A Passion for Learning & the Call to “Grow, Grow”

If there were one theme or through line to your life, what would it be?

I have been reflecting on mine and believe it’s this: a passion for learning.

Thanks to Annie Spraatt via Unsplash

I was the kid who came home from the library with as many books as I could carry and refused to accept that life was as small as my little suburban hometown culture would have me believe.

And, when I escaped to the campus of Columbia University, I was the one happy to stay up until 3 a.m. trying to catch up with so many of my peers who clearly knew more than me.

A passion for learning is why I became a journalist, which gave me license to ask questions.

And it’s why I loved working with university presidents on books, including one about a topic that has continued to fascinate me: What does it mean to be an educated person today?

But there came a time when my perspective shifted. Instead of being a happy student of life, I became someone who was increasingly concerned about what I was seeing happen to our wondrous world and wanted to change things.

This led me to years of playing in the sandbox of social change. I dedicated myself to fighting for issues ranging from equality to the protection of our planet.

As anyone who has shared such concerns and impulses knows, this has been a hard row – as we have witnessed tremendous backsliding in recent years, with the rise of hatred and division, of dictators and would-be dictators, and of harm to our environment that will be felt for generations to come.  

So, recently, I have asked myself what of my original passion for learning? What of the call to personal growth that is so core to our happiness? What of the question that often arises with age, inviting us to give back: to be not only a student of life but to share what we have learned with others?

These are big questions I have not fully tackled for myself yet, if I ever can.

But they also suggest further reflections that I find helpful and hope you may, as well:

1. Claiming or reclaiming a passion for learning is a useful mindset for navigating our increasingly tumultuous world. What are we being called on to learn from all the suffering and turmoil we are witnessing?

2. Given that we grow more from challenging times than peaceful ones, how can we treat today’s challenges as opportunities to grow?

3. Wat if instead of rejecting what we don’t like, we develop a perspective of “yes and,” as the poet Jane Hirshfield said recently in conversation with Sam Harris on the Waking Up app. “Yes,” as I understand it, means not turning away but deeply accepting life as it is. “And” means then choosing to do what we can.

Finally, there comes to mind that lovely image and line from the Talmud:

“Every blade of grass has its Angel that bends over it and whispers, ‘Grow, grow.’”

What a gift it could be, in our troubled world, to be that Angel for each other.