About six thousand years ago, a game of chess started.

A bishop was leading a group of pawns through a desert and they came to a hill speckled with black and white spots everywhere, but the bishop and the pawns were white. Seeing no other option but to press forward, they continued. The bishop zig zagged and the pawns just pushed forward. Some of the pawns started off strong, two steps at first.. but soon they were all just putting one for before the other.

When they reached their destination, the bishop proceeded forward alone. The pawns listened in horror as they heard the sounds of a powerful storm, a tornado or an earthquake. The very air vibrated in the awesome power of whatever the bishop had found.

Soon though, the entire camp of pawns had become underwhelmed. Their bishop had departed and left them to their own devices. Some of the pawns decided they didn’t want to be pawns anymore, so they split off. And some didn’t like their color, as it represented to them, their bishop having deserted them.

So, some pawns decided they were now knights, as it would allow them to explore the world differently, and they’d certainly feel safer. And some of these new knights stayed white, yet some covered themselves in ashes and became black. And some pawns decided they were now rooks, as they simply wanted to move forward more quickly, and they’d certainly feel more confident. And some of these rooks stayed white, yet some covered themselves in ashes and became black. And some pawns decided they were now kings or queens, as they wanted greater territory, and they’d certainly enjoy the power. And some of these kings and queens stayed white, yet some covered themselves in ashes and became black.

And this went on until a noise was heard. The first bishop had returned to those who stayed and those who changed. And he was carrying with him two tablets. And the whole camp listened as the bishop read the rules to them.

But when he had finished, other bishops, some black, some white, pulled out their own tablets. And each bishop read from his own tablet but the first bishop said to the camp, “Did you not see the earth shake and the clouds call down war upon the earth!?! I got this tablet from the King!”

And the pawns replied, some black, some white, “Yes, but you deserted us! And look! We have made our own kings, and queens, and bishops, and knights, and rooks, both black and white!”

Suddenly, the white kings and queens and knights and rooks, and all bishops except the first, were made black. And all the black kings and queens and knights and bishops and rooks and pawns departed.

Now, the white camp yet had no queen, but their king had spoken to their bishop. They understood that their positions would change moving forward.

But, the black camp had many kings and queens and bishops and knights and rooks, but they did not have word from their first king. And so, they built their camp with many knights and bishops and rooks and queens and kings, and started pushing back to cease the word of the original king. The king of power.

But the white camp simply marches forward, knowing the word of the king belongs to them, and to their children, forever.

It doesn’t matter what you’re interested in, learn. Read. Study. Ask questions. Don’t accept answers. Poke at it with a stick, as I say. If there isn’t a problem, create one, simply as an abstract, just to have a perspective you haven’t seen before. Any reason to study a different angle is acceptable.

Twenty years ago, the things I was interested in, I thought I was an expert in because I knew more than my friends.

Now, I’ve spent twenty years thinking. I’ve answered thousands of questions but created legions more. The more I learn, the more I know that I know nothing.

We can’t grow unless we learn. We can’t learn unless we’re ignorant.

This is the way.