I continued to ask questions and continued to be reprimanded. “What is the purpose of memorizing a long poem and reciting it back if you don’t understand what it means” I would ask. Even here I would listen to what was being taught and I insisted on asking questions. There I would sit by myself “out of the way”. I attended New York City public schools and in my earliest school days I was often shunted to the back of the classroom where I absorbed the words and ideas I discovered in the encyclopedias that lined the back walls. I acted out in dysfunctional ways, I had what one a psychologist might call “behavioral issues”. I was often being reprimanded for asking the “wrong questions” at the “wrong time” of the “wrong people” in the “wrong places” for the “wrong reasons”. Being fair to them it is possible that they had great wisdom, but hid whatever actual wisdom they had from their young students.įrom as far back as I can recall, I was an outsider of sorts. I received a formal religious instruction in the local synagogue from teachers who as much as I can recall had plenty of information about rites, rituals and ceremonies but little wisdom concerning spirituality. I was raised as an observant Jew in the Bronx, in New York City. I have been a spiritual seeker for as long as I can remember. With this in mind I thought it might be a good time to talk about my humble beginnings. I’m about to begin producing a weekly Self-Improvement Podcast.
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