Since I was young I’ve had a fascination for places where thirst for wisdom was fostered: libraries, schools, temples, books and so on. I found myself at gatherings of people of different backgrounds and usually triple or quadruple my age. My questions would spark conversation that I would soak up with my developing mind. But my heart also noticed a downside at times. Conversations would die as soon as they started and turn into monologues, sharpened by opinions and closed minds.
As I continued my journey into this world via high school and university more and more frequently I would miss open dialogues where an open embracing attitude was at the core. The swapping and showing off of knowledge came first, even in my own person. I became ambitious in the worldly sense and the thirst for wisdom was close to replaced by a need for affirmation.
As of now I cannot honestly say that the need for affirmation died out, but somehow I did recover from my exile into the land of ambitious minds. I found myself on a path of visiting persons and places of humility and wisdom. Along that path I also encountered TEDx and started organising my own from 2014 onward. At first as a practical tool to gain career and life experience, but it steadily began to connect to my deeper silent strivings.
TEDxTilburg 2019 was my latest and last effort in the direction of TED(x). In organising this event and creating this community I wish to pay homage to my inner child’s wish to visit places where people and wisdom gather in an open spirit of curiosity. A place where not the answers are the most important but the questions and the hearts that ask them.