Once we stop learning in order to pass exams or to impress daunting people, we are ready for the best kind of education, the kind that's done for our own sakes to strengthen us for the difficulties of our lives, to make us feel less sad and less alone.
And it's here that we stand to derive much benefit from classical, that is, pre-modern, Chinese culture, in particular its painting, poetry, ceramics, and philosophy.
Despite the barriers of time and language, we are liable to discover many friends and familiar emotions that can illuminate neglected, important corners of our own deep selves.
Here are five big ideas that the classical Chinese kept stressing for their benefit, and now may serve our own.
Firstly, how very small we are.
The great Chinese artists never allowed themselves to forget that we are infinitesimal beings in a vast and mysterious universe, and that this frightening thought, well handled, is in fact the route to salvation.
They constantly show us vast landscapes against which humans barely make a mark.
We have to search for them amidst gigantic mountains, rivers, boulders, and forests.
We loom so large in our own imaginations day to day, but under the wise tutelage of the Chinese masters, we are returned to more appropriate and more manageable dimensions.
We relearn how little we matter.
