Finding the Right Environment

I was sharing with the new school librarian that some of my student clients would certainly have fared better had they been brought up in a more advantageous family background given their inherent brightness. She let out a sigh and said " men mu san qian " alluding to a chinese idiom which described how Mencius' mother moved her home 3 times just to get a right environment to help him become a great scholar.

I researched a bit about this idiom. Apparently Mencius' mother moved from a place near a cemetery to one near a market place before finally settling for a place near a school just to get a conducive environment to nurture Mencius' learning and wisdom. As I pondered about this I recalled comments made by my son about how the English 'air' (in England) inspires creativity thus explaining the high number of talented musical artists in UK. Now back for his summer holidays he lamented how he gets very little reading done during the weekends when he is not working. I told him it is probably due to the hot weather. I then thought about my own experiences, how when I spent 2 weeks in New York and also a similar period of time in Beijing I was able to spend half a day reading in the parks continuously. I also felt so fresh and alive. In Singapore I wouldn't last more than 2 hours even in the air-cond comfort of NLB overlooking the Singapore skyline.

My own deduction is that some people become more alive when they are close to nature or in a place rich in culture and history. Carl Jung described it as there being a spirit and soul in nature. Hence it may be difficult to feel this kind of spirit in a city state like Singapore with little natural and historical landscape . I presume being close to nature and history is inspirational only in relation to the field of arts and humanities and certainly not relevant to finance etc. In fact the Singapore skyline with the 3 towers of MBS may be quite inspirational for financial analysis or strategising to climb the corporate ladder, who knows.

This comes back to my point about finding the right environment for the right activity. Thus if Mencius' mother is prepared to move home 3 times to find the best nurturing ground for his son, we may consider actively seeking the most fertile environment for our own growth.