The Problem With Modern Content
Books and articles that educate us are content. Movies that entertain us are content. Art that moves our soul is content. Then why has a lot of modern content become a problem, especially on social media? Because much of it is created not with the aim to share knowledge, but to harvest clicks. By posting […]
Reading as a Proxy for Learning
“He whose book of the heart has been opened needs no other. Their only value is to create desire in us. They are merely experiences of others.” — Swami Vivekananda It’s easy to mistake reading about productivity for being productive, to assume that watching parenting videos makes one a great parent, or to consider oneself […]
Empty Your Cup
“Which state is my individuality? When I was a baby sprawling on the floor trying to swallow my thumb? Was that the individuality I should be sorry to lose? Fifty years hence I shall look upon this present state and laugh, just as I [now] look upon the baby state. Which of these individualities shall […]
Go to the Source
“In his Life of Krishna, [Bunkim Chandra Chatterji]. . . perceived clearly enough that there were three different recognizable styles in the poem [Mahabharata], and he divided it into three layers: the original epic by a very great poet, a redaction of the original epic by a poet not quite so great and a mass […]
First Commit to the Process
“If you want to become an astronomer and sit down and cry ‘Astronomy! Astronomy!’, it will not come… You must go to an observatory, take a telescope, study the stars and planets… Every science must have its own methods… The sages of all countries, ages, pure and unselfish men, declare they’ve found some truth higher […]
Assuming Versus Discovering
“Believe nothing unless you find it out for yourself… Truth requires no prop to make it stand.” — Swami Vivekananda What is education? Is it about taking pride in how we judge people? Or about assuming that what we know is all there is, to the extent that we disguise staunch opinions and beliefs poorly […]
25 Inspiring Quotes by Swami Vivekananda on Education
If there’s one thing evident from the below quotes by Swami Vivekananda on education, it’s that he held it in high regard—almost as high as karma (action) itself. The firebrand monk was never one for certain entities making social reforms. He wanted people to get educated so they could reform their own lives and surroundings. […]
When You Get a New Idea…
“We first observe facts, then generalize, and then draw conclusions and principles. The knowledge of the mind, of the internal nature of man, of thought, can never be had until we first have the power of observing the facts that are going on within.” — Swami Vivekananda Say you just felt excited by reading or […]
Improve Your Concentration, It Holds the Key
“How has all the knowledge in the world been gained but by the concentration of the mind? The world is ready to give up its secrets if we only know how to knock, how to give it the necessary blow. . . The more concentrated [the mind] is, the more power is brought to bear […]
Always Study Philosophy
“‘Fools alone say that work and philosophy are different, not the learned.’ The learned know that, though apparently different from each other, they at last lead to the same goal of human perfection.” — Swami Vivekananda Rajat Gupta was the first foreign-born Managing Director of McKinsey & Company. He was a board member of Fortune […]