I Am a Teacher

I am 32, and I can say clearly where I feel my purpose lies. On the calling of a teacher, and why I consider stupidity the greatest trouble of our society.

I think I have been incredibly lucky. I am 32, and I can say very clearly who I want to be and where I feel my purpose lies.

I am a Christian, and I believe (forgive me, atheists and agnostics) that God reveals a person’s calling to them and gives them the strength to fulfil it.

We can either step into our calling or stubbornly avoid it — that is within our own free will. God doesn’t force or limit anyone. We are free to run our lives as we see fit.

I am a teacher. I love running an enormous volume of knowledge through myself, extracting the core principles and testing them on myself and on my clients.

The way a prospector runs tons of sand through his sieve looking for gold ore, I run tons of information through myself looking for what genuinely changes a person’s life.

To me the world looks like a children’s game. There are three teams in it. The first freezes other people. The second is already standing still, frozen. And the third is free and tries to unfreeze as many of the players stuck in place as possible.

I watch a great many people who go through life frozen by stupidity, fear, poverty, a closed mind and sin. They stand there numb while the time of their life runs out like sand through their fingers.

Sadly, there are a great many people on the first team who “freeze” others. They produce and distribute alcohol, drugs, pornography, esoteric teachings and books, horror films and outright heresy. The list goes on.

And there is a third team — the “free” people. These are the ones who have already won their battle against various dependencies and problems, and now want to unfreeze the people in the second category.

When someone with a happy family talks to someone struggling in their relationship, they can help that person — if they are open and willing to listen. Someone who has climbed out of debt and got back on their feet can give advice to someone drowning in loans. People who have beaten a harmful addiction — porn, alcohol, drugs, gambling — can help those still fighting it.

But personally I consider stupidity the greatest trouble of our society. The Bible says it is better for a person to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.

Stupidity is the most expensive thing on the planet. It can easily take everything from us: health, family, peace of mind, prosperity, the future, life itself.

The fight against stupidity and ignorance is exactly what I consider my priority.

That is why I teach people. Because the fastest and most effective way to change your life is to change your beliefs. When our thinking changes, it leads to new decisions, and those decisions produce new results.

There are many kinds of work that can bring in good money. But the feeling of deep meaning in what we do is far from guaranteed.

It is meaning, the answer to the question “What for?”, that drives me and lets me create so much content, hold so many online meetings, accept almost every offline invitation and reply to almost everyone who writes to me.

Meaning. It is the main source of motivation. It is what is driving me right now, at 1:24 a.m. after a brutal working day, to write this text.

That is also the reason I don’t burn out or get emotionally exhausted — sometimes only physically. Because when God gives you a vision, He gives you the strength and all the resources to make it happen.

When there is a vision, the team and the resources come to it. A really strong team is forming around us. In the first interview I tell every person about our values, and we only take on board those who want to play for the third team, the “free people.” We take those who want to unfreeze others and free as many people as possible from stupidity, fear, poverty, disappointment and problems.

The more people we manage to reach, the more effectively we can use the gifts and talents God has given us.

And do you see frozen people around you?