Security comes not from standing still

Last night I listened to a young lady called Tung Tung Chan on Tedx talk about the fact that we are all teachers. All students of life. A sentiment I agree with totally.

I have learnt over the years that the more I question, the more answers I get, the more questions I have because life is a process. A journey. So we are in perpetual motion. In order to keep up with our perpetual state of motion, we have to be willing to accept change and all that comes with it. In order to accept change, we have to be willing to accept that we are constant works in progress. That we are never stagnant unless we are dead. And because we are constantly changing, we must be willing to open ourselves to constant learning. To constantly be curious about new processes, new people, new situations. About life. Our journey. And not close ourselves off believing that when we do, no one will know we don’t know anything or understand the new place we find ourselves in.

For when we shut ourselves off and pretend we know it all, we shut ourselves off from growing more within ourselves. From becoming more than what we limit ourselves to being. By pretending we know it all, it becomes blatantly clear to everyone around us that we know nothing and we show signs of it to everyone including ourselves. Causing us to retreat. To hide. To be afraid that we will be found out without realizing we have already been found out because we have shown our ignorance to the world by hiding behind our arrogance. Our false sense of security. And when we do, we emit insecurity and we make mistake after mistake. Leaving us in a constant state of fear.

This young lady, Tung Tung Chan, I listened to last night is wise beyond her years because she gets that teaching and learning are personal. That everyone one of us is responsible for teaching and learning. For acquiring knowledge and sharing that knowledge. We cannot teach someone who has no desire to learn and we cannot teach if we have no desire to learn.  She gets that everyone has a part to play because teaching and learning are essential parts of life. That we are constantly teachers and students of life.

She ended her talk with the following quote, “The only man who is educated is the man who has learned how to learn, the man who has learned how to adapt and change, the man who has realized that no knowledge is secure, that only the process of seeking knowledge gives a basis of security.” Carl Roger 1969

This quote resonated so deeply with me because it reminded me that security comes not in believing we have arrived and know it all. Au contraire – security comes from constantly seeking and being willing to ask the questions. Being brave enough and smart enough to question and admit that we are constantly evolving, constantly changing and our sense of belonging comes from questioning, seeking, teaching and learning. Not from believing the knowledge we have to this point is secure because then we stagnant our growth. Hamper our journey and become mired in a destination that was not meant for us until death.

Instead we must accept in order for us to become educated we must learn how to learn, to adapt to change and embrace this process called life we are journeying in every single day of our lives. Secure in the fact that we are constant seekers of knowledge. Masters of our journey and never the destination. Namaste