Doubts, insecurities, questions about one’s own ability, fear of others’ opinions, dogmas and taboos, constantly seeking approval for our actions – soon we cannot distinguish right from wrong, we lose the ability to take action on our own and a muddled self emerges in the midst of an even more muddled world.
It is a very familiar scenario that creates doubt in our minds. We should remind ourselves that in doing what is necessary, breaking through barriers, and freeing oneself from fear are real everyday challenges, that once overcome can show us how to enjoy a permanent sense of freedom and liberation, and to excel to the heights of our fullest potential.
These days parents don’t hesitate to spend money on the education of their children. But do they bestow enough attention on what kind of thoughts and feelings children entertain during the schooling, what kind of habits they cultivate? Habits are initially like the flimsy fibres of a spider’s web. But as time advances they become as strong as fetters of steel and hold us within their grip.
Just a basic trust in goodness and a decision to become good are not adequate to make us good or to be rid of all kinds of evil. An individual will have gathered the habits, by the time she/ he is between twenty and thirty years of age, which are related to intellectual development and professional advancement. It is said the habits regarding personal hygiene, speech and pronunciation, gesture, emotional expressions, gait etc. are formed even before a person becomes twenty years old.
If we young check ourselves in time, while we are still in the stage of learning, we can avoid becoming mere walking bundles of habits. We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, it never to be undone, so let’s be careful. We seem to think that education is just acquiring the skills of reading and writing, but if we ponder over the way in which a child learns everything by imitation, we will realise that education teaches us to live, and much of it is absorbed, intuitive learning.
Anything that we learn becomes our wealth, a wealth that cannot be taken away from us. To learn something new is a timeless pleasure and a valuable treasure. Every lesson we choose to learn makes us who we are. So when asked what we wish to do after college, our answer should be, “I want to be me, I wish to witness life and do things that are necessary, then that are possible and suddenly I might discover that I am doing what I thought impossible.”
