Make yourself better today than you were yesterday

„Have courage to use your own mind.“

Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)

Explanation of principle 5:

This principle is probably the most comprehensive of the five sobe5 principles, and it actually carries all four of the previous principles already. What is meant by this?

A person who is willing to learn throughout his life, to question things and to develop new skills from mistakes made with a big heart will eventually arrive at the first four sobe5 principles all by himself. However, since it takes a certain amount of time to come to these realizations and, unfortunately, these realizations do not arise in all people, we need all five sobe5 principles in order to bring about lasting change in our society. It is just much easier to explain a sobe5 principle to a child with words and with corresponding own action, than to wait for it to come all by itself sometime on the realization which is inherent in this principle. However, it is important to understand here: One can explain things to a human being, but to act correctly accordingly cannot really be explained, but must be „felt“ and, thus, the necessity of acting correctly must be generated out of oneself. In other words, man must first of all „understand“ and then, from within himself, feel the need to act accordingly. So the deeper meaning behind each principle must always be communicated, otherwise social and sustainable actions are hardly possible.

So what does principle number five of sobe5 mean?

It means: Learn and develop yourself, always and everywhere, throughout your life.

Education is the best investment you can ever make, whether in yourself or your children. Education always pays off in the end in some way and enriches one’s life immensely. Those who do not educate themselves, on the other hand, are often steered by others and can usually never take the wheel themselves. These connections have been known for a long time: The poorest countries in the world in terms of education are also always the poorest countries in the world. And it is precisely in these countries that the population usually has no possibility of organizing itself and defending itself against grievances.

In order to be people in a free and truly democratic society, we must first and foremost be „educated“ people, and we should all also be politically engaged, at least for a while.

We absolutely need an equal right for all people to be allowed to develop. Because, smart people we can never have enough to change this world for the better. Therefore, every child should receive the best education possible and at a very high level and in many areas.

And the adults? Every adult should see it as his duty to continuously educate himself. The head is not there so that it does not rain down the throat, but it is there to think! It is allowed to learn what wants to be learned. Whether someone wants to become a good photographer, another wants to understand quantum physics, or someone wants to be the best gardener in the world. It is not the direction of education that is decisive but merely „that“ one continues one’s education at all. Because: Smart insights can come from many different sides and ultimately all insights touch somewhere.

Teaching content on Principle 5 could be:

The five sobe5 principles are:

  1. Do not harm yourself or others
  2. Always be helpful and good
  3. Stay away from violence and crime
  4. Respect and d protect our environment
  5. Make yourself better today than you were yesterday