When I was a kid, we had a bookcase at home. In it was a complete Library of Adventures collection, published in the USSR in 1955. One of my fondest memories is picking up a book at random and making myself comfortable in an immense armchair. As I gazed at the amazing illustrations and read the captions, I was imperceptibly engrossed in the content before and after the illustrations, so that the books were quickly swallowed one by one.
It is the property of talented works to dissolve the reader into themselves, transporting them to another reality. The characters of the novels and short stories took on flesh and blood, and their way of thinking and behavior affected the malleable child’s mind, as if we were communicating in person. Thus I discovered an infinite number of teachers, inspirers, comforters, and role models. Whether the author was a contemporary or lived centuries ago, he was always there for me. Regardless of my emotional state or degree of ignorance, the titans of thought generously shared their treasures with me. Investor and entrepreneur Naval Ravikant observed, “Free education is abundant, all over the Internet. It’s the desire to learn that’s scarce.”
In fact, there is no secret knowledge guarded by anyone from the uninitiated. The bottleneck is our ability to gather insights scattered everywhere. It’s like picking strawberries or mushrooms — the forest rewards the one who is willing to bow down, digging through the grass, moss, and leaves. It is usually pride and laziness that get in the way of getting down on all fours. One wants to learn everything, all at once, without effort and without admitting to being a “fool.” But it doesn’t work that way.
Hunger is needed to truly appreciate the taste of viands. One must have a “hunger” to learn anything new. Ultimately, the problem with education is not about the availability of knowledge, but about answering the very personal question, “What is my sacrifice for?”
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
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