June 20

HUMILITY MONTH: DAY 20: “Fullness of knowledge always means some understanding of the depths of our ignorance; and that is always conducive to humility and reverence.” — Robert Andrews Millikan

I love to learn, to read, to explore the world around me, to understand, to grow. But most often, it is an awesome sense of curiosity that drives me in the world. I want to do this for a lifetime and I have. I can really have a great time exploring people…I love to sit with a new person and find out what makes them tick, what interests them, what makes them happy or sad or glad or mad or amuses them, what they long for, what they reject. I can do this for hours with people…they fascinate me no end. Then there is the amazing Universe we live in…I want to see it all and have every adventure I can think of and a couple of million I don’t even know about yet. And I know that I will never know or understand so much of the world, of life, of people. There are too many for me to meet on a given planet on a given day, in a given life. It just isn’t possible. But I strive to learn and to discover every day some new things and some things more in-depth than they are known to me at this time. I have long lists of books to read and still find dozens more that I have not even encountered. I miss bookstores like there used to be in this world, with old books and new books. I get uncomfortable in the big-box book stores, not my cup of tea. But I have found a couple of them in my town where I live that are wonderful! And I love talking with folks who are lovers of books, because we can teach one-another about what isn’t known. And I get excited to read more! I love watching adventure shows on TV and seeing places that I will probably not ever travel to and live vicariously with explorers who do. Formal education leaves a lot to be desired, because I don’t always agree with the inherent value of much of what is taught. I am much more inclined to want to play with things and figure them out than to learn their chemical compounds. I would rather spend a few days with someone who speaks a different language and learn it from them than to conjugate verbs for weeks in the hope of speaking the language at some future time. I don’t want to know another minute of algebra or statistics, it does not feed my soul. I would rather study life as it happens than in a classroom. I have found that our love of scholastic achievement is highly over-rated when applied to real life. I appreciate the benefits of some of it, but my real-life education is much more highly valued (for me) than all the classes I have ever had. I love the idea of unlimited learning…I hope I never lose my nosy curiosity for everything! And today I hope I can learn about those dozens of things I have not yet encountered!