What does “learning” mean?

Considering what most of us have experienced at school and during our upbringing, some words, like “learning” have acquired a rather negative energy in our minds. We seldom (if ever) go back to change that initial subconscious interpretation.

The truth is that we continue to learn daily. What we learn and how we learn, depends on the degree that we are conscious of our self.

As you read the following text, think of the way a small child learns…

You learn when you don’t criticize yourself.

Every time you criticize yourself negatively, you impede learning, growing and changing. Every time you concentrate on what you have not yet achieved, what you are not, you draw away from your goal and that which you need to do in order to achieve it.

You learn when you move toward unfamiliar ground, when you abandon the familiar, the known.

Otherwise you merely repeat what you have already achieved. The purpose of life is change, creation and evolvement.

Life means change, transposition, learning, the continuous movement forward. When you deny this procedure you become sluggish, you experience lack of purpose and emptiness inside. Indolence is a habit. It is lack of alertness, lack of interest and broadness. It is the opposite of life.


You learn when you trust.

You cannot trust others, life, change, if you do not trust yourself. The process of life requires entrustment. To trust means that you are ready and willing to remain open to all possibilities.
Creativity is the symptom or the blossom of curiosity. To move with pure and innocent curiosity (like a small child) towards something, requires that you trust.

Trust is not absence of fear. To trust means that you are willing to move, even though you are afraid. Fear then becomes an ally that shows you.

You learn when you don’t avoid fear.

Fear is the natural movement of growth in the attempt of preserving what has been established. Every time you stall out of fear, it is only your attempt to remain on familiar ground. You don’t need to avoid fear or be afraid of fear. You need to face it.

You learn when you are willing to observe.

When you believe that you know something or someone, you limit your perception for you cannot be aware of the present moment and the information it provides. You obstruct non-judgmental observation.

Observing does not mean concluding, interpreting, judging, ranking, organizing, defending or attacking. It simply means observing; objectively, from a distance. Observation is always revolutionary. It demands that you step outside the security of your ego’s opinions.

True observation always involves yourself and not others. You understand the world and others to the degree that you understand yourself. The world that you perceive is a mirror image of the world you have inside you.

You learn when you ask the right questions

The right questions are those that show you the way; they will reveal the “how”, not those that will satisfy your ego. The questions that rest on your own independent observations are the important ones that you should be asking and not those that depend on theoretical, philosophical conformations or methodologies.

You always find what you seek. The issue is to choose and to know (consciously) what it is you are searching for. That which you find without having consciously asked for, you seldom appreciate or notice.

You learn when you dare to question, when you refuse to dogmatically accept others’ opinions and when you do not place yourself lower or higher than others. Every person is unique and has a unique purpose for being here. Every person always has something to offer you. Don’t judge someone else’s purpose, especially if you have not yet found your own.

You learn when you don’t need to be overwhelmed by effort.

Every time that something involves effort, it means that you are going against yourself in some way: you are either doing something that you really don’t want to be doing or you don’t believe that you have the ability to do it. Both reasons will lead you to potential failure, which in turn generates guilt. Guilt immobilizes you.

Perfection is a myth, it is not reality. Hunting perfection is the arrogance that keeps you from reflecting your true Self.

Whatever you think of as “normal”, remains very far from health, quality of life and prosperity.
When you accept something as “normal”, it becomes a fact that cannot or does not have to change.

Don’t accept the labels that others place on you as “normal”. Don’t label others, and especially don’t label yourself.

Reality is life (that which is happening right now) and life involves learning. Learning involves experimenting, making mistakes, experiencing pain. It also involves conquering, joy, movement. When you accept the whole procedure and not when you stubbornly want only half, then you live, you learn and you trust.

A person that does not make mistakes is a person that does not live.