The following is about the letter penned down to my kids at 15. The narrative underneath is just a few snippets from the extensive prose I shared with them.
Prologue
Essential human endeavors aimed at self-development manifest themselves in transforming their societal and intellectual idiosyncrasies and ethical mannerisms. [1] However, our education systems often skip over the important early years of exploring the self and psyche, [2] which includes understanding the innate power of our minds and bodies and putting an emphasis on a full understanding of how they work to maintain homeostasis balance without changing when outside factors change.
Interestingly enough, we receive extensive training throughout our lives, from performing surgical procedures to managing a business, immersing ourselves in literature, mastering the art of dance, and piloting vehicles like cars, airplanes, and boats. A notion would be rejected as absolute madness if someone alleged their intention to pilot a Boeing 777 to New York without prior training. Yet, when it comes to leveraging our most fundamental tools of human physical mobility and intelligence—the body and brain—we navigate throughout our lives without training on their true nature, operation, and use. This irony underscores the discrepancy between our thorough preparation in a particular case and the assumed innate proficiency attributed to our brain and body functions without training. This oversight hinders the use of these organs’ genuine potential, showcasing our cognitive abilities and attaining intrinsic educational fulfillment across our lifespan.
In one of my articles [3], I highlighted how technological progress, while solving some issues, inevitably brings about new challenges, transforming the vibrant tapestry of life and making the flow of events more intricate to conceive. This period referred to as VUCA, is short for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambition.
Coincidentally, I came across a discussion on LinkedIn introducing a new definition of VUCA in an educational context: vision, understanding, clarity, and agility. Yet another further evolution was proposed in the same post with VUCA—a unified, creative, and active vision.
Unfortunately, VUCA or any well-known educational context frequently ignores the need for early education regarding our cognitive faculties, physical prowess, and understanding and navigating the dynamic homeostasis equilibrium maintained in our somatic tissues and organs. I marvel at these ongoing attempts to establish enhanced pedagogical standards. Still, regrettably, these endeavors appear to be confined to superficial considerations and constrained by limited perspectives, potentially hampering their efficacy. In light of this, I suggest the adoption of a supplementary curriculum that delves into the true nature of the operation, use, and complexities of the human brain and body, integrating the new curriculum with the current educational frameworks.
My work aims to include a reminder of this necessity and other insightful information in my letter to my kids, urging them to revisit it whenever they need guidance. It's not a rigid scientific document and does not downplay the need for physiological or medical interventions; instead, an open letter encourages continuing conversation and resonates with them in understanding the role of these essential organs in their lives, how to use them most effectively, and other facts about life's journey.
Note: February 16, 2024. In essence, this discussion revolves around the intellectual framing of education and the social life of information, focusing on the human brain and body's roles in meeting people's self-development and educational needs. It is centered on something other than scientific facts but rather on the dominant perception of science within academic contexts.
This critique targets the elitist approach to education, which imposes predetermined content without prioritizing the perception of self and the operation, function, and use of the brain and body in personal growth. This approach hinders devising solutions tailored to individual educational needs and personal development.
Educators are urged to reject traditional, hegemonic, and model-agnostic proposals that may confine humanity in the age of artificial intelligence. While potentially providing a false sense of comfort, these approaches could ultimately lead to severe problems in the 21st century. The elite cannot perceive the fine line between genius and depressed people and linger and fiddle around with artificial conflicts that have no depth.
In summary, the discussion challenges the current educational paradigm, emphasizing that people's self-perception is a priority, hence tailoring educational content to individual needs.
Here is my letter to them:
My Dear Children
Now, you are 15 years old. You are a grown human, and societal ethos expects you to act like a man. However, society—families, schools, and your social circles—lacks the knack to guide you on what it means to be human and a man. I would see it dismissible if the situation were not too much of an overarching imposition.
We discussed the narrative below, which could have been more cohesive. Still, in the end, I decided to gather the missing essentials of human development and put them in writing so you can refer to them when needed.
As humans, our birth is a form of transition from one medium to another; each has a different physical and spiritual environment and rules. Sartre's famous dictum relates it by saying, "Existence (being) comes before essence (meaning)" (l'existence précède l'essence), which means first we pop into existence, then explore "why we are here," "what life is all about." Coincidentally, the adage "You don't know what you don't know; this is an endless discovery journey of life" [4] is attributed to Elon Musk, which means life is a mission of self-discovery.
In your case, the essence of becoming a human and a man is to perceive the surest basis of two foundational edifices of humans: our brain and body. However, at schools, even in families, we embark on our learning journey oblivious to self and psyche, how the brain functions, what thought and flow states [5] mean, how our somatic performance prevails, and what it means to have a pertinent relationship among consciousness, brain, and body to gain strength against the detriment of ups and downs of life. Our conventional education systems start with a discourse on science, math, art, etc. Still, it is alienated from teaching about ourselves, our brain and body, the functioning of these vital organs, and their impact on human development.
Humans exist as biological entities, possessing a consciousness that persists with awareness. Awareness is consciousness in abstraction, the ability of the brain to process real-world data, and the truth in non-duality. In the context of the mind-body problem in psychology, dualism is the position that the mind and the body constitute two separate realms or substances; for instance, raising your hand has a non-dualistic nature, contrary to hammering your finger and feeling the pain, which has a dualistic nature. In general, the mind (or the soul) is comprised of a non-physical substance, while the body -our physical structure, is formed of the bodily substance known as matter; hence, the duality is being neural and mental at once; examples are being and thought, mind and body, good and evil, matter and spirit, and subject and object.
Hence, the interplay of emotions and hormones and their comprehensive functioning regulates consciousness, brain, and body, thus achieving homeostasis equilibrium. Despite being aware of our integrity within this three-pillar structure, we often remain oblivious to our naked selves underneath and the deep dualistic intricacies of the brain and body.
While our body and organs collectively sustain our biological essence, the brain and consciousness play pivotal roles in adapting us to our societal roles as humans. The disruption of this holistic integrity entails a range of consequences, from irritability and social isolation to engaging in aberrant behaviors that deviate from the usual human nature of being joyful, content, serene, efficient, effective, productive, and generous with social mores. This altered state of mind prompts us to seek expert advice to restore our balance and well-being.
According to Dr. Heather Berlin, people live in a "perception box," [6] a product of their minds and is fragile and susceptible to outside influences. This tender casing lays the basis for an ongoing clash with oneself, encompassing the facts on mental health, peace of mind, self-worth, self-respect, values, morals, and relationships with everything else surrounding them. The drift fuels a widespread ecosystem equipped with professionals, literature, resources, and techniques to capture the interest of those seeking help and facilitate healing. Around $280 billion was spent on mental health services in 2020 in the USA alone [7] [8], and there are more efforts and money spent to cure these problems later in life, which is more complicated to resolve than to prevent them from occurring in the first place. [9] As a sign, on October 25, 2023, FE International, Inc. acquired Positive Psychology, a top online provider of accredited continuing education for the professional development of over 19 million therapists, psychologists, counselors, coaches, and practitioners. [10]
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