When I was in the first grade I was afraid of the teacher and had a miserable time in the reading circle, a difficulty that was overcome by the loving patience of my second grade teacher. Even though I could read, I refused to do so.
We cannot deny that there is still a horde—as I must call them—of people who, like Licinius the Emperor [Roman Emperor, ruled 81-96], denounce learning and the Arts as a danger to the State and hateful in themselves.
For 13 years, I struggled with education and have only just realised that I was actually struggling to protect myself from it. I was trying to protect my soul.
Most people stop learning out of fear. They are afraid they cannot learn.
I said that an expert was a fella who was afraid to learn anything new because then he wouldn't be an expert anymore.
Still today, I cannot cross the threshold of a teaching institution without physical symptoms, in my chest and my stomach, of discomfort or anxiety. And yet I have never left school.
When you act like a teacher, it's usually because you're afraid to be the student.
We avoid the things that we're afraid of because we think there will be dire consequences if we confront them. But the truly dire consequences in our lives come from avoiding things that we need to learn about or discover.
