Education – Pillar of Stability, Peace and Satisfaction

By Stephen T. McClard - Complete Article List


All educators, at one time or another, will seek wisdom that is beyond their experience.  Dealing with unruly students, not to mention the occasional administrator, can be a trying time for young and veteran alike.  Choosing your source of wisdom can be as simple as prayer or as enlightening as digesting the latest educational materials from the scholarly gurus of our day.  The latest and greatest in educational materials, however, pale in comparison to the masters of old.  Aristotle, Socrates, Confucius and so many others have laid the foundations for our current view on life, the universe and everything.  Despite the answer being 42 to some, the questions are endless when it comes to living life well.


Now that I have your attention firmly focused, consider one of the oldest self-help books known to man.  You may be thinking that I am gearing you up to read a few Bible passages, but you would be wrong.  Although the Bible is in a league all to itself, my aim in this article is to give you a glimpse of a different 4000-year-old self-help book that finds its origin in Egypt.


Isesi was the King in the Egyptian Fifth Dynasty (ca. 2414 BC).  Isesi had a Vizier (advisor/minister) named Ptah Hotep (meaning: Pillar of Stability – Peace and Satisfaction).  The Maximus of Ptahhotep was an ancient literary masterpiece and self-help guide for the people of Egypt.  As you read this document, you quickly realize the immensity of wisdom that is contained in very short and concise nuggets of knowledge.  This work covers topics from restraining anger to dealing with the passions of youth.  From the standpoint of an educator, wisdom of this degree is gold plated and rock solid for dealing with students and coworkers alike.


Take these passages as a small sampling:

“Teach others to render homage to a great man.  If you gather the crop for him among men, cause it to return fully to its owner, at whose hands is your subsistence.  But the gift of affection is worth more than the provisions with which your back is covered.  For that which the great man receives from you will enable your house to live, without speaking of the maintenance you enjoy, which you desire to preserve; it is thereby that he extends a beneficent hand, and that in your home good things are added to good things.  Let your love pass into the heart of those who love you; cause those about you to be loving and obedient.”

How many pages could be filled in this article to illustrate just a tiny fraction, a mere glimmer off the edge, of this one single passage?  The writer of this passage starts by instructing us to teach others respect through example.  If you work at a job you enjoy, it is only right that you should do your best to return your salary with valuable work and effort.  The affection you show to your place of employment will guarantee that your back is covered when you make mistakes.  By passing your love for others forward, you teach others to do the same.  That is amazing wisdom when you consider that your employers are your students!

"Be not arrogant because of that which you know; deal with the ignorant as with the learned; for the barriers of art are not closed, no artist being in possession of the perfection to which he should aspire.  But good words are more difficult to find than the emerald, for it is by slaves that that is discovered among the rocks of pegmatite."

Arrogance is a hard quality to escape.  If you are able to restrain your own arrogance, you find it ten fold in another.  How do we effectually deal with the arrogance of our students according to wisdom and understanding?  The answer according to Ptah Hotep is obvious:  Treat all men as equals.  Why?  Because the barrier to what we are trying to convey as educators is not within the child but within the way the child is treated; within the very words we use.  Rich and poor alike can attain the perfection that education offers if what is offered is truth—like an emerald hidden in a rough place.

"If you find a disputant while he is hot, and if he is superior to you in ability, lower the hands, bend the back, do not get into a passion with him.  As he will not let you destroy his words, it is utterly wrong to interrupt him; that proclaims that you are incapable of keeping yourself calm, when you are contradicted. If then you have to do with a disputant while he is hot, imitate one who does not stir.  You have the advantage over him if you keep silence when he is uttering evil words.  "The better of the two is he who is impassive," say the bystanders, and you are right in the opinion of the great."

Students and coworkers will often have disputes.  Dealing with a ‘hothead’ is never easy, especially if they wrap their arguments in clever language.  The best way is the middle way in philosophy.  According to Aristotle, the Golden Mean is the answer.  Choosing the middle way is avoiding extremes—not anger and not cowardice.  According to the passage above, you should listen more than you speak.  The other person may be telling you something you need to understand.  If you argue, “he will not let you destroy his words.”  Don’t interrupt.  The better of the two is the one that is impassive (not susceptible to pain-equanimity).  According to Verbal Judo, by George Thompson, remove bias from your persona.


In my book, The Superior Educator, I relate this idea in the form of the calm and assertive demeanor.  The calm and assertive persona removes the barrier in the middle.  George Thompson says, “Think for the other person in the manner in which they should be thinking for themselves.”  When you remove your own bias, condescension, anger and prejudice, you open the door for dialog to take place.  Solving such problems can lead to humility when a student or coworker is treated with honor and respect.


As you consider what has been said in this article, realize that the work of becoming a great educator is locked within improving one person at a time.  The work of inspiring the mind and producing the next great generation of thinkers is not that far removed from this ancient document of Egyptian culture.  It’s locked within the potential of valuing the humanity of everyone we influence without forgetting the true source of Good in the world.  Evil cannot prevail against the mercy of truth.


I’ll leave you with one more passage and let you figure out the rest.

“Apply yourself while you speak; speak only of perfect things; and let the great who shall hear you say: "Twice good is that which issues from his mouth!"

Many believe Ptah Hotep to be Joseph from the Bible.


Plain Language Version

Seed of Truth - Education

By Stephen T. McClard - Complete Article List

“Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out; a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment.  Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated.  Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.”  Victor Frankl

Everyone, no matter their lot in life, will act a part in the play called life. When viewed against the vastness of space and time, our lives are but grains of sand on an infinite stage. Some lives in this performance are seemingly insignificant while others play leading roles. The factors that determine our lot in life are guided by our views of truth and dictated by our larger view of the production for which we are cast.

Contained within every soul and locked within every human experience, truth abounds yet hides itself, patiently waiting to be found in its correct form and on its own terms. Truth, after all, is the ultimate end pursuit of all conscious efforts and the motivation for our movement forward in time. Housed in this tiny piece of real estate, we search, eking out our existence, patiently waiting for tiny moments of discovery that can fill our void and expand our view of the universe.

The unsatisfied thirst to understand and know truth is what plagues our existence. Yet, our finite existence contains potential for an infinitely marvelous array of possibilities when shadows of truth are humbly understood and applied to our efforts and struggles. Sadly, our truths are but the mere edges of ultimate universal truths that are waiting to be discovered.

Found within our souls and within our intellect, we hold the capacity to know and understand. We lack only the proper insights and connections for truth to be realized fully in our lives. As we seek to discover new understanding, truth observes our progress and waits. Eons of time have passed since truth began its work, anticipating moments in time to reveal its purpose and expand our dimly lit view.

Nations struggle and wars rage, all in the name of truth. Contradictions to truth abound, yet truth remains constant, shining amid our turmoil and strife. We rage and fight to proclaim our knowledge of truth, yet truth patiently waits to reveal its purpose. We arrogantly boast that we possess truth, yet truth patiently waits for us to humble our souls.

Truth cannot be contained by a mere fleshly vessel. Knowing this is our first step to know more of what the immutable laws of truth offer. Truth cannot allow itself to be used for false purposes. Knowing this is our second step to understanding our reality and allowing truth to fill our need. Truth will not be used to manipulate or alter what is true. Knowing this allows us to humbly accept what truth sets out to accomplish. Truth patiently waits.

Our ways are not yet the ways of truth. Our thoughts are not yet the thoughts of truth. Our sense of justice is but a glimpse of what truth demands. The edges of truth are barely visible when seen through our dimly lit reality. We can be assured in our pursuit of truth if we will only humble our thoughts and patiently seek the glories of what truth will bring to our souls.

Truth moves about, quietly whispering in the ears of those who will listen. It speaks throughout the ages of what is right and good and pure. It gives a voice to the humble philosopher and shines a light for the seekers of knowledge. Passed along from generation to generation, its illuminations multiply. Called by many names, it quietly proclaims its wisdom, allowing us to grow in our understanding and control.

Truth asks only one thing of us: to humbly set our minds in the midst of knowledge and toward the pursuit of bettering others and ourselves. Truth patiently waits for us to seek and discover the rewards it has waiting for a generation that will plum the depths of its boundless and abundant seeds of potential.

Truth is the pursuit, but meaning is the reward. The rewards of meaning and the pursuit of life are the answer to the ageless questions that have haunted man since truth first began its work; who am I and what is my purpose? Before truth fully answers these questions in your heart, it has one expectation.

As you gasp your last breath of life, what will run through your mind? What thoughts will you have about your life and the purpose for which you were formed? The two questions truth will answer in our lives--who am I and what is my purpose?--will become startlingly clear to you at this moment, the final humbling moment of physical life. As you have your last thought, this will be the moment at which you realize the impact you had on others, the moment when you realize that you either lived your purpose on this earth or you missed your purpose completely.

Until this moment, truth hesitates to answer our questions. It waits patiently, eagerly, hoping it can bring the answers to light before our light fades and our eyes close for the last time. For a select few mortal souls, the seekers of knowledge, the meaning to these two questions will be answered before this moment arrives. Truth will gladly answer these questions but has an expectation which is hidden in an ancient riddle, the parts of which have been scattered in full view since truth first began its work.

The first part of the riddle is this: no matter where we go, there we will be, and until we realize that we can only be where we go, we will only be where we are. Going is the only way to travel along the path of truth. Just as the apprentice must stay with his master, truth will accept no less than this from us. We realize at this moment that answering the riddle starts with the journey.

The journey with truth starts with the first step and is the second part of the riddle. The first step in the journey is the most important step and cannot be taken in the wrong direction. It is at this point that most souls will stumble and lose their way along the true path. Without taking the proper steps in the proper directions, truth will continue without its apprentice. As sojourners with truth, we are bound to the path of truth and thus begin our journey in life.

Our journey begins when we enter through the gate of life at birth and lasts until we finally move through the portal of death. It is between these moments that truth forges our destiny in the crucible of life. It is at this moment that truth decides our fate, the one purpose that we were formed from nothing to accomplish. What happens between these two moments, birth and death, will decide our fate. Truth, with its friend fate, decides our future destiny and dictates our purpose as we walk the path of life. Discovering purpose in life starts with the first step and ends with the last. Where we go, there we are, together with truth, stepping forward toward our destiny.

What, then, does truth require of the knowledge seeker along the journey? To discover the answer to this question, we must first learn humility. Truth will not reveal itself until we are humble before it. This may happen along the path or will finally happen when we exit this life through the portal of death. We are powerless against the eventuality of humility, so pushing ourselves beyond self will be the first step to understanding what truth requires of us.

To gain humility, we realize that our soul is unique to the purpose for which it was created. We choose our path through free will, and the choices we make along the way define who we are and will further define the unique steps of others. The value we see in others will be reflected in the value we place on ourselves. Free will is, therefore, the determining factor in our choice to be humble or to be selfish and self-centered. Free will can lead us away from the self-deception that separates us from truth, or it will ultimately lead us away from the true path. We are free to travel the paths of truth when our self-will is removed and we humble ourselves by seeking the good of the many.

Truth is simply the destination of a random and unpredictable journey. As our soul walks to the grave, the steps taken along the way are dictated by free will. Whether we seek evil or good, all paths end at truth. For the seeker of knowledge, reward is gained and continues beyond the grave. For the seeker of self, reward is pursued but never gained, ending at the grave.

This life is fleeting. At our essence, we are souls trapped in a decaying corpse, a corpse moving about in time. Will the precious time we have on this earth be lived for our own selfish ends, or will we take each step forward for the betterment of others? Discovering our purpose for this movement in time is then reduced to these two choices and will define who we are when the end finally comes. No matter where we go, there we will be, and until we realize that we can only be where we go, we will only be where we are.

Article originally written in July 2009 by Stephen McClard- Revised 2010

I am noticing that my essay on truth has been plagiarized many times by various individuals across the internet.  I wrote this essay from the heart and it is a sad testament to the pride that my article stands against.   I really don't mind if people reproduce my work, but please, give credit where credit is due.  Otherwise, you represent everything this essay stands against.