Archive for the ‘Learning’ Category

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Sometimes You Just Have to Say I Don’t Know

February 23, 2024

Sometimes You Just Have to Say I Don’t Know

Thomas Jefferson (and most of the other founders of the USA) were children of the Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason. They were suspicious of things that couldn’t be figured out by reason. Jefferson famously went through his Bible and cut out all the stories of miracles.

I knew a guy who (I am positive he was mostly joking but I love the metaphor) when he got to a difficult passage in a letter that Paul wrote would say that it was time to get the big black magic marker and just blot out that paragraph.

Aren’t we all very much like that? If there is something we read that is either uncomfortable or we cannot understand, we prefer to blot it out of mind.

I suggest another strategy.

Try saying, “I don’t know.”

Then cultivate curiosity and imagination.

There was so much contained in the letters of the Apostle Paul that I had trouble understanding. I thought about those issues often. Then I happened to come across an 1,800-page scholarly work that taught me more than I could have wished. 

But I was ready to learn.

Had I decided to just ignore uncomfortable passages and roll with my prejudices, I would have missed a tremendous education.

If the first step of personal growth is awareness of where we are, then the first step of learning is saying “I don’t know” and “I wonder why…”

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There is Understanding and Then There is Opinion

January 18, 2024

Try out some wisdom on yourself that is at least 3,000 years old. I guess people have been the same since the beginning of culture. From the book of Proverbs (18:2)

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing personal opinion.

We experienced that often even before social media amplified it I seldom watch TV news, but what I have seen amplifies this with the appropriate (trained) facial expressions.

I catch myself—have I researched this appropriately or am I merely parroting some thought that originated in Russia or China?

Or, perhaps we violate this additional warning (18:13).

If one gives answer before hearing, it is folly and shame.

How often we impulsively blurt out an often stupid opinion on someone’s problem without ever fully listening and understanding.

I have that problem, too. Working on it…

Posted in Attitude, Learning, Listening, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

For Learning About Wisdom

January 1, 2024

A chapter a day for the 31 days of January. (I promise not to write about Proverbs every day, although that wouldn’t be a bad idea. My mind searches too broadly to stay on topic.)

Why read the Proverbs (and actually any other Wisdom literature):

  • For learning about wisdom and instruction;
  • For understanding words of insight;
  • For gaining instruction in wise-dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity;
  • To teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young;
  • To let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill;
  • To understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles.
  • The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
  • Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

[Note: fear of the Lord does not mean to be afraid, rather, it means living within the awe and reverence of God however you define he/she/it.]

From the Prologue to the book of Proverbs. I couldn’t have said it better. So I won’t try. The types of people you will meet–the wise seek learning, the simple can be taught, the fool shuns learning, the scoffer cynically derides learning.

And Happy New Year 2024. Many blessings to you all for a great year.

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It Should Be Easy

December 15, 2023

“It should be easy. Here it is in black and white. How can people argue about it?”

He was in a Bible study class composed almost entirely of people who went to church regularly but who had never read the book.

He was reading in one English translation. Had he but lined up say five English translations, there may have been 2-3 different words in that passage. They may or may not have changed the meaning very much. But the nuance of the verse could have changed.

He also fell victim to the fallacy that should have been overcome by high school English classes. Unfortunately, few high school courses actually teach one how to read.

There must be hundreds of phrases and sentences taken from the Bible that altered the course of history that were completely out of context of the meaning. As I type these words several flash through my brain.

Humans so easily fool themselves into thinking they have completely arrived at understanding and wisdom, when in reality they are creatures in the process of growing. We have so much hubris as to think we know more than people who have spent their entire adult lives studying ancient Greek. And I have read some of those who still discuss the meaning of one word Paul used in a certain place. I started to learn New Testament Greek and then thought “How do I expect to learn enough in a few months to be better than scholars who have devoted 30 years to the study?”

Back to the question. It is easier if we devote time and curiosity to exploring the complete paragraph or letter. It helps to have a guide who can lead us through the logic of the Greek in the passage which is different from the logic we use in English. I am currently refreshing my knowledge of German and learning Spanish. (I should be doing Irish Gaelic and Welsh given I have grandparents from each heritage.) Each of these has its own logic. And the brief introduction to Gaelic shows me another set of logic principles. 

I return to my thought about time and curiosity along with humility. As soon as we say we don’t know everything, then the work of learning begins.

Posted in Disciplines, Learning, Study | Leave a Comment »

Be Just a Little Kinder Than Necessary

October 23, 2023

Among my favorite podcasts is Huberman Lab from Professor Andrew Huberman, PhD, professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Despite this impressive resume, he takes deep dives into topics and conducts interviews in a manner approachable to all of us.

The last episode featured Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett discussing “How to Understand Emotions.” She discusses her research over her career explaining what emotions are and how the brain represents and integrates signals from our body and the environment around us to create our unique emotional states. 

From the show notes, “We also discuss actionable tools for how to regulate feelings of uncertainty and tools to better understand the emotional states of others.”

They come together on some practical disciplines that I teach wherever I can:

  • Eat Real food
  • Get Good Sleep
  • Exercise

They conclude with two more essential ingredients for a good life that seem to be in short supply these days. Perhaps we can work these into our daily life practices.

  • Trust
  • Kindness

Another excellent podcaster, Tim Ferriss,, has begun concluding his podcast interviews with this phrase:

Be just a little kinder than necessary today.

Excellent advice for life.

Posted in Attitude, emotions, Learning, Physical | Leave a Comment »

Philosophy versus Theology

October 18, 2023

There was a time where I studied theology. Not at university. But I read. I subscribed to an academic journal. I thought.

But it was all dead. Just arguments over various ideas. (Maybe I’m mad that Theology Today didn’t publish one of my poems, but I doubt that. I seldom get mad.) I would get a feel for where the academic thinking was and then drop it for a while. A curiosity thing.

Philosophy, on the other had, was more life giving. Not the academic philosophy from the university. But glancing on my bookshelf and seeing Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Augustine, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Bacon, Pascal, Montaigne. They explored ideas, but they also explored how to live a fulfilled life. 

We can read the Jewish and Christian scriptures that way, too. Oh, we can read these to find a list of rules that separate us from the heathen. Or, we can read what Jesus said and did and learn about living. We can read where James warns us about how our tongue can get us into trouble. How Paul describes reciprocal relationships and how living in the Spirit gives us freedom.

Three times I read references to Thomas Aquinas. St. Thomas if you’re Catholic. Taking a hint, I pulled Summa Theologica from my shelves and began to read. It took a while to get used to that particular Latin literary style. But I wasn’t getting into it. Then came the realization, this is a book on defining terms. I could see its importance for the job he was asked to do by the Pope. But, it isn’t speaking to me. I’m not studying for a degree. Or even to impress anyone (too late for that, now). My interest lies in living a better life. (Man, am I glad again that I dropped out of that Ph.D. track I began after university. That could have been my life.)

Take a hint. Read things that fill your mind with advice for life. You’ll find every day a better place for existence. 

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I See Men As Trees Walking

October 4, 2023

For several months of looking through my study window about 6 am at meditation time I saw green grass, trees, bushes, birds, people walking. Now in early October, it is dark out. I can see just the blurred dark swath of trees and bushes. Then dawn rises. I gradually make out individual trees and bushes. 

That probably relates to the phrase found in so many stories—it suddenly dawned on him.

But this takes me back to a country gospel song I first heard from Johnny Cash based on Mark 8—I see men as trees walking. Jesus touched a blind man, and that was the man’s response. Then Jesus touched him a second time, and he could see clearly.

We often experience coming to understanding that same way. Patience and perseverance pay.

Several things I’ve read over the past couple of weeks have nudged me to put aside my anti-Aristotelian prejudice and read Thomas Aquinas again. Last night witnessed the beginning of this journey. Summa Theologica Part 1. (I self-identify as Augustinian rather than Thomist; Neo-Platonist rather than Aristotelian.) 

I struggled through the first few questions and proofs. Then, just as the dawn’s light brought those trees into view, I got the rhythm and sense of direction of the writing.

It’s the same—reading the Bible or a teacher’s text or even learning some new math equations. With patience and persistence, meaning will come.

Posted in Awareness, discernment, Learning, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Be That Student

September 1, 2023

Amazing that 2,600-year-old teaching remains as relevant today as when originally uttered.

The teacher gave the same instruction to all of us, and it was up to each student to absorb, digest, and develop the teaching within themselves.

A small group of would-be engineers in the lecture hall of our college chemistry class sat there during lecture making up some sort of obscene religion. I have no idea how well they did. The curve in the 700-person class was brutal. I remember an A on the mid-term and C as final grade. They didn’t pick up anything, I’m sure.

The word is responsibility. Many people want to be able to say whatever spouts out of their mind without assuming responsibility for repercussions. Many (or many parents) seem to think there is either osmosis or privilege that should get a student through. Who is responsible? The student! (That’s us.)

If a disciple is excessively emotional or if their mind is very rigid, good teachings will be distorted and the teacher’s wisdom will not be assimilated.

If we approach learning, or any conversation, with a mind cluttered with either chaos of emotions or rigidity of belief, we will fail to absorb the message and waste an opportunity to learn and grow.

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Two Kinds of Disciples

August 30, 2023

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Jesus’s last instructions to his disciples. They can believe what he told them. They need to go and do. And they can rest assured in his continual presence.

I am a contemplative. I have found sitting in meditation life changing. Did Jesus tell me (through them) to sit in meditation? No.

I love to study. Learning has been a lifelong joy. Did Jesus tell me to learn more? No. Well, not exactly. There is the teaching part. That is the last part of the instructions.

There are two kinds of disciples. One knows and can explain. One lives out the instructions in everyday life.

Meditating may center me. Learning may enrich me. But, Jesus requires more out of me (and you). 

The first instruction is Go—into all nations.

Next is Make—disciples. (Not people who agree with my particular theology, but disciples, followers, learners.)

Next is Baptizing.

Next is Teaching—everything he has commanded.

There are two kinds of disciples—those who think and those who do. Jesus preferred the doers.

Posted in Disciplines, Doing, Evangelism, Learning, Meditation | Leave a Comment »

Process Control, Quality In, Quality Processing, Quality Out

August 11, 2023

Two conversations this week involved process control. One involved coffee beans and the other scrap steel. One discussed why the direct trade coffee (from the Chavarria farm in Nicaragua) tastes so much better than the big chain brands. The other conversation with the CEO of a software company discussed achieving high quality steel products from the raw material input of assorted scrap steel.

A couple of takeaways.

The quality of the feedstock, the raw material the process begins with, impacts the process and the final product.

Adjusting the process to allow for variations of feedstock impacts the quality of the final product.

Just so in our own development.

What is the quality of the feedstock with which you fill your attention and mind?

How do you process, that is, reflect on, the stuff filling your attention and mind?

Posted in Disciplines, Learning, Listening, Thinking | Leave a Comment »

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