According to legend, sometime after the birth of his first son, a number of oracles told King Suddhodana his son’s life would follow one of two paths: he would become a great and noble king able to lead his people to prosperity or he would become an enlightened thinker.
Hoping the best for his Kingdom, King Suddhodana sought to ensure his son, Siddhartha Gautama, would become the great king. Believing that an intimate knowledge of life’s harsh realities would provoke his son to the life of an enlightened thinker, King Suddhodan provided his son with a life of luxuries.
While on a carriage ride after 29 years of high living, Siddartha Gautama saw four sights that would fundamentally change his worldview: an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a monk. Upon being faced with the realities of aging, sickness, death and ultimately mortality, he almost instantaneously realized there was more to life than he understood.
Siddartha Gutama anxiously left behind the life his father had created for him and spent many years searching for a greater purpose. Eventually, he would find enlightenment and is known today as the Buddah.
Nearly every one of us at some point in our life, will catch a glimpse of some greater purpose from behind the curtains of our own worldview. There’s nothing beyond ordinary about this, and many might simply explain it away calling it “cognitive dissonance” or something of the sort.
We must all face these scary realities, yet when we do suddenly there’s something special– there’s something especially ordinary about the path to enlightenment.
—
“I think it’s important to have knowledge to back up empathy,” Ava Olson, a sophomore at the University of Wyoming dual majoring in Sociology and Women’s Studies, said.
For the past two years, Ava has been learning from life. The skills and knowledge she’s developing are not wisdoms that are able to be taught by a master or read in a book. They’re personal truths that can be learned only through personal experience.
“I think there’s lots of things I’ve learned so far in my academics that I wish I had learned in high school, but I’m only learning them because I’m seeking them out. So it’s something that I’m learning, that I can apply to more of my life, that I wish I had learned earlier,” Ava said.
As she’s studied the humanities, observed the world around her, and developed relationships with people outside her traditional social circle, Ava says she has become increasingly aware of our nation’s problematic history, the complexities of our civil sphere, and the potential problems that we could continue to face in the future.
“Seeking out any kind of academics gives you more understanding of the real world, where you are, and where you’re going– but also where everybody else is around you. I think it’s important to know, not only what you’re experiencing right then and there, but also what everybody else is experiencing,” Ava said.
“I told my mom that I’m going to college to gain experience, not to get a job.”
Stepping out of her shell and coming to college has been very difficult for Ava. She feels she faces a world of uncertainties and anxieties.
“I’m someone with a lot of anxiety, so going to college was very anxiety inducing. It is still very scary a lot of the time and nerve racking just because not only are you an adult now, but you also are having to just take more responsibility, and more chances and risks,” Ava said.
“College isn’t something that gives you opportunities and experiences on a platter. You have to go out and do things and learn things and talk to people. And I think a lot of times it’s very daunting to just go out and do that yourself.”
Becoming increasingly aware of the world around her, Ava wants to be the difference she feels the world needs. She believes that acquiring further knowledge is essential in order to reach that potential.
“I really do want at some point, to be part of a change, you know? And it’s just kind of something where you have to procure a bunch of experience and knowledge to be able to,” Ava said.
“I think change can happen all the time, in a lot of ways, for a lot of reasons, but it’s when you have knowledge, and you have background, and you have experienced, that I think change is actually good and positive and helpful.”
Although it has been scary, Ava believes has fought to forge our own path. She feels she has rejected the battery of voices around her saying she needs to prioritize and seek financial security and fulfill specific social expectations, choosing instead to seek her own self-actualization.
“Even if it doesn’t give me a job, I know that it will give me something in the future whether it be joining an organization, or meeting new people, or simply being able to understand things,” Ava said.
“It’s not necessarily that I’m here for a job, but rather a foundation for the rest of my life.”
