More inspiration from Warren Bennis. I will wax poetic on these thoughts and ideas that are taking root, growing in shape and providing inspiration as I read his words. It is about learning. "Learn what it takes to learn what you should learn - and learn it." These are the words of Aurelio Peccei. The urgency in the notes that I have written as I read confirms that this is something that I must and have and am learning. Always in a state of being open to those things that I need to become, to use my experience, rather than being used by it. I saw a play last night She'Baltimore in which one couldn't tell which character was using which. Two women that we as the observers see in all their strength and all their weakness, intertwined with one another. In the most memorable scene they move in each other's arms, drawing bruises and cuts, ruining each other's bodies in something that they name love, but which is abuse. All experiences, all people have the potential to injure us in a similar way, not always physical, but always dangerous to the self. The unexamined life is impossible to live successfully. Don't suffer the torment of the unfulfilled. This is a choice, what choice will you make? Will you die for something that hinders the creation of yourself? Or will you shine, will what you are be reflected back in others. You in others - this is what you are, not what others make of you. Who is doing the making? In the play, both women were making bruises, were creating hurt, were not reflecting on whether or not they were getting what they needed to become their true selves. They were becoming their own demise. Too much hurt, not looked at, not remembered, not healed and not moved on from. Instead stuck in the hurt, stuck in hurting. Are you stuck? The only way to make your life your own is to understand it. What do you understand? If not yourself then nothing. A quote from Bennis, "When you understand you know what to do." No question, just doing and reflection so that you continue to understand and know what to do next. You cannot be afraid of failure. "Unless you have the appetite to absorb new and potentially unsettling things, you don't learn. ... Part of it is temperament. It's a kind of fearlessness and optimism and confidence, and you're not afraid of failure." These words quoted by Bennis are Marty Kaplan's. The women in the play will not let themselves fail in their love. They hold on to each other, they are not themselves, do not understand themselves, do not know what to do. And yet they keep doing. Is this how most people live? Doing things unreflectively, moving farther from understanding themselves, farther from being themselves. In education we learn to listen, but to someone outside of ourselves. What about the self? There is a self that must be listened to. Do you hear it? What is it saying?