The Joy of Learning — A New Way of Thinking.
Only recently I’ve started to discover the joy in learning something new. I read a lot, and it’s a great moment when you touch on something you’d never heard before, that changes the way you think about the world and makes you look at everything from a different perspective. I’ve been strangely surprised by my sudden thirst for knowledge. Why didn’t I feel this way in school? Was it me that had grown? Or was it the way knowledge had been presented to me at the time?
In school, like most subjects, I was always bored with mathematics. Equations were being taught to me one after the other, but without a really good explanation as to how they existed in the first place or what their purpose was. Maths and it’s purpose made sense at a basic level, but as it became more complex I couldn’t understand the purpose. I was always taught how, but never why. However, it’s the ‘why’s?’ that inspire us. Little kids always want to know Why? Why? Why? Because there’s a joy in understanding something new. Unfortunately, like many of my classmates, I ended up confused and frustrated and was destined to hate the subject of maths throughout my school years.
It wasn’t until after school — when I found an article written by someone with a deep passion and understanding of maths— that I began to comprehend it. I quickly found myself absorbed as it explained the relationship between mathematics and our physical universe. How every equation is an expression, almost like a hidden language, of what we can see in the world around us. We can predict the height of a perfect triangle, or a circle, based on recognisable patterns. We can know how wide the earth is, or how long it takes to orbit the sun, and the distance and size of the sun. The piece of writing showed me mathematics in a new light; a mysterious way to peer into the hidden symbols of the universe and uncover complex meanings and relationships. This is what really makes math interesting and forms the basis of understanding it’s complexities, yet I believe few high school math teachers would ever be able to tackle that question — and most would never acknowledge the student that asked it.
Instead, my teachers simply said, “here's how to find the circumference of a circle, practice and memorise.” Without any regard as to where those equations came from and how they were discovered. This would be fine if finding the circumference of a circle was a necessary practice in life, but it isn’t. And it seems strange to take something as deep and thought-provoking as maths and reduce to it to a group of seemingly meaningless symbols and problems.
My math class never tapped into the thought process that actually caused Pythagoras to discover his theories — a place of deep contemplation and passion. I can only imagine the excitement he would have felt when he came across them, or when Einstein discovered his own theories, or when Newton thought about that apple falling on his head. It’s the ‘Why’s?’ that really form the basis of mathematics and science, yet when these subjects were taught to me this vital element was left relatively untouched.
It was the same with history, as later on I became intrigued by the evolution of our species — how we went from banging sticks together to creating cities and empires, and the ideas that led us there. Yet what my history classes composed of was a lot of dates, people, and events to memorise, stripped of any cultural analysis or understanding of why humans lived the way they did. We were told to recite and take notes from google, but never to think deeply and understand, which meant that all those dates and math equations slipped out of my mind as quickly as they’d come in. It also made learning a bore.
This one dimensional way of absorbing information made up most of my classes. This meant I was very good at remembering information, but probably couldn’t explain what I was talking about when asked too. A deeper level of thinking is required to really understand these subjects and bring about new ideas, yet it wasn’t taught or encouraged, and many people would shy away from it.
If Newton was with a group of friends and asked what caused the apple to fall they probably would have thought him a stoner, dismissing his ideas with a laugh. You can almost hear the preposterous question, “Dude, why do apples even fall?” But the line between crazy and genius seems to be very thin. We’re rarely encouraged to think deeply about things, about the deep fabrics of what we call ‘reality’, yet history shows that it’s this sort of thinking that brings about the greatest discoveries, and creates great human beings, so why isn’t it encouraged more? Sure, the world can’t be full of visionaries, and the productive, problem-solving mind is useful in today's society, but at least somewhat we can encourage this flame to grow in others.
Teaching from this point of understanding makes learning joyful and gives birth to people who love to think, and can create and discover new ideas, rather than just repeating old ones. Especially for younger people, it could do better to approach subjects from this more exploratory way of thinking. If there is ever a time when the world needs brand new, innovative ideas it is now, yet we are creating parrots, to operate within a certain system. This new way of thinking is what this world needs, but it is also a threat to it. Nikola Tesla once said — “One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.” In a sense, our world today runs on a very logical, productive, and straight thinking mind — a sane mind. But it’s the insane that brought us forward leaps and bounds.
When I finished school I had a bad relationship with learning -it wasn’t until I started teaching myself that I saw a whole new world of understanding that could be explored. I think about how many other people have come out of our education system feeling the same way, with untouched potential and enthusiasm. I’ve yet to meet someone who doesn’t get at least a little fascinated by the question why? Who doesn’t get a little buzz of wonder when they look up at the stars or reflect on the perfect patterns of a leaf or a snowflake. It’s these thought patterns that gave rise to the greatest ‘intellectuals’ of our time — Einstein, Newton, Tesla, Galileo, yet would they still be considered such now? Or would they be seen as radical and ridiculous, would they have failed their high school exams? Einstein and Newton were considered mentally unstable at a young age — many people thought DaVinci was crazy — is this a problem with them? Or does it say something about the structure of our society? Imagine how many other great minds could be created if we simply encouraged this way of thinking and created an environment where it could really grow without being repressed or plagued with doubt.
So often I have felt that it was wrong to cultivate these thoughts, these little bursts of wonder — so often I was taught to get my head out of the clouds and get back to reality. It’s these thoughts, however, that move us ever more deeply into reality, because the truth is that reality is more than what it seems - it’s incredibly fascinating and full of mystery. School rarely taught me this, so I had to find out myself, and I encourage everyone else to do the same.
