Have you ever started to read an article or listen to someone when it/they appear/seem like their focus is going to be about something that “you’ve already heard or seen” or “something that you already know?”  I wonder how many times I have done that and missed an opportunity to perhaps learn something I didn’t know or at least think of something that I thought I knew in a different way.

Everyday I am challenged (as a non-traditional student!) to keep my mind open to learning something that I thought I knew but didn’t or at least creating a whole new perspective on what I already know.  Why just today in Philosophy I heard a whole lot about the basic groupings and sub groupings around philosophy (i.e. categories such as metaphysics, logics, epistomology and axiology) that I basically already know but what was fun was to hear the ideas and passions of the professors and the interjections of some of the students.  I love hearing people in the learning process.  We also learned about styles of philosophy such as analytical and continental which was interesting and, at least in my way of thinking, helped me to understand where certain kinds of thinkers are coming from.  I’m still amazed that an admin assist who I supervised years ago was eventually able to earn his Ph.D. in Philosophy and is now a lawyer.  Had I been in his shoes, I might have found the contemplation as to whether a rock was alive or not to be too seductive a process for me to move on to other more useful theological wanderings about life.

Maybe I’m just one of those “people” who enjoys learning for learning’s sake but I sure do think in our tweeting twittering social networking googling world that sometimes we’re missing out on the deliciousness of learning and comprehension by not diving deeper into the understanding of a subject, theory, idea or person.  You’d think that I, of all people, would want to dash through this education process as fast as I could with the sands of time quickly falling through the narrow opening but something wonderful overtakes me when I get into class and the learning begins and I’m actually grateful for the present moment.  It’s so nice not to have all the hormonal distractions of yore!

I believe that being willing to continue educating ourselves and learn about those things that we thought we already knew is tantamount to our being able to evolve as a species into a being who I would want to be rather than someone who I would want to avoid.  Lest you believe that learning and contemplation is best left up to the scientists and mathematicians, many great things have been created as a result of  a great idea.  Learning helps germinate an idea.

What new old thing are you willing to learn today?