Learning About Learning - part 5 of "The Power of Perception"

How does learning work?  Is formal education the only path to meaningful knowledge, or is this a natural capability steered by where we direct our attention?  If so, how can we better use this knowledge to better our own lives?

Transcript

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In the Western view of history, we have legendary explorers like Marco Polo, Columbus, or Magellan, but they came from a time when the map of our physical world was quite limited. To this day, the indigenous people of North America are often referred to as Indians. Why is that? The answer might surprise you. The reason is because when the early explorers encountered the American continent, they assumed they had made it all the way to India. And if you're in India, what are you going to call the people living there? It wasn't until much more exploration was done that the land masses we know today as North, Central, and South America come into clear focus. This not only shows us how ongoing exploration helps us build a more accurate map of the world, but it also shows us how expectations and presumptions can cause us to completely misinterpret that which we can plainly see with our own eyes. This is something that occurs when we hold our internal map of the world as being beyond question. We could call this the arrogance of presumption, narrow mindedness or prejudice. This is a lesson to keep in mind because we are all explorers in our own right. A child taking their first steps is an explorer, and learning is the natural result of exploration. This is a natural lifelong process. But are there barriers, fences that guide and constrain this natural process? Certainly there are moral boundaries that most of us adhere to. Theft, murder, violence, and deceit are almost universally held to be unacceptable, as well they should be. But what I'm talking about here are more subtle forms of constraint that limit constructive and positive forms of exploration. Many people hold the view that formal education trains compliance, rewards conformity, and punishes originality. How many geniuses were labeled problem students because they refused to color inside the lines? How many entrepreneurs dropped out of college because they realized the real world didn't care about their GPA? Self-directed learning, which is nothing less and nothing more than following your interest, can break these chains. You see, the fact of the matter is that learning happens naturally, effortlessly. It is simply the natural side effect of paying attention to something you're interested in. That's all it ever has been and it ever will be. This is why a child who struggles with grades in school can give you meticulously detailed instructions on how to successfully navigate their favorite video game. This is why someone in a low-skilled factory job can rattle off player statistics for members of their favorite sports team as well as those of their rivals in incredible detail. Again, learning is the natural side effect of what we pay attention to. But there's a genuine emotional high when your team wins the championship. And a genuine emotional low if they lose. But win or lose, there's plenty of tension and attention building up to that point. There's also a genuine adrenaline rush to be found in many video games. Once again, we can see the role of the reticular activating system, channeling our attention into activities that stimulate our basic instincts and drives. We covered the reticular activating system in the previous episode, episode four. If you turn off the television, uninstall the video games, turn off those social media notifications, and maybe even turn off the phone. What remains? What remains? What remains is the natural you. And the natural you might discover that these distractions have been taking far more out of your life than they've been giving back. When you take control of your attention, you take control of your education. But tossing out the meaningless distractions is only the first step. The next and most important step here is to find engaging interests that make a difference in your real life out here in the real world. There are so many examples that they are impossible to list, but I'm going to throw out a few random ones. Suppose you like pizza. Have you ever made one from scratch? Or maybe you like another style of cuisine, say Mexican, Chinese, French, Thai, etc. etc., so many to choose from. It's so easy to find videos and books and how to prepare those styles of cuisine yourself. But maybe you have an interest in technology, gardening, food preservation, languages, law, psychology, quantum physics, bushcraft, or playing the ukulele. The list is endless. For each and every one of these, plus thousands more, there's all kinds of free information out there to guide you. All you need to do is take that first step. Follow your passion, trust your intuition, invest in your curiosity, push your limits, try new and different things, be playful and challenge your comfort zone. That's the difference between living your life versus watching it pass you by. After all, do you want to be in the driver's seat of your own life or in the passenger seat? The choice, as always, is yours. You've been listening to part five of the Power of Perception, a series from This Light Shines Podcast. In our next segment, we explore personal empowerment.