Why do we have limitations?

One reason why we have limitations is that we have been taught them or have learnt them from experience. It is said that fleas are trained by putting a cover over them they then learn that when they jump above a certain height they will hit the cover and get hurt. Consequently they stop jumping so high and only jump to a level where they can trust that they will not get hurt by hitting the cover. After they have learnt this the trainer can take the cover away and they will still not try to jump any higher.

We can be taught that we cannot do things in the same way as the flea. It does not matter whether those things are right and proper things to do or not. This is why those in teaching roles carry a lot of responsibility. It is not so much how they teach people that they are judged for but what they teach people. They can be the ones who put the limits on or take the limits off people. They are trusted as people who know what the right thing really is hence the responsibility that they carry.

In one sense we are all responsible for what we learn and in a sense that is true. We should go on and check what we have learnt against primary sources and use our own common sense to work things out for ourselves. However, we have this habit of simply accepting what the teacher says and following whatever party line that they take. Sometimes we even see flaws in the evidence presented to us about a particular view point and still accept it because we trust the person who told us about that view point knew that it was right.

Teachers can only teach people the things that they know for themselves. If they do not know how and why something happens they cannot explain it to anyone else. One reason why we have to take responsibility in terms of who we learn from. That includes what TV programmes we watch, mp3 files we listen to, books we read and the company that we keep.

Teachers are no less biased than the rest of us. Some have seen people hurt by the mistakes that others have made and as a result will say that doing xyz is wrong because it hurts people. If only life was so simple. How many times have you looked at something and realised that you see it in a different light to someone else? Truth is truth but you can stand in one position and see it in one way and stand in another position and see it in another. They are good people and want to protect others but by doing this they put limits on people.

I am reminded of the letter my primary school headmistress sent out before the annual school trip. Every year one pupil had an accident with a drinks container and every year the list what drinks containers were unacceptable increased. The aim was to find some way of preventing someone having an accident with a drink. No matter what the limits were somehow someone always seemed to have an accident. Gradually the freedom to take what we wanted was diminished as we had to follow the rules.

Our ability to choose what we learn increases as we develop and mature. By then though we have spent many years learning from our families and the people they have trusted to care for us or teach us. Some of us have learnt many limitations by then, not all of them useful ones. Some have learnt that if they talk to someone then they will not be heard. Some have learnt that the only way to feel secure is to hide away from other people.  

Time some of us went back to the primary source and did some proper investigation of what we are capable of doing. People will hear us if we have the courage to make the effort to speak to others. We can still be safe if we come out from behind the barricades. We can do things if we take the limits off ourselves.

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