Applied learning, when effectively guided through experience by teachers with their students, then becomes eternally owned by the student.  The knowledge and discipline gained by the student in theses learning experiences is indelibly imaged and valued to a determined degree by the student.  The student who has truly learned and values what they have learned in these application experiences will then apply this transferable and connecting value, at their own discretion, in their future learning journey.

Ryan Holiday has captured this concept quite well as he studied how the ancient philosophers, in their final hours of life, left their students to their own learning.

“You may be thinking,” he said to them, “The word of the teacher is now a thing of the past; now we have no more teacher.”  But that is not how you should see it.  Let the Dhamma and the Discipline that I have taught you be your Teacher when I am gone.”  “All individual things pass away,” he said, “Seek your liberation with diligence.”  — Buddha —

The valued lessons that I’ve learned and applied to this point, directly from the guidance of my parents and the other significant teachers I’ve come across in my life, will live on with me.  I have also found that I greatly value paying this learning forward.  I teach and continue to learn with others that are uniquely curios as well.  They have chosen to excel, not merely get through the day with what they already know.

Seek to learn (seek your liberation with diligence), no one will do that for you.  It’s not someone else’s job to do this for you.  Find your impactful teachers and take their guidance to apply what you are learning in your experiences.  What you have learned is then yours.  To learn at an even deeper level, guide and teach others that invest in their own learning.

MITM