“Throw out your conceited opinions, for it is impossible for a person to begin to learn what he thinks he already knows.”
EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.17.1
If you already think you know everything there is to know, then you’re not exactly leaving any space for further learning, are you? That’s the wisdom from today’s entry in The Daily Stoic.
Our goal as students of philosophy, of course, is to always be learning. That’s kind of the whole point. If you’re not into learning, or if you’re not willing to make space for it, then you’re on the wrong website.
How do we make space for learning? We do it by accepting that we don’t actually know everything, and that we’re often wrong, and that we still have lots of growth ahead of us. That mindset requires you to be very humble. That’s because learning is enabled by humility — and conversely, it is constrained by arrogance of opinion.
If you fall into the dangerous trap of self-deception, then you might convince yourself that you’re further along in your understanding than you really are. You might start believing that you don’t really have any weaknesses, and that you’re as strong as you’re ever going to be. And then of course there’s no room left for growth, is there?
As the author of the book Ryan Holiday put it, you must be “humble and ready to let go of opinions you already have.” That’s the only way to unlock the next level of learning: by being humble.
