Learning, training and education are probably the most important factors that determine success and happiness in life. Whether it’s ordinary education—reading, writing, arithmetic and all of that—or highly advanced training in some science or engineering discipline, or training in enlightenment and Self-realization, the ordinary educational system has let us down.

It doesn’t teach skills, it only teaches how to give right answers on tests. So you wind up graduating from school, only knowing how to get through school. And then you hit the real world, it’s another story. What is needed to rise above the current crisis in education, in leadership, in trust, and in self-realization, is a new kind of education—not ordinary schooling, but experiential learning that teaches real skills.

We cannot master a subject without doing it; and we cannot do the subject without being it. That’s where our Western philosophy has let us down. Descartes’ idea of ‘I think, therefore I am’ is completely backwards. The Cartesian split between the mind and the body, between knowledge and action, is completely wrong. Why? Because real learning starts from being. We went over this in the previous videos in the Foundation Series, and we’re going to go into it much deeper in this series of Becoming Genius.

Because no one is born a genius—or you might say, everyone is born a potential genius—why do some people realize it and others don’t? It’s simply because they are not becoming a genius. Of becoming a genius, I’m not going to say it’s easy. You have to know how. But once you know how, it’s simply a matter of the methodical application of certain principles, and we’re going to go into those principles deeply in this series.

If one wants to become a doctor, you have to enroll in medical school; you have to go through a lot of book-learning; and then you have to go through a lot of practical learning. Finally, you have to be approved, evaluated and stamped a doctor by a panel of judges. All of whom are practicing physicians themselves.

The same is true of enlightenment. You can study about enlightenment from books or websites, but unless you actually practice and become an enlightened person, you will not attain what you’re looking for.

This series of videos is how to become a genius in any field that you choose. Of course, we would rather that you become a genius in Skillful Living and realize the teaching of the Buddha, because that will give you the greatest benefit. So, what is Skillful Living and what is becoming a genius? Well, let’s talk about it some more...

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