Something beautiful I read today:
"There are many intriguing questions we might raise about each new person that we meet (and some of our old friends as well), but the most intriguing of all is to wonder how large his or her world is. The obvious answer: "As large as the world that God has made" or "As large as Reality", is rarely the true one. God, Providence or Life has given to everyone of us the power to narrow our attention, restrict our consciousness, and limit our mental horizons, so that each of us can create for ourselves - in effect - a world that is much smaller than the World That Is.
Indeed, we begin with such a world - in the natural order of things. We all came into life as infants, conscious only of a very small world, bounded by our mother's arms, or - at best - not wider than our crib. But all the processes of growth that were implanted in our nature, clearly were not willing to leave the matter there. Life, Providence or God - depending on your point of view - seemed bent upon moving us, willy-nilly, into an ever larger world. Each new week, each new experience, each new learning, accomplished this in us. With the coming of our sight, our infant world grew larger than our mother's arms; as large, in fact, as our room. With the coming of crawling, our world grew as large as our home. With the advent of walking, as large as our yard or our street. In time, as large as our neighborhood, or the town. The older we grew, the larger the world that we were conscious of was destined to become - the further out our mental, emotional and spiritual horizons were pushed.
Once grown, if our horizons were to shrink, it would only be because we fell ill or fall ill. Whether that illness be physical, emotional, mental or spiritual. We all know, for example, when a man falls physically ill, how his conscious world becomes much much smaller. Indeed the sicker he is, the smaller it becomes. His attention becomes restricted, his interests become elemental, the horizons of his consciousness often no larger than his room or (if he is seriously ill) no larger than his body. He loses interest in the world, in the daily papers, in the running of the hospital, and can think or talk only about what is going on in his body and being. He is like a general whose central headquarters are under attack, and who consequently withdraws all his troops from the field in order to defend those central headquarters. Only when this defense has been successful are the troops then sent out into the field again. And so with sickness: one of the signs that our man is beginning to get well is that his energies begin to go 'out into the field' again. He notices now what is going on in the rest of the hospital ward. He begins to complain about his food. He asks to see a daily paper. He is getting well. His world is expanding. And just as this is true of physical illness, and its healing, so it is true of illness that is emotional, mental or spiritual.
If illness is the principal enemy of Growing, and Our Expanding Horizons, Education is its principal ally. For example, through geography, we become conscious of a world as large as the world. Through history, we become conscious of a world as far back as recorded time. Through prophecy, as far ahead as we can imagine. Through philosophy, we become conscious of the unseen world of Ideas. Through atomic physics and science, our world expands to include the sub-particles of our very being. Through astronomy, our world expands to include the universe and the stars. So, one of the reasons you may want to take some further education is - quite simply - because you want to expand your mental, emotional, and/or spiritual horizons." (pp. 117-8)
There are many reasons why people further their education. This is clearly my main reason. Education is healing. Education opens your mind, heart, soul and spirit to the world that sick people hide away from. When I learn about the world, I feel restored, humbled and free.
Reference
Bolles, R. N. (1981) The three boxes of life and how to get our of them: An introduction to life/work planning. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.
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