Sometimes we forget that words we use casually have profound origins. The word "education" is from the Latin educere, also the root word of "educe", which means to "bring out or develop something latent or potential," as defined in the Oxford Dictionaries. The very idea of education was born from an inside-out understanding of learning, which has been lost over time as the world increasingly saw all of life as coming at us from "outside-in." Just as the 3 Principles restore our deep inner knowledge that we are creating our experience from the inside-out, 3 Principles education derives its power from awakening each student's wisdom through insight as students embark on a journey of discovery. When we see things for ourselves, we truly know them and they have meaning in our lives.
Many people experience stress, anxiety, fear, disappointment, impatience, frustration, difficulty coming to terms with trauma or sadness — and just resign themselves to distressing feelings. We learn to think that life is hard, and circumstances create our low moods and bad feelings. We lose hope for peace of mind, joy, clarity, a consistent sense of well-being. We push on, doing the best we can, and risk harm to our physical and spiritual health because we don't know there is a choice. Once we see it, and understand our psychological functioning and mind-body links, we are set free from the pressure of our negative thoughts and feelings, free to live and work at ease.
What is a mentor? According to the dictionary, a mentor is a wise and trusted counselor and teacher. In Three Principles work, a mentor is an experienced facilitator who can share in mutual growth and deepening of understanding. I have been fortunate in nearly 30 years of involvement in Principles work to have been in mentoring relationships with so many fantastic practitioners who have contributed enormously to my learning and ultimately have become friends and colleagues. Now, as so many people all around the world are becoming engaged with the Principles, I sense that those of us whom some of the newcomers call "elders" should be putting the same love and energy into mentoring that others offered to us. It feels like the demand is growing for opportunities for the expanding Principles community to make connections with people who have been fortunate enough to work directly with Mr. Banks and to have been mentored by the original practitioners in this remarkable work.