On Learning

Random Thought:

The more you think you know yourself, the harder it is to learn new things.

When we were young, we were naive. Our minds were sponges, absorbing anything fed to us, few questions asked. And then we got older, and we started exploring our selves. I myself distinguished what I really liked from the things I only pretended to like. I assigned myself a particular personality type. I started to become aware of the system that was surrounding my life, and a part of me enjoyed rebellion against that system. I had a better idea of who I was, and therefore I had this notion of what I can and should be learning... which is honestly a very sad fact.

Now when we're older and have entered the phase of what they call "early adulthood", we're supposed to know, or at least have a pretty good idea of who we are. We know what we like, dislike, who we like or dislike, and for the fortunate few, what we want to do with ourselves for the rest of our lives. As I was eating breakfast this morning, I was thinking about my brain's capacity for learning. It's much harder to store new information in my head, and this follows my old theory that the amount of space we can hold in our memory is a fixed amount. Its much easier to store earlier memories of childhood because at that time our brain was just waiting and wanting to be filled. And now that we're done with all the schooling, the space seems so filled up that in order to add anything new, we have to delete older memories. Much like a computer yes.

And then this new thought popped up: What if its hard to learn because we have this fixed notion of who we are and what we should know? "I don't want to learn cooking because I know I won't be good at it." or "I don't have to watch that cheezy TV series because I know I'm not into that stuff." Yes, as our minds mature, along with the ability to absorb, we can now filter information. We can choose what to store and what to discard. And this is very useful, especially since we're in the age where TOO much information is thrown at our faces. We NEED to filter, definitely.

My only problem with this is that we tend to filter information so much that it limits or deters our thirst for new knowledge. It forms a barrier that can often become too solid that we become closed altogether. And I think this is the new skill that we need to learn. It's good to know how to filter information, but don't limit your selective process to what you think you should take in.

In other words, no matter how well you know yourself, don't think that you know enough. No matter how well you think you know the world and its ways, you don't. Allow yourself to be surprised, and allow yourself to discover. Maybe you'll then learn a thing or two.