Beyond Learning, Towards Transformation
Learning often changes the way we think. A new idea, a meaningful experience, or a difficult lesson can alter the way we see ourselves and the world around us. Yet an important question remains: What happens after that moment?
Reflecting on leadership, learning, and the transformative power of education, Hon. Ky. Col. Prof. Dr. Edward Roy Krishnan, Founder and Director General of EIU-Paris, shares a message that extends far beyond the classroom. Rather than asking how we acquire knowledge, he invites us to consider what it truly means to be transformed by it.
Embracing Lasting Change
Growth is often associated with overcoming challenges and moving forward. In many situations, resilience means recovering from setbacks and returning to where we once were. It is a reassuring idea, and one we naturally admire.
Yet Dr. Roy offers a different perspective.
Using the simple example of the Squishy, a soft toy that springs back into shape after being squeezed, he asks whether returning to our original form should always be the goal. While resilience remains important, learning invites something more. If every meaningful experience leaves us exactly as we were before, has anything truly changed?
Education, experience, and even adversity all have the potential to reshape the way we think. The real opportunity lies not in recovering our old selves, but in allowing each lesson to become part of the person we continue to become.
Finding the Light
To illustrate this idea, Dr. Roy shares a Sufi fable about a fly that envies the admiration given to moths. Believing they are little different, the fly follows the moths in search of light. Together, they find it. Yet while the moth remains, the fly returns to the Moths expecting to be congratulated for having seen the light.
Instead, they gently rebuked the fly. The fact that it returned to the darkness revealed that it had not truly understood what it had experienced. The lesson was never about finding the light. It was about allowing that encounter to change you so completely that returning to the darkness would no longer be possible.
Choosing to Remain Changed
At the heart of Dr. Roy’s message is a simple but powerful idea:
The purpose of learning is not simply to gain knowledge. It is to have the courage to grow, to embrace change, and remain changed.
Learning reaches its highest purpose when it changes more than what we know. It changes how we think, how we see ourselves, and ultimately how we choose to live. Education provides knowledge, but transformation comes from choosing to let that knowledge reshape our perspectives, our decisions, and the direction of our lives.
Perhaps this is the true challenge of lifelong learning. Every meaningful lesson presents us with a choice: to return to familiar habits, like the Squishy, a soft toy that always returns to its original shape, or to become like the moth that, having found the light, chooses not to return to the darkness. Growth is not simply discovering a better path, but choosing to continue walking it.
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