Learning is a Choice
Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
Learning is a Choice
Look around you, pay attention, read what you can, listen to whom you can, learn what you can. Structure your life around your experiences where you can. There are many lessons you can glean based off what you see and what happens when you act.
As people we cannot fully rely on our own experiences to properly shape our understanding of the world, we cannot experience everything. That does not mean it shouldn’t be a focus.
That doesn’t mean your own experiences aren’t worthwhile. Of course they are. Just remember they’re only one perspective, one point of view, one way to look.
There are many people living on this world of ours and you are only one of them. That doesn’t mean you are insignificant, you’re actually quite significant. What that means is you’re still only one perspective.
Even when you have someone witnessing an event and they’re standing right next to you, the perspective they hold will differ from yours, at times even running counter to what you believe happened or you believe you saw.
This can be perplexing on the surface, but it can be explained simply, even by a normal Dad like me. The easiest way to understand it is people are different and therefore see everything in their own way.
The issue with this explanation is there isn’t a “how” attached. One problem with that “how” we love so much is it could be anything. The amount of variable we each have are incalculable.
There is one, however, you will notice if you pay attention to conversations between people with disparate opinions and views. These conversations will often end in an argument or hurt feelings.
Could this be avoided? It could. Empathy is a superpower after all. Understanding is a path to your own personal peace. But you can’t have either without learning what they are and how they can be applied.
Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.
Even then they cannot serve you if you suddenly stop learning after knowing their definitions.
Learning is a choice. You learn, assuming you allow yourself to, when you take action. You learn what works and what doesn’t. You don’t have to learn, though I would advise you not to take this route.
As you’re attempting to take a leisurely stroll through a forest and walk, head down, into a tree, you have some choices.
You can learn and, when attempting to continue walking, you can avoid that tree. You can ignore what happened and learn nothing, too. So when you start again you can slam into the same tree in your way.
And when that happens you can curse the tree that’s impeding your path. Then you can try again, you can try to walk through that stubborn tree as many times as you want to. You won’t succeed.
The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up.
You can curse the tree as much as you want, it won’t move. You can blame the tree and the world on your inability to get through the forest, but you still won’t walk through that tree.
That is also how you can approach new concepts and new understandings. You can get mad at the person you disagree with and you can curse them, but they will not agree with you. Can you convince them they’re wrong?
Yes, but that’s unlikely and that will require you to learn an awful lot in the meantime. Or, as with the tree, you can learn to avoid the angry ones. However, avoiding everyone that disagrees with you will prove a lonely way to live.
Instead, I would suggest you learn how to be at peace in disagreement. One way is understanding. The understanding that people are different, they see the world from many perspectives you likely do not have, and that perhaps you are the one that is wrong.
Don’t just change your mind at the behest of someone, make them prove their point. But understand that even if they cannot, they may just be bad at proving points, that doesn’t mean they’re wrong.
But all of this revolves around a willingness to learn. If you allow your stubborn nature to take over in every aspect of your life, you’re screwed. You will not be happy. Learning is changing.
Change is eternal so learning must be as well. Reconcile this as soon as possible, become comfortable with it so you can live wherever life may take you. Reconcile this so you can live in peace.
Structure your life around an understanding that learning is eternal, it must be done and will not cease being required.
Hi there,
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Andrew Ussery
Dad