“Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace”
Over 2500 years later, Confucius’s words still ring true for our modern times. Education will always be the foundation for a better life — not only the first step to building confidence, hope, and peace but also the foundation for freedom, love, and spiritual consciousness.
Education is the magic elixir that opens windows and doors and even universes. Yes, it will help you pay your mortgage and support your family, but it will also help you live a happier and more meaningful life. And if we truly believe that “our children are the future” (and we say it all the time), then we must make education one of our priorities. There is no better alternative to changing the world than through education.
Their right to education is being violated in many parts of our world, which is why the United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed January 25 as International Day of Education to celebrate the role of education for peace and development.
Of course, while bringing awareness to society’s lack of education is a critically important first step, let’s be clear about something: education is not just a third world problem — deciding how to educate our youth is a problem that belongs to all of us — the entire planet — especially when that problem is becoming even more complicated in the changing times we live in.
It is hard to argue that the pandemic has changed education in many ways. We have replaced schools with bedrooms and kitchens and replaced classrooms with Zoom Rooms. And, along the way, we have lost the intimacy that comes with face-to-face socialization. Education has literally and figuratively become distanced from what is important.
And while I do not doubt that we will eventually (and with much gratitude) go back to the classroom, I also hope that we will not forget the important lessons we have learned over the last year. And I believe there have been many.
For starters, we have learned that where there is a will, there is a way. If we put our minds to it, education can happen anywhere. But only if we each play our part. We must become creative in our roles as educators and realize that education’s responsibility belongs to us all. We must do what we can, wherever we can to help our children.
Hopefully, we’ve also learned that education is not just about facts and figures but finding new ways to connect with and understand the world around us. Today’s children are more aware of the world and all its complexities and problems than any generation before them. You can’t hide what’s happening in the world anymore.
And you could argue that this acceleration of our world is forcing our children to grow up too fast. Of course, you could just as easily accept that our role as educators is to help our youth face today’s challenges as a pathway to raising consciousness, finding peace, and as a challenge to keep the light-hearted spirit that is their birthright.
Our job is to help our children understand that education is about more than brainpower. Real (Divine) Education is about learning to let go, expand, grow, evolve, and become awake and open to the Universe. We must teach our children how to grow up AND stay children, which is the exact lesson we must teach ourselves.
As we help our children prepare for the everyday challenges of this world, we must continue to teach them (and ourselves) how to stay at Zero Frequency — that limitless state that comes when we live in the Now — present, conscious, free of judgment — allowing our hearts to open to the wisdom that already lives within each of us.
Our responsibility is to raise happy children. We must teach our children that knowledge is important, but it should not replace the joy and magic of being childlike — uninhibited, loving, and full of promise.
This new education is exactly what the world needs right now — a new and empowering way to look at the world. And it’s free and open to everybody.
And it can happen anywhere. Even on Zoom.
The best part is, it will change the world forever.
