For the learning disabled

[Philosopher]

Yes, this means YOU.


http://www.megaupload.com/?d=P4L6FV2J


Idries Shah - Learning How to Learn - Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi way


Take warning from the misfortunes of others, so that others 
need not have to take warning from your own. 
- Saadi, Rose Garden, 13th Century 


When the camel of our efforts sinks into the mud, what matter 
whether the destination is near or far? 
-Ustad Khalilullah Khalili, Quatrains, 1975

[Lunoor]

OOOh thanks philo!

[Lunoor]

Hey the regular download link isn't working for me philo : (

[SelfHealedMadman]

~
As it seems most of us read a good deal, another excellent source:
How To Read A Book - The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

Mortimer J Adler
Charles Van Doren

[snowblind]

yet what fun! Life is for living...loudly, expressly, and with a sense of adventure....Dance like no one is looking, love like its the last time you will see a person and fail big, if you fail big you tried big...the learning never ends.

[Tiff]

Do you think you know?



Or is what you know not what you think?

[snowblind]

Learning an interesting concept. Is anything ever learned really? Do predilicitons usurp learning the things that others tell us that we are supposed to learn? Consensus...is that learning? I learned modus polens today, got tested on it, was told by the professor that I did well...If I do not remember it next week, has anything truely been learned?

[Guest]

snowblind wrote:
Learning an interesting concept. Is anything ever learned really? Do predilicitons usurp learning the things that others tell us that we are supposed to learn? Consensus...is that learning? I learned modus polens today, got tested on it, was told by the professor that I did well...If I do not remember it next week, has anything truely been learned?Learning is funny on the spiritual path, because I think what we do is gain a lot of information on many subjects when we begin, but then we do like zen and begin 'unlearning' everything we know, til we're nearly a blank slate, ala 'original mind.' Then we realize the futility of it all and realize we really know nothing. At least my own journey has led me down that path. Im back to being a child again, knowing nothing, relearning everything. Taking it all one day at a time in a magical world.

[SelfHealedMadman]

snowblind wrote:

Learning an interesting concept. Is anything ever learned really? Do predilicitons usurp learning the things that others tell us that we are supposed to learn? Consensus...is that learning? I learned modus polens today, got tested on it, was told by the professor that I did well...If I do not remember it next week, has anything truely been learned?
Learning vs. Seeing or Direct Knowing.  Always a good discussion as well. 
How do we create one or the other?  Does the Spirit put the cubic centimeter of chance in front of us and our personal power makes the call as to if we snatch it or not?  We talk about learning or trying to figure stuff out and direct knowing.  Where is the cut off between direct knowing and what it is we are attempting to figure out?
I've always related this to Prajna.  The word translates in English to 'wisdom.'  What pra-jna means is pra means pre, or before, and jna means knowledge. 
So wisdom, what I call direct knowing, as opposed to intellectual understanding or knowledge, is pre-knowledge. 
In other words wisdom is that which we already know, just before we 'think' we know something.  
When I think I have a question, I know already, something.  But I'm not paying attention to that inner voice, that knowing.
I don't pay attention because I consider knowing something that is intellectual, something that can be written down, taught, told to someone else, or even write a book about.
But wisdom can't be transmitted that way.  It's a direct knowing.  It's the original mind experiencing itself.  The minute it arises it is known.  Because it is in itself exactly that; direct knowing.  It is knowing what it is as it arises. 
That's not knowing a whole lot of little things about what is.  That would be knowledge.  Wisdom is simply knowing the essence of what is.  So, they are entirely different ways of 'seeing.'

[Guest]

SelfHealedMadman wrote:
snowblind wrote:

Learning an interesting concept. Is anything ever learned really? Do predilicitons usurp learning the things that others tell us that we are supposed to learn? Consensus...is that learning? I learned modus polens today, got tested on it, was told by the professor that I did well...If I do not remember it next week, has anything truely been learned?
Learning vs. Seeing or Direct Knowing.  Always a good discussion as well. 
"How do we create one or the other?  Does the Spirit put the cubic centimeter of chance in front of us and our personal power makes the call as to if we snatch it or not?  We talk about learning or trying to figure stuff out and direct knowing.  Where is the cut off between direct knowing and what it is we are attempting to figure out?"
“All of us, whether or not we are warriors, have a cubic centimeter of chance that pops out in front of our eyes from time to time. The difference between the average person and a warrior is that the warrior is aware of this and stays alert, deliberately waiting, so that when this cubic centimeter of chance pops out, it is picked up.” CC
I've always related this to Prajna.  The word translates in English to 'wisdom.'  What pra-jna means is pra means pre, or before, and jna means knowledge. 
So wisdom, what I call direct knowing, as opposed to intellectual understanding or knowledge, is pre-knowledge. 
In other words wisdom is that which we already know, just before we 'think' we know something.  
That sounds very zen, that we already have the answers within us, through gnosis.
When I think I have a question, I know already, something.  But I'm not paying attention to that inner voice, that knowing.
I don't pay attention because I consider knowing something that is intellectual, something that can be written down, taught, told to someone else, or even write a book about.
Thats probably because ego can get in the way, and ego can be riddled with doubt, yet at the same time, it can play know-it-all too =)

But wisdom can't be transmitted that way.  It's a direct knowing.  It's the original mind experiencing itself.  The minute it arises it is known.  Because it is in itself exactly that; direct knowing.  It is knowing what it is as it arises. 
But the trick here is, how do we 'know' we're hearing from original mind - that knows - versus the ego? How can we tell the difference between wishful thinking and direct knowledge?
That's not knowing a whole lot of little things about what is.  That would be knowledge.  Wisdom is simply knowing the essence of what is.  So, they are entirely different ways of 'seeing.' 
Agreed - wisdom and knowledge are cut from the same cloth but not quite the same thing. Someone can 'know' a lot of stuff, have head full of fact and information, and not actually be 'wise.'

[Tiff]

SelfHealedMadman wrote:I've always related this to Prajna.  The word translates in English to 'wisdom.'  What pra-jna means is pra means pre, or before, and jna means knowledge. 
So wisdom, what I call direct knowing, as opposed to intellectual understanding or knowledge, is pre-knowledge. 
In other words wisdom is that which we already know, just before we 'think' we know something.  
When I think I have a question, I know already, something.  But I'm not paying attention to that inner voice, that knowing.
I don't pay attention because I consider knowing something that is intellectual, something that can be written down, taught, told to someone else, or even write a book about.
But wisdom can't be transmitted that way.  It's a direct knowing.  It's the original mind experiencing itself.  The minute it arises it is known.  Because it is in itself exactly that; direct knowing.  It is knowing what it is as it arises. 
Well said. My experience has been that knowing can come from 'intent to know'. The process is to pursue the question, intellectually, but then the knowing arrives when one is ready to receive it and it does not involve thinking, yet to embark on thinking was a worthwhile effort to exercise the intent which lead to knowing.
Eventually when its seen that knowing is connected to intent directly, then one can curtail the thinking and just intend to know and wait for it to arrive.

[Guest]