Pleasures of learning

For small children learning is a kind of torture. All adults have undergone the misery of being dragged to a school and spending a few hours in an enclosed area called a classroom. The child is compelled to read books, write letters of the alphabet, speak and listen to his teacher who invariably is a stranger.

The student is ill at ease for he has been pulled out of his mother’s lap and ordered to wear a uniform and march to a school along with several other unwilling souls. If not for the security measures in modern schools, many students in primary classes will run away to enjoy the freedom in his familiar surroundings.

The child, however, soon learns that the classroom is a better place than home. He finds new friends and engages himself in a variety of activities - drawing, singing, dancing and playing. He no longer feels alienated or confined to a classroom. He learns new skills and begins to drink deep at the fountain of knowledge. This trend continues until he becomes an adult.

When you begin to do job and face the realities of life, you lose most of your childlike qualities. Your curiosity to learn new subjects and explore the variety of human life gets blunted.

As a result, many employed people give up learning at this stage. When he gets married and has his own school-going children, the situation becomes worse. Fathers and mothers keep themselves busy educating their children and neglecting their own learning.

You can meet many employed graduates who have not read a single book after their graduation. Most graduates think that their knowledge is complete and do not make any attempt to explore new subjects. As a result, they tend to forget what they had learnt at the university.

The situation is deplorable in every field of activities. There are lecturers and schoolteachers who have not updated their knowledge from time to time. Then there are journalists who never care to read books and magazines. Sometimes they do not seem to read their own newspapers.

The only excuse they trot out is that they have no time to learn. Most of us may not be able to follow regular classes or sit examinations. But if you really wish to learn something new, nothing will prevent you from doing so.

Unknown to many, learning is a pleasurable activity. Even a child who does not attend school tries to learn something new by experimenting. Children get excited when they discover something new and they do not waste time in showing their skills to adults.

This learning process is continued into their adult life. Some of you may remember what Archimedes did when he discovered the principle of specific gravity while he was in a bathtub. He was so excited that he jumped out of the bathtub and ran shouting “Eureka, Eureka!” (I have found it, I have found it!). His cry of triumph blinded him to the fact that he was running naked!

If learning is such a pleasurable activity, why do so many people go about without making an attempt to learn something new? If you take a census, about 60 per cent of the people are “non-learners”.

Some of them condemn learning and often surrender to routine in their respective jobs. Apart from the individual’s IQ level, this is partly due to bad teaching in schools and universities.

When teachers do not generate an enthusiasm in students, they become dull citizens of the world. It is high time that somebody did a research to find out why teachers fail to inspire their pupils.

I know of a retired bank manager who is now following a course at the Buddhist and Pali University. Despite his age and the type of work he was engaged in, he is full of bright ideas. His child-like curiosity to learn, discuss problems, and analyse situations is simply amazing. While his contemporaries are living on their pensions or taking treatment for various diseases, he is learning Pali and Buddhism.

Men of such calibre are rare in our society. When you pass the threshold of retirement, you begin to think that you are useless like an old coin. Without giving into such negative thinking, everybody should make an attempt to learn something new. If you cannot follow courses, you can read books.

Sometimes, when I walk into a bookshop or library, I feel that I am surrounded by a host of great minds. The authors, most of them not among the living, speak to me in their own voices. If you have even a small collection of books, you are among trust - worthy friends. Consult them when you are down in the dumps.

Apart from following courses and reading books, travelling is another way of acquiring knowledge. If you travel with an open mind, you can learn a lot about human life.

In a book I read some years ago, I found the following memorable lines: “Every new art you learn appears like a new window on the universe; it is like acquiring a new sense”.

As I had spent my formative years in a malaria-infested hamlet, I had no access to books except “Buddhagajjaya”, “Vadankavipotha” and “Sakaskada”. Although I did not understand the value of these booklets, I memorised the text. I came to know some classical authors when circumstances forced me to move into the asphalt jungle.

Crafts, too, are worth exploring. I had a journalist colleague who never did any original writing or read any books. She simply edited what others had sent for publication. However, she was an amazing doll maker. She could turn out a teddy bear in a couple of hours. Although she had this gift, she did not make use of it.

Although we have moved into the era of e-books. There is nothing like a printed book. You can take it anywhere and read it at any time you prefer. Books also offer us two different delights. One is the pleasure of meeting the unexpected. Sometimes, certain authors such as Bertrand Russell and George Orwell can jolt your assumptions and beliefs. They are men of great breadth of vision.

Secondly, learning extends our lives into new dimensions. The knowledge you gain by reading good authors never diminishes in time. Even if your health conditions deteriorate, the knowledge you have gained will stand you in very good stead. If you continue to read, your knowledge will increase in leaps and bounds.

No man has been created as a whole human being. Man has the capacity to improve his health, knowledge and surroundings. But he has to make an effort to improve his lot. While maintaining good health, man has to enrich his mind through learning. Those who learn regularly remain healthy and alert despite their age. There are many living examples among us to prove this point.

What is tragic is that many people pave the way for an early exit from life by engaging themselves in nefarious activities that debilitate the body and the mind. In other words, age is not so much a danger. The real dangers facing man are stupidity, gullibility and laziness. Those who condemn lifelong learning will soon find that they are wasting away their lives.

One of the major pleasures of learning is that you will realise the beauty of life. A rock is secure because there is the ground underneath it. However, look at a beautiful flower. There is nothing to support it. Its petals can fall or it can wither in a short time. Life is also like a flower, insecure in many ways. But life is a miracle, whoever created it.

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