World Should Learn From Children, Not Teach Them

Usually, the older generation handle youth as some kind of a disease that needs treatment. They do not need treatment. It is the people who have gone away from life who need treatment. Those close to life just live. Actually, it would be wonderful if this world were to be guided by little children because they are closer to life than anybody else. If you look at your children and yourself, you will find that your children are definitely a lot happier than you are. And after all, everything you wish to do is for human well-being, and human well-being means human happiness. This being the case, is it you or your children who should be consultants of life? You are carried away by your thoughts and emotions: they are much closer to life. If only the world learned from children rather than trying to teach them. The world would then be a beautiful place.

So, if something constructive has to happen in the world, it has to be by the youth. If something destructive has to happen in the world, that too has to be by the youth, because youth are in a certain state of high energy and if there is no inspiration or proper guidance, that energy can very easily turn negative. Today, our education systems have become 100 per cent informative; there is no inspiration. Without inspiration, no human being rises beyond the limitations around which he lives.

You can get information anywhere. You do not really have to listen to a teacher. A teacher is not the best means of transmission when it comes to pure information. A book is better, the internet is even better. Only if the teacher’s role is to create a thirst for knowledge and inspire people to learn, then the role has something to give. Making the whole education system purely informational has caused enormous damage. The time of life when you are youthful and when you are capable of many things, unfortunately, goes waste simply because the necessary inspiration is not there.

Generally, most leaders in the world have always inspired people only by creating an external enemy. If you create an external enemy, you can have everybody on the street. But the real enemy is within you–your limitations are your biggest enemies. Whatever limitations one suffers from—be it fear, anxiety, anger, or hatred—are the biggest enemies. When the enemy is within you, it needs much more commitment and dedication to inspire you. Unfortunately, dedication and commitment have become scarce materials on the planet. Everybody is thinking of doing one big mela one day and getting the youth inspired into wonderful states. Such things will not happen. It needs daily commitment, dedicated work; it is a lifelong work.

It is like nurturing a plant. If you want it to bear fruit, you have to nurture it, water it, and take care of it every day. If this dedication is shown by adults, youths will do miraculous things. It is only because such dedication is missing in the general population that youths seem disoriented. They do not know what to do and are thus doing their own thing. Because everybody is working on short-term goals, youths also work on short-term goals.

One big thing that needs to happen with the youth, and with everybody, is that their identification with humanity should not be limited to just themselves, it should include the larger society and the larger world around them. Unfortunately, this is missing in education. Modern education is constantly training people to think only about themselves and nothing but themselves. The whole process of science is only about how to use everything for our comfort and well-being. Initially, we use the planet, then the trees and plants, then the animals and then, of course, also human beings.

We exploit everybody for our benefit and comfort. This attitude has been deeply set with the process of modern education.

Even as we invest time, resource, and energy in transmitting informative knowledge, we have to invest a certain amount of time, energy, and resource in inspiring the youth. If this happens, then the world will become a truly beautiful place.

Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic, visionary and a New York Times bestselling author. Sadhguru was conferred the Padma Vibhushan, the highest annual civilian award accorded for exceptional and distinguished service, by the Government of India in 2017. He is also the founder of the world’s largest people’s movement, Conscious Planet–Save Soil, which has touched over 4 billion people.