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Knowledge is not learning
V. IRAI ANBU
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Knowledge is always borrowed and is second hand, writes V.IRAI ANBU.
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ALL OF us accept learning as a continuous process, not to be forsaken till the end. But at the same time on introspection we would discover how resistant we are to learn.
J. Krishnamurti says, "Learning is one thing and accepting knowledge is another. Acquiring knowledge is a bondage and learning is never a bondage. Knowledge is always in the past, knowledge implies the past."
It is true that knowledge is not a stepping-stone to learning but a blocking hillock at progress. The knowledge gained in the initial stages makes us prejudiced and prevents us from exploring, experimenting and experiencing the truth.
The real learning process never gives complacence. We feel a vacuum and get inspired to probe further in the path of life. Knowledge is always borrowed and is second hand.
Unlearning and learning
`Knowing' is entirely a different phenomenon. One has to unlearn and be prepared for it. Unlearning is another dimension of learning. Forgetting is the first step towards memory and ignorance is the gateway to knowledge.
As someone remarked, knowledge is nothing but ignorance made visible. Even the apprehension we have about knowledge is not authentic. Memorising is not knowledge and knowledge is not understanding. One can give an eloquent lecture on computer without any know-how. There are four kinds of knowledge. Appearance knowledge belongs to the ignorant.
Relative knowledge to the philosophers. Perfect knowledge to the enlightened. Transcendental is the inner stage in which perfect wisdom is realised. This intelligence blossoms out of realisation at the deepest level of consciousness. Knowledge gets transformed into wisdom only at the fourth level.
Patience and Perseverance
Learning requires patience and perseverance. How patient remains the water? While flowing it encompasses all the hurdles on the way and acts continuously on all hard and rough surfaces, slowly but steadily to turn them smooth and polished. One should be humble enough to grasp, absorb and assimilate, what one observes all round.
Tao says that the ocean is the mightiest and largest of all the waters on the earth as it lies low and is ready to receive.
Ambition and avarice create anxiety and anguish. Then learning loses the lustre, becomes lull and dull. We get catapulted to the zone of fear and tension. We miss the beautiful breeze, sanguine sky, the verdant vegetation and all the other lovely things around us.
Unless we enjoy education -- may be anything, from music to mysticism or mathematics to metaphysics - it will remain at the empirical level without any impact.
Dr. Deming, a famous management expert, emphasized that real learning process helps to lead us from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence, a sign of great progress.
Then we move from conscious incompetence to conscious competence and finally to unconscious competence.
The Goddess meant for symbolizing and signifying learning, in Hindu mythology is said to learn still. It is just to illustrate that learning is a continuous process sans barriers and boundaries. And that, and even God cannot be perfect in the wisdom.
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Madurai
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
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Visakhapatnam
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