I love Brian Alger‘s thoughts on learning. A little while back, he wrote a post at Experience Designer Network called Inevitables. I’ve had it bookmarked and keep coming back to it. Each time I return, I find something new, something that I missed on the last read. I think that’s when you know you’ve come across something special.

Most of us are educated based on what is known or inevitable in life. We are taught knowledge, but not encouraged to cultivate wisdom. Wisdom is embracing the unknown, respecting it, enduring it, learning from it. Why is it so hard to enter the unknown? Consider what Brian says:

For a person limited to the [safety of] knowledge, the unknown is to be
avoided for it is a place where years of intellectual scaffolding built
up around certain assumptions or presuppositions can come tumbling down
in moments. Knowledge, in this context, needs to be held still to
preserve identity.

I’ve experienced this collapsing of intellectual scaffolding and it’s not fun. When something is bound to our identity, it becomes potentially very dangerous. It’s easier to align ourselves with a lie or half-truth rather than change ourselves to reflect what we know to be the truth. Yet, there comes a point when scaffolding built on such shaky foundations falls to earth and we’re left with a decision: recreate as before or rebuild on a stronger base.

Be the architect of something better in your life. Create from a foundation of your unique and true self. Don’t get fooled into quickly erecting a prefab Wal-Mart. Instead, lovingly and patiently place each brick in the Cathedral of You. Be an enduring figure.