I thought about using the word education here but that word comes preloaded with too much meaning. Education means K-12, college, and degrees. Education has a certain finality to it, as if it were an object that once obtained is secure. Practically, in our modern education system there is an element of truth to that. You have to obtain these education objects to achieve rank in society.

Learning is the process of becoming educated. And the process is more meaningful than any of the imagined and glorified endpoints. Continual learning keeps the mind sharp. It is essential to mental health and why I value it so highly.

Learning is to mental health what exercise is to physical health. Lebron James is one of the best basketball players in the world. Do you think that means he can stop practicing basketball? Will he ever be done practicing? No. Learning (and all of essential human processes) is the same way. You should never be done. Even when you think you’ve completed your “education,” learning must continue.

I use learning as my value to distinguish it from education but I hope we can slowly redefine education across the world not as a set of arbitrary certifications but as the process of learning. And that the most educated people are the best learners.

This idea is really clearly expressed in a speech by Andrew Abbot.