When I was at the Aleph Kallah last month, I took a class with Arthur Kurzweil in which he taught us 20 Kabbalistic principles he would teach his children — and has. (I’ve met his son.) One keeps returning to my mind over and over again: If you think you’ve arrived, you’re lost.
To me, this serves as a lesson in humility as well as a lesson in perseverance. First, we must never think we have reached the pinnacle of anything — our profession, our art, our sport, etc. We must always acknowledge that we have more to learn, more to do, more effort to exert. We must always acknowledge that there are others above us, better than us, smarter than us, more knowledgeable than us. This gives us something for which to strive, a goal, a destination…a new place at which to arrive.
Which brings me to to the second point: perseverence. We must never stop working, learning, improving, striving. We must never give up, or let up, thinking we have reached our destination — that we have, indeed, arrived. Our goals and dreams must be ever changing. Our destination must be always moving forward, upward, so we don’t ever quite arrive.
That’s how we reach our full human potential. That’s how we achieve personal growth.
So, the question becomes, are you lost? If so, find a new destination.
