There is much talk about how the pleasure of snuggling into a “comfort zone” actually deters learning. Pico Iyer in his talk, which has the texture of mystery and the taste of reality says, “The opposite of knowledge isn’t always ignorance. It can be wonder. Or mystery. Possibility. And in my life, I’ve found it’s the things I don’t know that have lifted me up and pushed me forwards much more than the things I do know. It’s also the things I don’t know that have often brought me closer to everybody around me.”

The magic comes when he recounts his experience with the Dalai Lama, “For eight straight Novembers, recently, I travelled every year across Japan with the Dalai Lama. And the one thing he said every day that seemed to give people reassurance and confidence was, ‘I don’t know’.” Read more