Maharishi University of Management: Why Sustainable Living?

Post image for Why Study Sustainable Living?

Making tomato sauce in the SL kitchen

I’m still going over the question, “What is the true value of a college degree these days?” Even though I’m accruing student debt and even though there are 1 million and 1 other things I could be doing, I do think Maharishi University of Management is a great place to be at right now, because I am learning a lot. But more importantly studying Sustainable Living feels really valid, because I am shifting my paradigm and the way I look at the world.

This degree is opening my awareness to understanding how I want my future to be and how it COULD be. And on the practical side, it is a fantastic way to network! I am linked up with all of these great Sustainable Living projects all over the US and world because of my participation in the Sustainable Living Department at Maharishi University of Management.
I think that the Sustainable Living (SL) degree is like a hero’s journey, a valuable journey to go through to get ready for the world, for the rest of my life. I have no doubt that one day the classes in the SL Department will be the foundation of ALL classes in schools. Ultimately all the principles of sustainability are pertinent to every discipline, including:

community reliance
following your passion
long term thinking
clear communication
cooperation
holistic thinking
having a BIGGER awareness of the beautiful web we live in

GO SUSTAINABILITY!!!! WOOHOO. We might as well get excited about the future, cause we are in it.

Once I come back to the deep knowledge of: “Where I am is where ‘it’ is at.” coupled with knowing that I always have a choice and I am presently choosing THIS, I feel calm about being here at MUM, because it’s a great place to be to metamorphosize my ideas about the world.

One huge opportunity MUM offers (at least for me) is to step out of the scholastic paradigm of “being told what to do.” Because we have a regular 4 hours of school a day, there is time to independently pursue things on your own, or with peers. In the end we are the only motivator in our lives. I have always loved receiving assignments from teachers; I like being pushed to explore new ideas and new levels of academia. However, I am reaching the point now where I realize that internalizing the creativity of my teachers’ and making it my own: to be my own assigner and motivator, is what is most valuable for me in the long run.

What color are your glasses?

To put this into metaphor: If everyone has impaired vision before college, and college is where we go to buy our glasses, and the glasses give us the lens we’ll see all the world through until we choose to discard them and try on another pair, then the SL degree at MUM is where people go for the really cutting edge glasses. And these glasses are not just made by the manufacturer, the beauty of these is how many people help to make them: the whole community of people, animals, plants, elements, etc.

My feelings about the people here have stayed the same, since I first arrived. MUM has attracted, and continues to attract, the most amazing people to it. My relationships with the students here just keep getting better and better.

I will never belittle the importance of my time at Maharishi University of Management, because it is most definitely EXACTLY what I need right now to get clear on the next step/next phase of my life.