Stillness Is the Key by Ryan Holiday

There’s little advantage to reading with arrogance or to confirm
preexisting opinions either. Hitler, spent his short prison sentence
after World War I reading the classics of history. Except instead of
learning anything, he found in those thousands of pages only that, as
he said, “I recognized the correctness of my views.”
That’s not wisdom. Or even stupidity. That’s insanity.
We must also seek mentors and teachers who can guide us in our
journey. Stoicism, for instance, was founded when Zeno, then a
successful merchant, first heard someone reading the teachings of
Socrates out loud in a bookstore. But that wasn’t enough. What he
did next was what put him on the path to wisdom, for he walked up
to the person reading and said, “Where can I find a man like that?”
In Buddhism, there is the idea of pabbajja, which means “to go
forth” and marks the serious beginning of one’s studies. That’s what
Zeno was doing. Answering the call and going forth.
Zeno’s teacher was a philosopher named Crates, and Crates not
only gave him many things to read, but like all great mentors helped
him address personal issues. It was with Crates’s help that Zeno
overcame his crippling focus on what other people thought of him, in
one case by dumping soup on Zeno and pointing out how little
anyone cared or even noticed.
Buddha’s first teacher was an ascetic named Alara Kalama, who
taught him the basics of meditation. When he learned everything he
could from Kalama, he moved on to Uddaka Ramaputta, who was
also a good teacher. It was during Ramaputta’s time that Buddha
started to realize the limitations of the existing schools and consider
striking out on his own.
If Zeno and Buddha needed teachers to advance, then we will
definitely need help. And the ability to admit that is evidence of not a
small bit of wisdom!
Find people you admire and ask how they got where they are.
Seek book recommendations. Isn’t that what Socrates would do? Add
experience and experimentation on top of this. Put yourself in tough
situations. Accept challenges. Familiarize yourself with the
unfamiliar. That’s how you widen your perspective and your
understanding. The wise are still because they have seen it all. They