Living in the Now | Weekly Column | 7.7.23

 

Living in the Now 7.7.23 | Mrinal Chatterjee

Learning and Knowledge

Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behavior, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. Learning can be of different types. It can be physical skills (psychomotor learning). It can be learning new emotional responses, attitudes and values or affective learning. Or, it can be acquiring intellectual skills or cognitive learning.

The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and thanks to artificial intelligence, some machines. There is also evidence for some kind of learning in certain plants. However, there are differences in how a human being learns or engages with learning and how an animal or a bird learns.

Learning effects relatively permanent change in human capabilities that is not a result of growth process. These capabilities are related to specific learning outcomes. The capacity of learn varies widely, depending on several factors, including cognitive ability, application, perseverance, even genetic lineage.

American author Brian Herbert says, the capacity to learn is a gift, the ability to learn is a skill, the willingness to learn is a choice. One must choose to learn. One who chooses to learn must willingly put in the effort required to learn.  Capacity to learn is a gift. Some have it, others do not. Those who have it can learn quickly and with ease. Those who do not have that gift have to put in an extra effort.

Learning has to be joyful. One should get pleasure out of it even if it is physically painful and mentally exhausting. French philosopher Simone Weil who influenced Camus to a large extent said, “The joy of learning is as indispensable in study as breathing is in running.”  Remember how we learnt cycling. We fell down, bruised ourselves.  But as we pedalled and the cycle moved, a surge of pleasure flowed through us. Despite the pain and bloodied knee we continued, and thus learnt how to ride a bicycle.

One good thing about learning, as Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) said,  “it never exhausts the mind.” In fact the more you learn, your mind gets more reenergized. George Courus the author of ‘Innovator’s Mindset’, writes: “Learning is creation, not consumption. Knowledge is not something a learner absorbs, but something a learner creates.”

Learning leads to knowledge. But learning is not knowledge.

Learning is like plowing the field, tending the plants, watering them. Knowledge is the fruit of all the efforts. How does learning turn into knowledge? Through reflection. Thinking. Confucious said, “Learning without reflection is a waste. Reflection without learning is dangerous.”

And what is the ultimate goal of knowledge? There is a beautiful Sanskrit sloka in our ancient text: Sa vidya ya bimuktaye. Knowledge is that which liberates. It liberates us from ignorance and also from the arrogance of ‘I know all’.

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