being open to learning

"If we attempt to act and do things for others or for the world without deepening own self-understanding, our own freedom, integrity, and capacity to love, we will no have anything to give others. We will communicate nothing but our own obsessions, our aggressiveness, our ego-centered ambitions."

This quote really means a lot to me. I think it really sums up a lot of the principles this book wants to teach. It warns that if we go into this selfless journey with selfish ambitions, we would be disabling ourselves from fulfilling the true purpose of our mission, to help others. We should all go into this with an open heart and mind to learning and growing. One of my friends said something a while ago that really ties into this; "Don't say you have everything figured out, or you will have no fun in your life." In my own experience, I can say this is so true. One of my best friends through high school thought he had everything figured out. We spent a lot of time together and got to know each other on a deep level. Throughout all the adventures and challenges we faced through high school, I got to see how he handled a broad multitude of situations. Something that got on my nerves about him was that basically any unknown situation we would be going into or all of a sudden find ourselves in, he had this mindset that he was an expert in the field. For a while I perceived his mindset as confidence, which I was drawn to be around at the time. As we experienced more together, I came to understand that this was his downfall. He virtually closed himself to the very things that would benefit him the most such as deepening his understanding of himself, broadening his capacity to love, and sharpening his integrity. He embodied the very essence of the first quote. When he felt uncomfortable in a situation he would shut himself off by acting like an expert in the area, therefore disabling himself from growing and of course he could help others. It seemed like the more I grew, the more he felt lost and empty.

I wish he could have read this book before high school, it probably would have changed his life.

I urge you all to take this quote to heart as we embark on this adventure.