Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company, and reflection must finish him.

— John Locke

CREATIVITY

WHAT THIS MEANS

Formal instruction only lays a foundation, and people who stop there stay half made. What completes a person is a longer, less organised education: what they read when nobody assigns it, who they spend time near, and how much they think about their own experience instead of merely having it. Each of the three does something the others cannot. Schooling ends on a date, the rest does not.

Check which of the three you have let lapse. Add one back this month, whether that is a book with some difficulty in it, an evening with someone who thinks better than you, or an hour alone with no input at all.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Which part of your education stopped the day school ended?

MORE IN LEARNING & CURIOSITY

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