Learner

This came to me as I sat thinking, of what I knew of drugs and their design, after three years of didactic “learning”…nothing comes to mind.

But then, life is learning…so it’s alright to have completely forgotten what’s textbook, or to have drooled all over my homework, or sat in oblivion of lecturer’s voices. Not that I’ve taken these for granted, but simply, I have seen the big pic. I have learned, so life is.

See, there’s a reason for beginning with ABCs at kindergarten, then ending with essays in “English for Academic Purposes”. There’s a reason for beginning with 123, then ending with integration and simultaneous equations. Do you see it? Quick…spell progress!
The minute and intricate details of the subject matter aren’t as important as the learning itself. In progress through topics A to B, we learn the details of A and B, but even more so, we learn how to learn. The model of “school” is a model of learning how to in itself. We journey through school terms, then called “semesters”, we are brought to fathom the meaning of “progress”, from ABC to vowels and sentence construction; from 123 to algebraic function…we learn the meaning of learning itself, and how to. It is only after learning the art of learning that we are able to learn the art of practice. And “work” is this: learning how to practice.

The bulk of learning begins with practice…for it is here that life truly begins. A degree program does not make professionals…practice does. A profession, by definition, is an occupation that requires special training in the liberal arts or sciences. A professional may engage in these, but is truly made what he is by more than simply what is learned at school. Having learned how to learn…after some 20 + years…he must now learn how to apply learning itself, through practice, the end product of which is wisdom (i.e. the effective ability to apply knowledge).

A student completing a three year university degree program would have spent on average 22 years simply learning how to learn. Assuming that such an individual lives a sheltered life (i.e. livin for “free” in yuh mother and father house, have yuh own room and being properly fed and watered), he/she would have spent these years learning how to...walk, ride a bike, brush teeth, read a book, count fingers in figures, write and speak letters. We learn to find meaning in the least likely of moments, and of dangers to walking the earth as we do, simple skill as breath-holding beneath water, of microscope and surgeon’s knives, that teach us to scour for what’s minuet, and yet of detailed imprints of macro-designers...of colossal statues and walls and scraping towers tipping heavenward. As all animals do, we learn the traits and tricks of survival. There is, however...one glaring difference.

No one teaches the newborn antilope to stand its ground mere seconds after birth. Or hatchlings of bald eagles, tossed from towering nests above, must open sprawl their delicate wings to catch wind...lest they plunge to their death. Needless to say...nature cares for its own, with meticulous balance forged among elements, life and death, dark and light, cold and hot...they’re all on the same plane. Scales of justice tip as they please; there are no real predictors of outcomes, no inherently born solutions. What’s natural in fact, is that there aren’t any problems...unless we make them. And herein lies the beauty of mankind...the fact that we have learned how to learn. Count your blessings! Doubt if you will, and yes...with errors too, but we’ve actually come a long way. Since Homo Habilis had first hurled rocks in defence of life (and what little it was), or sculpted javelins of sharpened sticks, he had scored a milestone in the very first chapters of human evolution. Man was learning the art of control, through tough beaten skins to one day beat his own drums. Our cave-men never caved to her whims; to shifting winds that force feathers to fly north, or winter’s flaked fairy dust falling...to cast on beasts a spell of slumber; we’ve learned by trial to mould masks against it, sheltering our skins and our faces, carved spears in anguish of living...and necessity, of learning to thrust these against thick hides of those beasts we once feared. We have learned how to. And how to build dreams. To offset what was once inconvenience, or what anguish and fear by patient testing have earned, they twist heels backward, scribing symbols on soil with fingers; on rock walls plastered detailed observance; intricate but subtle equations for living (at least as they did); taught their children to master what’s natural. There are ways to wind that blows where it pleases, methods of running circles round nature, and her laws; a way that in silent orbit of planets we’ve found...to bend rules. Blessed be out teachers. Those who have braved the deep, and tallest mountains of human trial, wrangled monsters...fur to scale to claw to fang, sacrifice of life and limb. Christ to Confucius, DaVinci to Einstein; we have learned...so life is.

“Bear in mind that the wonderful things you learn in your school are the work of many generations. All this is put into your hands as your inheritance in order that you may receive it, honour it, add to it, and one day faithfully hand it on to your children.” – Albert Einstein