Thoughts on Learning

[k_a_nitz]

From Kristina Hazler's book Bewusstseins Coaching 1: Das menschliche Paradoxon (2016, 29; my translation)

The human is simply a "creature of habit"; once learnt, learnt forever, he often thinks. For him it is hard to understand that what he has learnt today is only a part of the whole. Not that someone is withholding the rest from him, but in accordance with his momentary situation he is not capable of seeing further, of understanding more, of perceiving more. This momentary understanding serves for nothing else but to lead him to the next and the following step, to further discoveries. When the human isolates what he has already learnt as a rigid, fixed realisation or even as unalterable fact, he thereby blocks himself off in his own further development and makes no headway until something happens which helps him to look differently at the thing or himself or the position in which he is stuck, and the reason why he is making no headway.

 

Looking at this from the Odinic perspective of learning as sacrificial becoming and following on from a comment I made on J. P. Russell's blog, it is a further reminder that learning is not a one and done. You can't just make the one big sacrifice and get all the benefits in one hit.

Comments

[jprussell]

Excellent reminder! A thought that came to mind, maybe addressed elsewhere, or maybe not emphasized because it's less helpful to the wider point, is that things already learnt, habits already built, are a bit like choosing a path to walk - as emphasized here, that will keep you from getting to, or maybe even being aware of things not on that path, but they may also lead you to some things you couldn't have learnt otherwise. Of course, the as implied here, the danger is becoming fixated on where this path can take you to exclusion of what you might be missing on other paths, especially if this path doesn't lead as directly (or at all) to where you might hope to go, but I know that I sometimes fall into the opposite error of failing to follow up on where existing learning might further open up, for fear of missing out on all of those other wonderful paths I could step onto by learning something new.

Cheers,
Jeff

[k_a_nitz]

For some reason, I thought the latest RatSays was a nice bit of synchronicity.

I like the path metaphor. It also raises the point that unlearning is itself a new path as you can't unwalk a path.

It also reminds me of Christoph Hein's novel Der Tangospieler (there is an English translation available: The Tango Player) and the great line that translates to: "The straight path is the labyrinth".