The Case for Lifelong Learning
What is Lifelong Learning?
Here’s an easy example…
Have you ever finally read the lyrics to a song you love only to be shocked to discover the words you have been belting out all these years (in your shower or car) were wrong? At first, we can feel a bit foolish but wow are we thankful for the next time we sing along with our friends by our side. Has this happened to you? It certainly has to me and more than once.
Learning involves uncovering new information and then incorporating it into our everyday lives. Learning grows not only our knowledge, but also our perspective. The beginning of our learning falls to our caregivers. Then as we head off to school, our learning is intensified by our teachers. But at some point our schooling ends, and so does our structured learning. If you add to this our deep seeded sense that we should know more than we really do plus our strong avoidance of looking foolish, before we know it, our pursuit of learning stops. We still continue some experiential learning (such as when we charge too much to our credit card and don’t have the money to pay it off) but we don’t often purposely seek out learning. Perhaps even worse, we only seek out information to reinforce what we already know, doubling down on the “facts” we really haven’t researched fully in an attempt to sound wise.
Well, what is wisdom? The dictionary defines wisdom as the soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment. The most read book in the world says it this way, “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gains understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.” - Proverbs 3:13 ESV
It stands, then, that if we wish to be wise, we must seek out wisdom which involves gaining knowledge plus experience. This is an active, intentional pursuit. This is where lifelong learning comes in. If we desire to be wise, we have to be fully committed to learning over our lifetime.
Here are three ideas, which will help us in our pursuit:
Be OK with being wrong
Marvel at the vastness of information out there and quickly realize we have much still to learn. So when new information, butts up against our previously held “dogma” let’s admit we were wrong and move forward getting a bit wiser.
2. Seek out, differing thoughts and opinions with an open mind.
Through listening to differing thoughts and opinions, we come to understand a topic or idea from new vantage points. This then allows us to gain a better understanding. We might not always end up agreeing with what we’ve learned but now we have a greater understanding from where others are coming from.
3. Watch / Read / Listen / Write
Actively seek out new information. Watch videos, read books and articles, and listen to podcasts. Now, having taken in new information, get out the old pen and paper and write down your thoughts. It’s in the act of writing, where we begin to crystallize and solidify, what we have learned and how we have changed from what we used to know to what we now know. It’s in the writing process where we uncover the evidence of our growing wisdom. Next, dive deeper.
Being a student of lifelong learning builds out our wisdom over a lifetime. So go ahead and sing that song at the top of your voice.
