Eternal Quest For Knowledge
Ben Higgins
Jan 21 2015, 12:29 PM
Instructor
Posts: 13.792
Joined: 11-March 10
From: England
Bit of a fancy title, innit ? Before I get into it, have a gander at this collection of amazing looking libraries from around the world. I know, it's not the most exciting invitation you've ever received but seriously, check it out. I particularly liked #31.

http://www.boredpanda.com/extraordinary-libraries/

You probably won't get through them all (there's 137) but it just shows how civilization values learning. For us to build such beautiful structures to house books goes to show how much importance we place on it. And so we should, I say. For without learning there is no progress. As individuals, we don't need to read something or be taught something to make a discovery but unless we record it or share it, it stays only with us. The learning is not passed on. That is what is so important about books that teach us things or merely just inspire us. Inspiration is a seed that can produce great things if it is nurtured, allowed to develop and is acted upon.

Do you think that we generally, as a species, like to learn new stuff ? As in, we actively have a desire for it and seek it out ?

When we think about it, if we added up all the small segments of spare time that we have, what if we actually spent it teaching ourselves something new ? Sure, it would require us to apply ourselves to it but if it was something we were really interested in then we could manage it.

And then there's the learning we do about the things we're already doing. For us here at GMC, that collective interest is guitar related.

If you do something for long enough, you pick up experience and that can serve you in your progression and can help others. Stuff that you've learned and pass onto others is usually called wisdom. We accrue wisdom over a lifetime, in all things. But only if we're open to receiving it. There are masses of people who have lived a long life and yet sadly, seem to have been living the most superficial existence and have very little to give. Age does not necessarily equal wisdom at all. In most of these cases I would say people have a tendency to extreme black or white thinking, not being able to appreciate the subtle nuances of life.

An absolute refusal to accept the possibility of being wrong is a major obstacle to learning. Nobody really wants to be wrong but if we truly want to acquire knowledge and wisdom we have to be prepared to change our opinions and beliefs. The last one is very hard... beliefs are very ingrained in people. If you've lived many years believing that something should be done one way and then you're confronted with another possible way, it usually induces resistance. That's why most arguments, especially on the 'net, are pointless. If you cling to a belief then it doesn't matter what you say to each other, you're both going to walk away with that same belief anyway. So spare the argument.

If, however, you are prepared to question something, then you may learn something new. It may even improve your life. A lot of the habits, ideas and beliefs we cling to are just ingrained by years of doing it that way. A lot of the beliefs and opinions we hold, if we go deep down and truly examine them, are not actually ours in the first place. They're somebody else's beliefs or opinions that were transplanted onto us automatically by where we grew up, the company we kept, the things we were taught etc... the beliefs / opinions aren't necessarily negative, by the way, but there's a good chance they're not originally ours. We just adopted them. But regardless of our beliefs, if we're prepared to learn in this lifetime we might find that we learn something that is an improvement over what we originally had been thinking.

For example, one of you might be able to come to me and tell me that much of what I wrote in this post was total rubbish. First of all, I'd hope that you'd put it more politely than that ("Ben, I do believe that some of what you wrote is questionable, old chap" - us English are experts at making sentences more flowery and less direct) ) but after the inital feeling of sheer annoyance and hatred I would feel towards you (joke), I would have to look at the possibility of that or I'm being close minded. I owe it to myself not to get in the way of learning why it might be wrong. If I refuse to believe I might be wrong I'm denying myself the possbibility of gaining knowledge. I could go away from the situation a corrected but wiser man or I could just ignore it and stay ignorant. There's always the possibility that someone diasgress with you, tells you why, but you still know that you're right. That happens too. Just because someone disagress with you it doesn't mean they're correct either. It's about being open to both possiblities before you decide.

So, from a list of majestic libraries to arguments and open mindedness. Please feel free to weigh in with your two cents and we'll all secretly ignore each other's opinions !! Or will we ?

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