I said I wouldn’t do this. I wrote and published that I wouldn't, but the urge to share these thoughts with you is too great. As I look back on my life, I see that there were certain times and places that were pivotal. When certain people, places, and things resonated and could not be denied. This happened recently when the book, Ultralearning by Scott Young, crossed my path.
As in most of the other instances of this sort, the magnitude
of the crossing didn’t register at the time.
I began reading the book, and it is quite good. It sparked in me some introspection on my
learning experiences, which I am going to share. These are personal and not from the book. Important to me as I read and study the book,
but not related to it, other than it is about learning, my pattern of learning.
Answering the question, how do I learn, yields 9 patterns.
1) Memorization (rote) as in scripts, music, and movements. 2) Practice to hone skills. 3)Methods of finding answers already known by others,
such as puzzles and math problems. 4) Reasoning for that for which there are no
answers. This learning is in the extended use of reason. 5) Using essays to expound
a line of reasoning. 6) Solving, as in resolving issues, problems, and
situations that are undone. 7) Subject
matter unknown to me but readily known and understood by others, such as
language, mathematics, history, philosophical works. 8) Training on how to do something using methods,
tools, and processes already established. And 9) Trial and Error, by which a multitude of things are learned.
Thinking is an interesting item, and part of all in this
group of 9. Others involve work with
subjects, areas, and endeavors that have not been previously encountered or
attempted. Thinking requires that work previously
done be applied in ways that go beyond, extend, what was previously
accomplished.
There may be more than 9, but as I look at these, they cover
quite a few of the avenues of learning that I have followed. I don’t intend to explore these in detail,
other than to think about them. It will be
interesting to see if the book, Utlralearning, adds to, agrees with, or detracts
from them.
Learning can be defined as adding to the store of knowledge one has, and uses, to pursue aim. Ultralearning is one of several ways to do this, in addition to formal education, training, and thinking.
The bases, from which all learning proceeds in our collective
culture are the alphabet, the digits, musical tones, and binary code. Learning,
until and beyond now, extends them and allows answers to the basic questions:
who, what, where, when, how, and how much.
Problem solving is the application of learning to an unresolved issue. So, it isn’t learning per se. I think this to be important. We use what we have already learned, what we already know, to solve problems and, in so doing, we may learn something new along the way.
Furthermore, preceding the basics above, are intelligence
and imagination. These are genetic and
have been incrementally developing since their beginning, when the spark of awareness started enlightenment, to get to where we are
now. This development process will allow
us to go on, to “infinity and beyond.” (Buzz Lightyear)
It may have all started with a similar eternal process in
the timeless, spiritual world, which led to the question: what if a physical
manifestation of this spiritual realm happened? Voila! Here we are.
