Learning and Re-Learning
There's a perception in some circles that
learning is really information processing. This is really only the most superficial
of learning. Some types of learning are akin to riding a bicycle, once learnt
you never forget. Some of these skills are learned with the whole body, not just
the mind. Karate and ballet are learned as a coordinated activity, there is far
more to this learning than simply acquiring information.
There is another type of learning which is more of an evolution, and often has
to be re-learnt, over and over again, sometimes in a process that lasts many lifetimes.
Here's an example of this type of learning: You find that you are getting unfit
and realise that if you continue with your current lifestyle you are heading for
a heart attack, so you enroll at a gym. You find the thought of going a bit of
a chore but you appreciate being fit. Not only does it make getting about easier,
but also you feel more alert, more self-confident and perform better at work.
You get used to this lifestyle but gradually you reduce the frequency that you
go. With a choice between going to the gym, and the hard work involved, or stopping
off for a quick drink, you eventually stop going altogether. Very slowly the advantages
that you gained from going to the gym disappear and you feel less alert and less
fit. However, you also have more time. Eventually, you go back to the same state
you were in before you started going and one day you realise that you are heading
for a heart attack – or maybe you actually get a heart attack. With this incentive
you start going to the gym again.
This process goes in many forms. Keeping fit, giving up alcohol, smoking or sex,
even doing meditation or prayer. The subtle advantages gained get swamped in the
events of day-to-day living. Often the spur is when someone else makes a comment,
for example the spouse remarks on how you were less moody when you went to the
gym, or sometimes the incentive is a harder shock, for example a heart attack.
Often, alcoholics or drug addicts don't admit they have a problem until there
is a cataclysmic event that forces them to face up to the fact that they have
an addiction. It is only at that point that they can get treatment, but few addicts
stay off their drug of choice. These experience have to be learnt over and over
again.
This learning takes place on a macro scale, encompassing groups and countries,
as well as on an individual scale. I've mentioned before (‘The Bible Story’) how
the Jews went through a process of growth when they fulfilled their side of the
covenant with God, and performed the prayers and rituals, and how they were dispersed
when they went against it. This process is still continuing as the lesson has
not been learnt.
