The Mark of an Educated Mind

The thing with being a sensitively observant person is the idea that you can make notes out of nothing. It is the ability to stare into the abyss long enough to be able to see light. 

In the context of the idea I hope to share in this essay is the depth at which we as humans engage on different levels irrespective of the length or breadth of our mental civilization through systems of education.

“Systems of education” because technologies are tools for advancement not the advancement in itself and so are systems of education. They are systems, not education itself. There is a synthesis that should exist for the idea of education to be captured within a person’s reality. Academia is a system of education as apprenticeship is however, neither of these systems underscores the mark of an educated mind. They can each offer mental civilization and freedom on different levels but do not in any way define the enlightenment of a person.

The world that we have now come into is one where true education is an absolute. We have progressed over time from using our hands to our brains and now to our hearts. The advent of technology and rebellious systems of mass communication places a demand on your ability to be truly educated.

Now, it isn’t just about interacting with ideas, irrespective of how they come -but how well you are able to be aware of the idea you are interacting with enough to neither accept nor reject but stay within the divide, having responsibility and independence of thought enough to draw your own conclusions.
I truly love how Aristotle communicates his thoughts on this

Education isn’t just about engagement with ideas, thinking, or principles but how we engage and the nuances involved. It is being intelligent enough to reckon the credibility or lack thereof of an idea or concept without accepting or rejecting it.

Let’s attempt to break that down even further…

When you engage with an idea, thought or concept on any level, you are more inclined to do one of three things;

1. Accept the idea as true and final because of the strength of its argument or the weakness of your own mind.
2. Reject the idea as wrong and impossible because of the limitations of your worldview or bias and prejudice.
3. Agree based on resonance with personal narrative.

Let’s break each of these down even further and why every level reveals a deficiency in education.

Acceptance:
At this level, acceptance is usually based on two things. One is the strength of its argument and, two is the weakness of your own mind or lack of confidence.

Have you been in a position where either because of a person’s authority - either real or perceived, you commit the fallacy of acceptance based on the confidence of their speech or the evidence they present? Usually, these people are perceived as intimidating because of the energy in which they engage or the intelligence they seem to portray. In other cases, these people are actual authorities such as; teachers, mentors, or religious leaders. You would then find yourself accepting their ideas, disposition, and perspectives because there is a sense of credibility based on the strength of their argument. Ironically, this strength could be false. That is, it is the power you give them in your life that strengthens their argument, not the argument itself. The reality however is that, regardless of the authority a person has in your mind, you must always sustain independence of thought to reason critically and arrive at conclusions yourself while interacting with ideas of authorities as inferences.

In this level, acceptance could also be as a result of intellectual awkwardness, self-doubt, low self-esteem, distorted self-worth, or just the feeling of uncertainty thus, causing you to be quick to replace your stance on an idea with another’s perspective. How many times have you edited your plans just because you heard something that was said that discredits the faith you had in the first place? This shows itself in different ways. One of which is “validation seeking” in the guise of advisory or counsel where you put yourself consistently in positions where you are always needing counsel to move forward. Not because you do need counsel but because you are unsure of yourself.

The challenge with this is you outsource your thinking cap to someone else, losing total control of your outcome and reality. A different level of oppression and chronic ignorance. In fact, a self-imposed slavery and defeat of your highest self is what this is.

We can accept an idea as possible but when it distorts our worldview and we imbibe such without employing ethical reasoning and critical thinking, we sabotage our opportunities at true enlightenment.

Western education has easily taught us that only one answer must be right to pass an examination. So, we have to accept that it is only the one thing that you were taught in class that is “correct” to make your grades. It’s crazy because you transfer this false narrative to continuous education where, your desire to be correct and right far exceeds your ability to stay curious and open-minded, trusting in the strength of your own mind and believing that you would be guided into all truth.

Acceptance is what the cool kids do. But, to be truly educated —educated enough to purely birth out your finest work, then you can’t do what the cool kids do. You must critique before you accept. And, your acceptance must be solely yours. That is, you accept ONLY because you have entertained the thought and taken it through your system of carving and arrived at that point. This is how you can build a life that you’d be totally proud of. This is how to build responsibly. This is how to build for the now-future.


Rejection:
Sometimes, we accept; other times, we reject. This level is on the other extreme of the first. Rejection is often borne out of prejudices, biases, or distortions. We often reject what we do not understand, what we have been taught to believe, what doesn’t exist in our minds yet, or what we do not think is realistic.

Imagine a person who has only ever lived in a small, quiet village their entire life. They’ve been taught to believe that the world beyond their village is filled with dangers, strange customs, and people who are fundamentally different from them. When they hear about the idea of traveling to a bustling, cosmopolitan city, they immediately reject it, thinking it’s too foreign, too complex, and beyond their understanding. In fact, they would pull up diverse ideas and contrarian views about why that wasn’t a logical thing to do.

Watch how you are quick to reject an idea or any form of knowledge and deeply inquire to understand why. You may be astonished at what you’d find. We often reject what doesn’t exist in our minds because our mind is wired to only gravitate towards the familiar. True education is mentoring your mind to be investigative even when it seeks to protect you.

How many times have you rejected new knowledge, fresh insights, or ground-breaking ideas that would help you architect higher levels of expression in your life and work? Just because you were quick to label it based on preconceived notions, prejudices, or self-preservation? We reject because we are afraid to question, to enquire, to investigate. We reject because we want to be safe in what we know; neglecting the truth that it is the mark of an educated mind to push the boundaries of known knowledge and lived experiences to experience new knowledge and new experiences. Understanding that failure, mistakes, or being wrong are necessary for the human condition. That, it is our sole responsibility to come to a conclusion after going through a filtering system to adopt an idea or knowledge. It is ours and the beauty of this level of freedom is newfound responsibility, a true desire to grow, and transcendence above all.


Agreement:
Talk about sitting on the fence or consuming only what resonates. We call it alignment or resonance but it isn’t. Usually, we agree to only what agrees with our personal narrative or what sounds like what we’ve always known. See agreement as accepting ideas and knowledge that massages our known self and exists within the context of known knowledge. If you are conscious, you will find that for every season of your life - good or bad, you will find a tweet, content, post, or quote that affirms your foolishness or wisdom. You would find content that would resonate with whatever level of madness you operate in. Agreeing to this is enabling your ignorance and foolishness. Education isn’t about agreeing, accepting, or rejecting. It’s about choice and freedom. Entertaining any and every idea or knowledge, irrespective of how it makes you feel yet grappling with the authority to choose to uphold or not.

You see, knowledge isn’t always the eradication of ignorance, It could be the re-arrangement of it. You could be carefully curating ignorance because you are only taking in what agrees with your personal narrative. The truth is, many people do not even have a personal narrative to begin with. They have a narrative but it sure isn’t personal. Hence, entertain all ideas with curiosity and enact your choice to engage critical thinking and logical reasoning to arrive at a conclusion.

This is how we break through. This is how we step into more. This is how we architect higher levels of expansion and expression. This is how to access deeper dimensions of meaning, mission & mastery. This is how to define and shape your new narrative, your newness of meaning and power.

What you have known is sure not enough but what’s more important is sustaining wisdom enough to receive what is to be known.

Let’s speak to agreement even more in the context of relationships and opinions. You know, any relationship where opinions have to be repressed for one to hold ground is in no way honor, respect, or regard? Instead is slavery, oppression, and toxicity. Here is a tweet from Adam Grant

Intellectual friction is a necessary feature of our educational system. When it is circumvented, avoided, or bullied then you lose your power, willfully. Your opportunity to be. The wonder of your childlike curiosity and the ticket to mastery and meaning.

In my work, observing myself and others as well as the patterns, these are the three levels flawed education expresses it itself— Acceptance, Rejection, or Agreement.

You must own up to your strength and be dogged enough to draw up your own conclusions such that you can own up to its consequences, own the narrative, and direct your reality. Nobody gets to have that power. Do not cheat yourself out of the experience of true education.

Schooling systems have done their own lot in training us for skills and it’s transfer as opposed to instilling love for learning and the pure adventure of childlike curiosity. Important to re-emphasize that love for learning isn’t adopting new knowledge as received but the intercourse you can have with information through curiosity.

Just like Mark Twain, never let your schooling interfere with your education.

Now, go be genius.

- Faith Aziegbemi