my profession, a college degree is not required and I am a prime example of experience trumping a "degree" (in my specific career and lifestyle choice). In the last 15 years it's become expected for everyone to go to college so they can "get a good job". This pressure is overwhelming and causes people to loose sight of their possibilities. In the end, much like Mukunda, being a lifetime seeker of wisdom is what empowers greatness. Humbly going forth with an open mind, heart and spirit is key. I'm only 5 chapters in, but I'm already enjoying how from "pre-birth" to his 20's, Mukunda is educating himself with the wisdom each days journey of mind and body has to offer.
Dani
Oooo, Dani you touched a topic close to my hearti: the lie of formal education and college in particular.
Its odd how we recognize that so many leaders of industry and enlightenment from Bill Gates to Albert Einstein either dropped out of school, never went to college, or were rejected by their schools (Albert Einstein's parents were told he was mentally deficient. Same for Thomas Edison).
And yet we still make college and formal education mandatory in people's minds. Especially when now more than ever, college is likely to saddle a young person with insurmountable debt which makes choices after college more challenging
I am not a fan of formal education - unless it resonates for you
I dont believe you need a college degree to get what you want in life including those jobs where they say its needed - I have countless examples of this! = and what irks me most is the idea we feed out young people that they "MUST" go do college, or must get good grades, in order to have lives they want
I'm glad you feel free of this as well
There is a difference between education and wisdom...and both are lovely if both are what resonate for you - and only you can know how to approach these.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I believe it was the chapter talking of the years in his Guru's House... Where Mukunda is urged to go back to school because the west listen better to a person with a degree. It's ironic with the same words today... We listen to those who have gone to college and completed phd programs. Does that really make a person wise? I think it all comes down to experience.