Learning
Posted by owen59 on February 15, 2007
The Mind is a thing with Wings
Education, learning
Is not a thing inside a mind
A mind is a thing
With arms and legs and heart
Legs that are made to walk together
Arms that work tools and link
And hearts that attract.
Learning is a thing
To help legs walk together,
Arms work together,
Hearts live together.
The mind is a thing
With wings
Well, I’m sure this is not good as poems go but it seemed a way to talk about this question of learning and the circling the burning bush attitude we get about it. Even abstract things are not really esoteric but have real purpose in our lives. The purpose of learning is the future of humanity. The future is unknown. So how does learning provide for the unknown? It has to prepare us for as many consequences as are likely. This is easier in the short term than the long term. So there must be a broad platform in learning that not only helps us function in immediate society, but helps us veer a course over our lives, but then also ensures as many possibilities or even more for the next generation. So our learning platform gets bigger each generation, not smaller – the wings of the bird spreads but grows bigger with every beat. For me this is exactly the platform Baha’u’llah has created. Each of us in the Baha’i Faith have come from cultures whose mindset around knowledge and learning had become like a stilletto heel upon the planet. It is therefore no wonder we are stamping deep holes in it everywhere. So we do need to vigorously reengineer our mindset. This is a painfuil experience, for some who take more to heart than for others. To take on this pain is the only way forward for humanity. Individually we don’t need to be right with every step we take, but taking steps we must. The anguish cry of His Holiness, Christ, “Take this cup away from me” must resonate with everyone who has been moved by the will of the Great Educator only to find that He is using you as a cutting blade of the divine road grader. Oooch that gravel hurts no matter how sharp your steel. (Well I was getting a bit serious)
