Unlearning Knowledge

 Let me start with a story.  

There was a student who wanted to learn as much knowledge as possible which led him to search and find the GREAT TEACHER who was living high up a mountain side in a cave.  After climbing up the mountain and entering the cave, he found the GREAT TEACHER and told him the mission he was on.  First, the GREAT TEACHER said, let's have some tea.  

When the tea was ready, he handed the searching student a cup and saucer and began pouring the tea.  The tea filled the cup and began pouring over the cup, onto the saucer and onto the floor.  GREAT TEACHER the searching student exclaiming, the tea you are pouring is overflowing and spilling onto the floor.  

The GREAT TEACHER stopped, smiled and said, just as you must empty the cup before you can put more tea into it, so too must you empty the mind before you can put new knowledge into it.

What the hell does this story mean?

Preconceived ideas and biases will PREVENT you from learning new knowledge because this new knowledge does not fit the paradigm of the old knowledge.  Therefore, this knowledge will be rejected.

Over the years, new knowledge in the form of new ways of teaching have been rejected by the educational establishment because they did not fit the old paradigm.

Similarly, companies today believe:  IF IT AIN'T BROKE THEN DON'T FIX IT.

This mentality is worse than just being foolish and stupid because it can bankrupt your company.

Not only is this a problem in EDUCATION and BUSINESS, but it is also becoming a problem in GOVERNMENT.

That is to say, a new generation is hungry to take over the reins and ride the new horse of government.  The current philosophy is that SOCIALISM is bad and that every country that has adopted SOCIALISM has destroyed itself.

That is not necessarily true.

There are quite a few countries that have decided that taking care of the people is more important than fighting wars or than trying to control the world.  Sweden and Norway come to mind.

Some believe that CAPITALISM and SOCIALISM cannot lie in the same bed...  well...  maybe they can and we just have not given it a try because of our paradigms.

It is time to turn the country over to the next generation and see what they can do with the USA...