THE DESIRE FOR EDUCATION

Last year, my assistant Kelli asked if she could run a few options past my guides. She had a couple of workshops she liked the sound of and wanted help choosing which one to sign up for.

The first workshop sounded good, but had a familiar ring to it. “Didn’t you already do something like this?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said, “It’s actually the same one I did last year.”

“So why do you want to do it again?”

“It was fun!” she said. “And I got so much out of it.”

And no doubt she did. But for someone like me, it was almost beyond comprehension that anyone would voluntarily take the same workshop twice. I yawned my way through two seminars in the 80s, and another in the mid 90s, and couldn’t understand why everyone else felt so energized by the end of them.

What I didn’t know back then was that I have no desire for education. Which is not to say that I don’t want to be educated, I just don’t feel the need to do it in a classroom-type setting.

I’ve had so little experience of workshops and the like that when my first book was published and I was asked to teach at places like Omega and Kripalu I was kind of nervous. What’s the difference between a seminar and a workshop? What would people expect from me? Just as well I had Kelli.

Desires are funny things. They’re part of everyone’s life plan. Not to be confused with missions, which are your soul’s overarching objectives for a lifetime, or goals or paths, your soul’s ultimate purpose, desires are smaller experiences that help your soul learn more about what it is to be human.

You’re likely to encounter desires on your journey on the Physical Plane. In fact, you chose them before you came here, based on what your soul seeks to achieve during the period of your incarnation. Your soul can’t learn about glamour or attraction sitting there on the Astral Plane. It has to come here for that.

You want to explore your desires, but you also want to keep them in check. They can turn into false goals when they get out of balance.

A desire for education means you’ve come into the world intending to keep learning throughout. People with this desire are often more academically inclined, which is why you’ll run into them in colleges and universities.

But not everyone with a desire for education is a bookworm. Many are simply thirsty for knowledge, whether it’s to further a career ambition or simply because it’s enjoyable.

What unites these individuals, however, is the enjoyment of being in an environment where there’s a teacher or facilitator and other like-minded students. The downside, or risk, is that a desire for education can become an excuse for procrastination.

Sometimes a person with the desire will become a perpetual student, continually taking classes, and never putting any of their learning to practical use. Which is fine in many cases, but can act as a block to achieving what they’re here to do. As with all the desires, it’s a question of balance.

Currently, my wife, Lisa, is finishing up her master’s in leadership and organizational development. And she’s loving it! The course she’s taking has hugely exceeded her expectations, and given her desire for education, I wouldn’t be surprised if she did something like it again in the future.

I, on the other hand, lacking the desire, would be despondent if someone told me I had to spend two years of my life back at school. It was hard enough the first time. I still recall sitting in Miss Tasker’s class at the age of five, realizing, with dread, that I had another 13 years to go.

I finally bailed out of school a year early, feeling like an escapee from a maximum-security prison. I swore I’d never set foot in an academic institution again. But my schooling didn’t stop there. I spent four years at art school where I finally began to enjoy the whole education thing.

Since then, I’ve been on a quest for knowledge. I do it, however, in an informal way. I read non-fiction almost exclusively, with at least half-a-dozen books on the go at any one time. If I have to watch TV, I prefer documentaries. And I surf the net seeking alternative news sources whenever I have a moment.

But the only workshops you’ll find me at are the ones I teach. My desires will never include education.

Kelli did take the same weekend workshop for a second time. She turned up at the office on the Monday morning bouncing with energy, eager to tell me about what she’d learned. I may have found her enthusiasm somewhat baffling, but it reminded me that sometimes the journey is as important as the destination for someone with a desire for education.

“I have to tell you, this is the most touching newsletter I've ever read. Your work is such a blessing to me. I hope you write 100 more books. They would all be gems. I've felt like the consciousness of the world is shifting, but your book and your articles are strong indicatiors that I could truly have faith that it is. I just want to thank you for sharing what you've learned and what you're exploring. It's gorgeous and fascinating, healing stuff.”
- Laura B [Helen Keller: Seeing Beyond the Myth]