During our conversation we reminisced about how when we attended college, the annual tuition was merely a fraction of what it is today, and still our parents complained! If they only knew what they'd be faced with today, we'd probably have to be left to our own devices to figure out how to learn on our own without the luxury of attending college!
I'd recently learned about yet another price hike in college tuition to attend Harvard - nearly $60,000 per year - up almost 4% from the previous year! Granted, this is an Ivy League learning institution, but I cannot help but wonder if there's another way to obtain a "good education" without breaking the bank.
Enter the Autodidact
You might ask, "What on earth is that?" An autodidact is essentially one who obtains knowledge without the benefit of a formal education - essentially a self learner.
It is interesting to note that we've had many autodidacts in our past who proved to be brilliant thought-leaders, change makers - those who greatly affected the course of history. They include Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Frederick Douglas, Thomas Edison, The Wright Brothers, Leonardo da Vinci, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Ernest Hemingway, among many others.
In our recent history and present day, we are still graced with these self motivated and voracious learners...
Musician Frank Zappa, TV's Craig Ferguson of the "Late Late Show," musicians David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix and actor Russell Crowe are all part of the list of those who had the proclivity, the motivation and the In-sight to learn (and learn brilliantly) on their own and without the benefit of a formal education.
Enter Intuition
Whether or not you will find a full-on biographical sketch about these aforementioned "thinkers" that include an admitted acquiescence to something we call intuition, is questionable, although it is well documented that some, including Abraham Lincoln was quite keen toward this inner-aptitude and used it quite frequently.
That said, my absolute surmise is that those who have sought fit to pursue a true education by self-learning and reach the pinnacle of their profession, were inspired by something intangible - they were nudged by an inner knowing that the answers to equations, the science of music, the masterpiece expressed through a paintbrush, or the ability to invent and build the first successful airplane were attainable through the inner sense or intuition. Whereby intuition and insight are first tapped to inspire the outer expression (that of the right brain), the left brain, that of logic and reason, was also no doubt in play. These are people that know and knew how to synchronize "left" and "right" and create in ways unimaginable to others.
In fact, I recently interviewed physician and author of "One Mind," Larry Dossey in which we spoke of the possibility that many if not all of these true thought leaders understood that a continuum of consciousness - that which contains all knowledge, whether yet expressed or not, could be tapped. Inspiration that comes from dreams, waking visions and other inspirations stemming from the "invisible world." This is the true reservoir of education, of discovery and of invention!
It was in fact Buckminster Fuller, renowned scientist, inventor, and philosopher (and also an autodidact) who said, "...we are facing our final evolutionary exam. Is the human species fit to survive? Can we wake up sufficiently so that we can use our prodigious powers for the good of all, and for the many generations to come?"
It is time that we wake up and begin to use our innate prodigious powers as never before. All knowledge is within. Let us begin by tapping our IN-tuition and leave the tuition bills behind!
To learn more about how to tap intuition, use dreams, and synchronicity to transform your entire life, read Alexis' new best-selling book, Conscious Musings - Contemplations to Transform Life and Realize Potential!
