To the children of the modern age and beyond
By Alan Baylis
From birth the mind continually learns. It develops from a state
of complete ignorance. It begins by having to learn how to control a
flexible body that incorporates hundreds of muscles and five
hitherto unknown senses. It achieves this to a very high standard
whereby it can walk, run, leap and then goes on to include speech
and very complex language. Through observation and schooling the
mind then learns or is taught the higher concepts such as numeracy,
literacy, music, science, physics and is then expected to be content
pumping gas for a living.
The mind can be taken to new levels of understanding and competence,
but only if we continue to practice and learn the new concepts. The
mind is continually looking for a more complete understanding of
whatever it is doing. By trial and error it will seek the fastest
and best way to perform a given task or subject. If a person
continually indulges in any subject then their mind will have no
choice but to try to perfect its understanding of that subject. So
if a person points their attention towards the television then their
mind will learn very well, all the actors names, plots, football
teams, brand names etc. However, if they point their attention long
enough towards any subject they like, but may think is too hard or
beyond their comprehension, then, like learning to walk, they will
come to understand it.
Knowledge of any new subject will only come about through devotion
and most importantly, repetition. In this respect the school systems
make the mistake of expecting the students to understand something
the first time they hear or read about a new concept. Rather than
being rushed to move on to the next subject it is far better that
the student re-read the information repeatedly until they themselves
believe they understand it.
Always choose to re-read a passage or a page of text indefinitely
until any feeling of confusion is replaced with a feeling of
boredom, which is the minds way of telling us that the information
has been understood to the point of being mundane. Continue this
throughout a book and you will come to understand all of the
information in the book almost to the level of the authors
themselves. If at any point in the book you feel that you have
become overly confused or overwhelmed then begin reading it again
from the beginning and when you next reach that point you will find
that it is less confusing or daunting.
The only drawback is that we can't learn everything. While devoted
to math we must concede that we shall not become an expert at
metallurgy. That can be left to someone who is devoted to metallurgy
but is not learning math. Choose the subject you would most like to
know, regardless of whether you presently believe you can know it
in-depth, and spend a couple of years doing and learning anything
that is related to that subject, taking time out to relax and play
when it begins to become stressful. When you have reached a level
you are happy with, then choose, and begin to learn a new subject.
Without shared knowledge mankind would not be where it is today. We
owe our modern way of life to all that has been learnt by the
generations before us. It has become a trend in these hard times to
put a price on this knowledge and sell it as a commodity. This
deprives the poor from a great amount of knowledge and keeps them
ignorant; because the last thing the world powers want is billions
of highly knowledgeable people who wont be happy just pumping gas.
Try reading the Bible as seen from our modern point of view and see
if creationism isn't a possibility.
