15. Life Ahead

Education was the overarching theme of the book Life Ahead, published in 1962.

It contains talks on educational issues that K had given in India and America. He addresses young people, educators, and parents specifically. They ask questions, and he provides answers, leaving no room for sentimentality, self-indulgence, delusions of grandeur, or self-deception of any kind.

Comparing Breeds Frustration

In the introduction, K states that we need a radical transformation of the whole of the mind, not just in thought. Thoughts are a result, not the source, of problems, and tinkering with results and symptoms has no meaning.

The old way of thinking has produced appalling tyrannies. This is not the way out of our confusion and conflict. What we need is a different kind of revolution: a radical transformation in the source, not mere modification of the result. Uprooting the old ways of thinking and freeing the mind is achieved through right education.

The basic function of the mind is to inquire and to learn. Learning is not the mere cultivation of memory or accumulation of knowledge, rather, it is the capacity to think clearly and sanely without illusion,
to start from the facts and not from beliefs and ideals.

Many people think that learning is encouraged through comparison, whereas the opposite is true. Comparison breeds frustration and encourages envy. It prevents learning and breeds fear. Ambition breeds fear and is very destructive in relationship.

The Limits of Thinking

Education must encourage the development of a good mind, a mind that is capable of dealing with the many issues of life, rather than trying to escape them. It is also important to be aware of one's own conditioning, motives, and pursuits.

Authority has no place in learning. The relationship between student and teacher enables them both to learn and become aware of their own influences.

A disciplined mind is not a free mind. Discipline limits the mind by confining it within the framework of a particular system of thought, making it impossible to awaken intelligence.

Discipline brings about submission to authority and persuades the mind to think in a particular direction. In this state, we are not thinking at all; we are functioning like human machines.

Education is about helping everyone realise their own highest and fullest capacity. Any spirit of comparison prevents the full flowering of the individual causing disparagement, envious reactions and conflicts.

The fullest development of each individual creates a society of equals. With the right education, there is no need to seek equality through reforms, as envy with all its comparisons ceases. People simply express their capacity as a teacher, a prime minister or a gardener. Status loses its sting of envy.

Functional or technical capacity is now recognised by having a degree, but a truly selfless person recognises her deepest capacity. This does not breed self-centred confidence that mere technical capacity often does. Such confidence is comparative and therefore antisocial.

While comparison may be useful for certain purposes, educators should not compare their students' capacities and judge them on
that basis. Grades do not guarantee a student's ability to cope with life as a whole. On the contrary, giving grades degrades human dignity. Comparative evaluation cripples the mind.

Naturally, teachers must observe the progress of every student. Parents want to know how their children are progressing, but if they do not understand what the educator is trying to do, the report will become an instrument of coercion and will undo the work of the educator.

Enquiring Mind

Teaching is not mere imparting of information but the cultivation of an enquiring mind. Students should make learning new things part of their daily routine. This involves sitting quietly, either with others or alone. Solitude helps the mind to see itself clearly, as in a mirror, and to free itself from the vain pursuits of ambition, fears, and frustrations stemming from self-centred activity.

In the total development of the human being through right education, physical fitness must also be developed. If the body is not healthy and vital, it becomes insensitive and thoughts become distorted. Students need to eat the right kind of food and get enough sleep. If the senses are dulled, the body will impede total development.

Torturing yourself is not the way to access the deeper layers of consciousness. When cultivating the mind, the emphasis should be on attention rather than concentration. Concentration forces the mind to narrow down to one point, whereas attention has no boundaries.

True learning is only possible in a state of attention, where there is no outer or inner compulsion. Attention enables the mind to be silent.

We can teach concentration, but not attention. Attention arises spontaneously when students are raised in an atmosphere in which they feel secure and at ease. Then they can focus their attention on any subject at any time.

A generation educated in this way is free from the acquisitiveness and fear that are the psychological legacies of their parents and society.

Education is the responsibility of parents and teachers. They must learn the art of working together. This is possible when everyone perceives what is true.

It is the perception of the truth that brings us together. There is a vast difference between the conceptual and the factual. The former may temporarily bring us together, but when we all recognise the same facts, there will be no reason to disagree on the details.

Working together is like building a house. If some of us are building while others are tearing down, the house will never be completed.

Traditional Stupidity

Teaching is the noblest profession. It is an art that requires infinite patience and love, not just intellectual attainment.

"Education consists of cultivating intelligence, and fear is obviously one of the barriers to intelligence."

Following anyone is detrimental to intelligence. What we need are individuals who can examine all the problems, and are free to be creative and think for themselves. Mature individuals will be able to think for themselves and not be dependent on traditional stupidity.

A child asks K why some people are born into poor circumstances, while others are rich and well-to-do.

K answers that poverty is the fault of a society in which the greedy and cunning exploit others and rise to the top. Some people want to climb to the top, oppressing others on their way. As long as we are driven by the desire to become something, there will always be rich and poor people, exploiters and the exploited.

It is very important for everyone to find their true vocation. Ambitious people have not found theirs; if they had, they would not be ambitious. Doing something marvellously well, completely and truly well is not ambition, and there is no fear in that. When you truly love what you do, that is enough.

A child asks, what is the real goal of life?

"It is what you make of life", K answers. For one who is suffering, the goal is to be happy; for a hungry, to have a full tummy, for a politician, power; for a young woman, perhaps having a baby; and for a sannyasi, the goal is to find God. People want to find something gratifying, comforting, security that they will have no doubts, questions or anxiety; something to cling to.

We're unhappy because we cannot get what we want. But why should we have everything we want when millions of people have almost nothing? We need food, clothing, and shelter, but we want more. We want success, we want to be respected, loved and looked up to, we want to be famous poets, saints, orators, prime ministers, or presidents. Why? Is it because we are dissatisfied with what we are, and think that acquiring more clothes, cars, or power can help us escape our discontent?

The sense of the self is at the core of the mind. The more the mind has this feeling, the more walls it builds around itself, becoming enclosed and dull. Such a mind becomes a barrier to love. As long as the mind is comparing, there is no love.

Deep as the Ocean

A child asks: why do bigger fish swallow the smaller fish?

K answers that, in the animal world, it may be natural for the big fish to eat the small ones, but big human beings need not live on the little human being.

Life is like the ocean. It is tremendously deep, it has enormous currents, teeming with all kinds of life and many varieties of fish.

It is important to educate children rightly and allow them to grow up in freedom, so that they can create a better world. True happiness comes from doing something because you really love doing it, not because it will make you rich or a prominent person.

It's rare for someone to leave school and find happiness later in life. Everywhere you look, people are driven to worship success and compete with each other. This mentality makes the mind mediocre and prevents happiness.