Learning from the experience of people who have already lived and died is smart.
Smart because it advances our own knowledge and wisdom much quicker than can be done if each new generation had to start from scratch learning what works and what doesn’t.
Imagine if heart surgeons were unable to learn from their predecessors. What if military commanders were not able to learn the strategies that succeeded and failed in the past? Innovation is dependent on our ability to learn from those who have gone before.
In 124 B.C. King Benjamin had three sons whom he taught the language of their ancestors so they “could be men of understanding”. Then he counseled them to “search them diligently that that ye may profit thereby”.
And profit they did. Benjamin’s son Mosiah instituted a representative form of government, something that was very rare up to that point in the history of the world but which he was able to envision because of the learning he had from those who had gone before.
I asked my class, “Who have you learned from and what have you learned from someone who has already lived and died?”
Gavin referred to Abraham Lincoln. He has studied many of his speeches and writings and found in them the importance of keeping a laser focus on staying true to our principles.
If you want to leap-frog your life experience, study and learn from those who have gone before.
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