First of all, what is education? Education means any kind of environmental influence on us—any one of us, and any kind of influence, anything that we absorb. It could be natural phenomena, animals, a forest where we live, or the ocean. It could be society or several societies that we mingle with throughout the day. Everything that we absorb from outside of us influences and changes us. That is the general meaning of the term “education.”
We are constantly receiving an education. We are enveloped in an atmosphere and an environment that educates us, whether intentionally or otherwise, and each day is new. Therefore, if we are discussing education, we have to precisely discern whether our influences are intentionally directed at us, at each and every person—that we shape them a certain way—or whether the influence is unintentional and seemingly random.
We then also need to examine the kinds of environmental and social influences we receive on a daily basis, and the kind of societies we belong to. The examination and choice of our environmental and social influences is crucial to how we advance in our lives, but we also have to know how society influences us, because otherwise we do not know where we currently are and where will we end up.
We have to see our future and the future of humanity, or an entire society in a certain country, as the outcome of our impressions in life. If such impressions are intentionally directed at us, and they influence our thoughts, values and behaviors, then we have to take that into consideration. It is like parents who want their children to be free from influences of crime, drugs and other negative phenomena. As it is obvious with parents toward their children, so it is with adults, too. Also, our social influences include what we absorb on the Internet, the television, movies, the radio, and other such media. Everything influences us, so we have to reexamine the environment and the values that we find ourselves in, and check whether our influences are positive or negative, and what kind of environmental and social influences—i.e. what kind of education—we would need in order to guide our development to a harmonious and peaceful state.
I discuss such an educational method in several other places and if you are interested, I recommend following the links in my Quora bio for more info on it.
Based on the video “What Is Education and How Important Is Education?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman, Yael Leshed-Harel and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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