“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
— Aristotle
I think everybody can take a bit of wisdom from this quote.
Educated people are educated because they open up their mind to possibilities of education. The stubborn person never learns because they never close their mouth and listen to something other than their own voice. It sounds harsh, but it’s a good way of thinking about it: you can’t hear what others are saying if you’re drowning out the noise.
Educated people can do this within their own minds, with their own ideas, and with their own opinions. They can also take the thoughts and ideas of others, ponder them, and make a decision after careful thought and consideration of what they think the right thing to do would be. They’re exponentially educated, because eventually they teach themselves just by thinking about things for long enough.
Aristotle knows that educated people have subtle things they say or do or think that reveal that they’re educated. Oftentimes education doesn’t just mean they know a lot about numbers or literature. Education can also mean they understand what to say and how to speak to others. Education spans far beyond what we call it. Marks of education are visible to the trained eye — look out for somebody who is calm in most situations, thinks about solutions before acting on them, doesn’t let others bring them down, and is always willing to accept when they’re wrong. Chances are if they have those traits, they have some kind of education behind them.
Furthermore, educated people are constantly looking for information and knowledge. They’re constantly wondering and hoping to come across someone who can teach them things. They’re always ready to learn something, and the only times they aren’t are the times when they’re recovering and processing information… so that they can repeat the same process over and over again.
I recommend you go out and try to find someone who genuinely enjoys learning. An enthusiastic student in any subject is somebody who probably knows a thing or two about how to enjoy learning. Some of the best places to look are places where nobody has to be, such as an art class or a martial arts gym. These are full of people who are going out of their way to gain knowledge, and you can learn a lot from them. You might even end up being interested in the same thing…
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