On learning.

Learning can be thought of as “acquisition”.

We acquire a skill, or acquire an understanding. With this definition, one may become obsessed with satisfying the hunger to “acquire”. But very soon, that hunger turns into a bothersome weight. Think hoarding. Why do people count their money or look at their possessions with pride?

Do we think of our learnings in the frame of our “possessions” ? What would happen to us if we continued viewing the sanctity of learning as a possession. Belonging to us?

One can also think of learning as a gift, a blessed spirit of being in mankind. What is this gift?

The gift of awakening a dormant being. Inside every one of us is this wonderful, colourful being who takes a keen interest in everything. But it has been upstaged by short sights and dim wits.

Let it thrive! Nurture it!

This being wonders and marvels at the simplest of things. It seeks to understand, asks questions endlessly. It considers the current, and pursues the alternatives going ahead, with zest and a humble open-ness. And feeding it will only enable the hunger to grow exponentially.

It does not need to possess.

See, knowledge and the pursuit of learning is a journey, an adventure if you like. We discover, but we do not own the discovery, nor the knowledge. We use it, refine it, share it and glean from it.

Thus, I think the intelligent alternative would be to let rip, let Mr/Mrs Learn take over proceedings, forget about how much you know and keep marvelling, asking, wondering, doing. This feels like an ongoing journey, a happy one. I’d think this, is learning.

This nuance is necessary, for embracing the need to let go, will ultimately set us free and colour our world.

Learning can be a gift, again.

Choose it.