Master of Learning

At the moment, I don't have a martial art that I've mastered; definitely a future prospect. But there is one thing I've mastered, and it's really helped me along. I don't claim mastery of anything in truth, even writing my love. But my ambition has always been to have mastery of learning itself, and so I refer to myself as a "Master of Learning".

I'm watching Star Wars Episode III as I write this, and it's a perfect parallel in the character of Anakin Skywalker. His character flaw is his pride; his pride won't allow him to submit to anyone's authority; even his submission to Emperor Palpatine is for the sake of his wife. The Bible says it's foolish to not listen to people, to not seek understanding, to think yourself incapable of being taught. That arrogance is seen in Anakin in every Star Wars episode; he leaves the Jedi because of it, kills his wife because of it, fights his own master and eventually loses his limbs because of it.

At the same time, there's another theme that Anakin's role expresses. Anakin becomes the most powerful Jedi/Sith eventually, but it's because of his knowledge of both the light and the dark sides of the force. And eventually, the battle between light and darkness, between Jedi and Sith, moves from outside of him to inside of him. And he, as Sith Lord Darth Vader, overthrows the Emperor as light eventually conquers the darkness within him.

As much as I hate school, my occupation in life is a student. I realized a long time ago that learning is much, much more than being in a classroom. I learn from EVERYTHING. I learn from people, places, things, ideas, accidents, experiments, randomness, mistakes, you name it. I learned that the smallest steps can attain the highest speeds, but at considerably higher energy costs by watching a spider or a roach run. I learned that heat contributes to thunderstorms by watching weather patterns over a series of days.

I learn by necessity. Right now I'm learning CSS code, HTML, and Photoshop so that I don't hafta pay people to make webpages for me. I began as a rapper, but I became a producer because I couldn't afford to pay people to produce music for me.

I learn in anticipation of things. I used to sit thru church sermons directed at married couples while others my age would blow it off, knowing that one day I hope be married and would need to draw upon the same information. I learned at an early age that Experience is a hard teacher, a lesson also reinforced in scripture I later discovered, and so I learned it is better to know before the crisis rather than to be at the mercy of an unfamiliar threat.

I learned to deal with situations in their entirety and not to think with bias. I have beliefs and values, but I always entertain opposing views; this is because I learned that, if my views are indeed correct, then I have nothing to fear from opposing views. My cousin once said I should be a lawyer, and this is the way lawyers think; yes, they want to win their case, but winning the case requires an understanding of the incident and the opposing view. To refuse to hear both sides of a case is a sign that one is insecure about his position, and insecurity derives from that pride I mentioned earlier.

As Anakin learned both the light and dark sides of the force, I learn what is right and hold to it, but will literally sit at the feet of my enemy to learn his way also. Because, if my way is right, then it will still be right at the end of the day. I think about the verse from the Bible that says we should be "wise as a serpent, but harmless as a dove". The serpent is a representative of many dark themes in the Bible, yet we are told to have a serpent's wisdom. We are not to practice wrongdoing and wrongthinking, but we are to know it, as we will hafta live with and deal with it. And I've found that, in knowing the darkness, I've gained better understanding of the light as well; the same as a shadow tell you the time of day and the direction of the lightsource.

My favorite thing about learning is that in learning, I've learned that all things are relative. In school they break subjects up into categories, and students say "I excel in this" or "I suck at that". I've found that even in school, everything taught is relative to something in another field. The goal is not to specialize in one thing, but to interconnect the fields into a continuous stream. Even now, as I'm writing this entry, I'm using a movie to illustrate my ideas. This is why analogies are important; it's important to not isolate ideas and be able to relate subjects because sometimes this is how we gain understanding of an idea; it allows people of different interests and specializations to comingle and build.

I'm constantly working on things, trying things, experimenting, contemplating, anticipating, listening, interpreting, predicting, analyzing, evaluating, imagining, recording, comparing, contrasting, postulating, figuring, calculating, and just dreaming. I pray for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom and know the difference between the three. I think understanding is my favorite part, but knowledge is a prerequisite understanding, and wisdom gives understanding its value. I could get into that right now, but... another time.

Bottom line: the only thing in life I have "mastery" of is learning; and learning is a neverending process of which there can never be true mastery. But in learning to learn, you learn a potpourri of other things. The humility to be a student is one of the greatest assets one can obtain.

Jesus PeaceB-J