Jan Amos Comenius was a 17th-century Czech theologian, philosopher, and educationist par excellence who spent his last 14 years in exile -- specifically, in The Netherlands. Forced to live most of his life outside of his native Moravia, his banishment from the Czech royal lands came about as a result of Catholic religious persecution.

One of his most inspirational comments, which we'd be best to internalise: "People are continually doing things to themselves which creates within them a permanent state of disillusionment."

To listen to a half-hour retrospective on his life, please punch here.

Comenius is one those consummate thinkers that I'd love to have met in his day. He eschewed everything about formalised educational structures, that always rebelled against the dimensions of the soul into what he considered the "totality of man."

The first in a two part series.