Oxford dictionary defines learning as “the acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience, or being taught.” All of us know that learning means acquiring some knowledge. As mentioned above, learning can occur through several means. Yet, everyone of us may not learn with a common perspective. In this article, I will discuss about what I feel is the “art of learning”.
In contrast to the people’s prevailing mindset, learning is not always taking in something “new”. We usually tend to think “I already know that. It’s not at all new and interesting. Why should I bother listening to it?” This is not a wise disposition. Learning is directly proportional to listening. There is no disadvantage in listening. If you do not know what is being said, you will learn a new thing and if you already know the thing being said, you will learn a new way of describing it. No matter what, you will learn “a new”. I remember myself as a student. I always used to listen and concentrate on what is being taught in the class even if I already knew about the topic. The rationale was as mentioned earlier – I expected to gain a new perspective on the familiar topic. This art of learning of mine proved to be beneficial in my exams.
Learning is also closely linked with failure. Failure always gives us two options – “to give up” or “to improve”. Both of these are the forms of learning but opposite in direction. The choice depends on your art of learning. Those who choose to give up decide to do so believing that they are not competent enough for what they tried to do. In contrast, those who go for improving themselves infer that there were some weaknesses that they could fill up. A failure is not the end. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal, what counts in life is the courage to continue” is rightly said. I say that failure is not absolute; it doesn’t come to you unless you accept it. In this context, I remember the Computer scientist Leslie Lamport. His work of Paxos Algorithm was rejected from most of the Conferences and Journals and took around 8 years to get published. Had he chosen to throw the paper in the bin, the world would have lost a valuable intellectual property. He believed that his work was worth it and never gave up until it was finally published. His faith on himself compelled the failure to “give-up”. Later he was awarded The Turing Award for his contributions in the field of computer science. For those who do not know- Turing Award is the highest distinction in computer science which is considered equivalent to Nobel Prize. All this became possible because of his art of learning form failures.
Sometimes we may be so ignorant that we do not hesitate to claim that something we don’t already know doesn’t really exist. This is the reflection of our impermeability to learning. People in today’s world are so content that we end up believing that whatever we know is all the knowledge that exists. Nonetheless, we often fail to realize that things we know make up only a minute part of the knowledge that prevails. At its worst angle, we persist to assert, “I am the only one who knows it. I am the only one who is qualified for this.” After such statements, people defend themselves as being confident. I would rather say, this is not a confidence but a pride. There is only a slight difference between “pride” and “confidence”. “I can do it” is an aroma of confidence but “Only I can do it” is the odor of pride. A good level of confidence can always fuel you in the path of learning while a little pride can push you into the world of stagnation.
As learning is affected by memory, the well-known phrase “forgive and forget” came into my mind. If someone makes me feel bad, I would rather forgive but not forget the things. “Life is too short to hate someone” is truly said. Nevertheless, it is even shorter to forget the things that happened to you. It is because if you learn to forget, you will forget to learn. Not forgetting the things keeps the fire lighting up which doesn’t let you cool down and freeze in the path of learning. This context reminds me of an event that happened about 22 years ago when I was around 4 years old. This sounds hilarious but, at that time something happened that I have not been able to forget yet. The thing was that a girl (much elder than me) talked to the other girl (of her age) and pointed to me saying “मलाई त यो कट्टुवाल जस्तो लाउंच” which in English means “He looks like ‘kattuwal’ to me”. By saying ‘kattuwal’ she referred to a person who used to shout from the hills in the village to deliver messages to all the villagers. The ‘kattuwal’ at that time was dirty, ugly and poor. Though I was not happy with her comment, I could say nothing as she was much elder than me. That was the first day which made me conscious about my grooming and dress-up. Now, I am able to forgive her inconsiderate statements but I have been unable to forget what she said. This very inability proved to be an excellent art of learning for me to improve myself and maintain a good appearance. Likewise, if someone discriminates you or looks you down in terms of your capability or skills, do not lose your self-confidence. Remember that "the best revenge is massive success" like Frank Sinatra has told.
Learning has its own art. Listening is the key to it. Best learning opportunities come through failures. The process of learning needs fuel which comes through confidence. Remember that no one in this world is qualified to underestimate you. You are the most supreme judge of yourself. Most importantly, learning is a reverse process. A well learned person always believes that knowledge exists beyond his expertise and knows that still there is a lot he could learn. Thus, be wise enough to realize that the more you learn, the less you know.
Copyright © Suman Ojha
Learning is also closely linked with failure. Failure always gives us two options – “to give up” or “to improve”. Both of these are the forms of learning but opposite in direction. The choice depends on your art of learning. Those who choose to give up decide to do so believing that they are not competent enough for what they tried to do. In contrast, those who go for improving themselves infer that there were some weaknesses that they could fill up. A failure is not the end. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal, what counts in life is the courage to continue” is rightly said. I say that failure is not absolute; it doesn’t come to you unless you accept it. In this context, I remember the Computer scientist Leslie Lamport. His work of Paxos Algorithm was rejected from most of the Conferences and Journals and took around 8 years to get published. Had he chosen to throw the paper in the bin, the world would have lost a valuable intellectual property. He believed that his work was worth it and never gave up until it was finally published. His faith on himself compelled the failure to “give-up”. Later he was awarded The Turing Award for his contributions in the field of computer science. For those who do not know- Turing Award is the highest distinction in computer science which is considered equivalent to Nobel Prize. All this became possible because of his art of learning form failures.
Sometimes we may be so ignorant that we do not hesitate to claim that something we don’t already know doesn’t really exist. This is the reflection of our impermeability to learning. People in today’s world are so content that we end up believing that whatever we know is all the knowledge that exists. Nonetheless, we often fail to realize that things we know make up only a minute part of the knowledge that prevails. At its worst angle, we persist to assert, “I am the only one who knows it. I am the only one who is qualified for this.” After such statements, people defend themselves as being confident. I would rather say, this is not a confidence but a pride. There is only a slight difference between “pride” and “confidence”. “I can do it” is an aroma of confidence but “Only I can do it” is the odor of pride. A good level of confidence can always fuel you in the path of learning while a little pride can push you into the world of stagnation.
As learning is affected by memory, the well-known phrase “forgive and forget” came into my mind. If someone makes me feel bad, I would rather forgive but not forget the things. “Life is too short to hate someone” is truly said. Nevertheless, it is even shorter to forget the things that happened to you. It is because if you learn to forget, you will forget to learn. Not forgetting the things keeps the fire lighting up which doesn’t let you cool down and freeze in the path of learning. This context reminds me of an event that happened about 22 years ago when I was around 4 years old. This sounds hilarious but, at that time something happened that I have not been able to forget yet. The thing was that a girl (much elder than me) talked to the other girl (of her age) and pointed to me saying “मलाई त यो कट्टुवाल जस्तो लाउंच” which in English means “He looks like ‘kattuwal’ to me”. By saying ‘kattuwal’ she referred to a person who used to shout from the hills in the village to deliver messages to all the villagers. The ‘kattuwal’ at that time was dirty, ugly and poor. Though I was not happy with her comment, I could say nothing as she was much elder than me. That was the first day which made me conscious about my grooming and dress-up. Now, I am able to forgive her inconsiderate statements but I have been unable to forget what she said. This very inability proved to be an excellent art of learning for me to improve myself and maintain a good appearance. Likewise, if someone discriminates you or looks you down in terms of your capability or skills, do not lose your self-confidence. Remember that "the best revenge is massive success" like Frank Sinatra has told.
Learning has its own art. Listening is the key to it. Best learning opportunities come through failures. The process of learning needs fuel which comes through confidence. Remember that no one in this world is qualified to underestimate you. You are the most supreme judge of yourself. Most importantly, learning is a reverse process. A well learned person always believes that knowledge exists beyond his expertise and knows that still there is a lot he could learn. Thus, be wise enough to realize that the more you learn, the less you know.
Copyright © Suman Ojha