Meaning is the reward we get when our world feels intelligible to us. This is not as easy to achieve as we might think.

Science can tell us how the world behaves and thus we can build technologies to exploit these behaviours, but science can tell us little about what the world is.

Without both pieces of the puzzle – what our world is as well as how it behaves – it will continue to lack full intelligibility.

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Inner peace is the unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment. This is characterised by a loss of interest in judging others or interpreting their actions – a loss of interest in conflict altogether - and an inclination to think and act in the moment rather than on fears based on past events.

Such a deliberate state of calm can be achieved in isolation through intense meditation or, in the real world, through a process of progressively extinguishing the triggers, and re-framing the associated fixed beliefs, that are conjured up by other people’s behaviours and actions.

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We can breathe life into ourselves, not literally, but through the practices we adopt. Just as taking exercise can give us greater physical stamina and capacity, then cognitive practices can improve our mental stamina and capacity (and very much in a spiritual sense).

The first practice is obvious.

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The minority of teachers who genuinely see their students in all their uniqueness inspire a very defined response in those students. The students want the relationship with their teacher to continue – they perceive it to be of high value – so they are prompted to respond attentively and thoughtfully, minimise disruptions and do their best on the work their teacher asks them to do.

Inspire is a good word for this.

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