Stop Lollygagging in the Comfort Zone
I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma. My mother once said to me “I do not want you to go into that pool hall. Those lollygagging old men do nothing but cuss and spit. Of course I immediately asked my friend where this pool hall was because I recognized that it was something I must investigate. For those individuals whose mother never used the word, lollygag means fool around, dawdle.
I think that one great hindrance to learning is that we are all inclined to lollygag in familiar areas of the vast worlds of knowledge. We feel comfortable wrapped in those warm fuzzy intellectual domains of knowledge to which we have been introduced by our teachers. This inclination greatly inhibits our ability to explore the worlds of the unknown and excitingly new.
If we wonder off the beaten path we can discover what we have not ‘seen’ before. If we only study that which enhances our present state then we will never know what we don’t know.
Hobbies are ways in which many individuals express their individuality. Those matters that excite an individual interest and curiosity are those very things that lead the individual to self-understanding and also for others to understand them. Interests define individuality and help to provide meaning to life. We all look for some ideology, philosophy or religion to provide meaning to life.
When examining psychosis the psychiatrist advises either the establishment of an interpersonal evolvement or for finding interests and perhaps new patterns of thought.
None of us have discovered our full potentialities or have fully explored in depth those we have discovered. Self-development and self-expression are relatively new ideas in human history. The arts are one means for this self-expression. The artist may find drawing or constructing sculptures as a means for self-discovery. The self-learner may find essay writing of equal importance. Consciousness of individuality was first become a possibility in the middle Ages. The Renaissance and further the Reformation enhanced the development of individual identification.
I recommend that each of us develop the hobby of an intellectual life. We could add to our regular routine the development of an invigorating intellectual life wherein we sought disinterested knowledge; knowledge that is not for the purpose of some immediate need but something that stirs our curiosity, which we seek to understand for the simple reason that we feel a need to understand a particular domain of knowledge.
Stop Lollygagging in the Comfort Zone
-
along-for-the-ride
- Posts: 11732
- Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 4:28 pm
Stop Lollygagging in the Comfort Zone
That's why I enjoy reading. 
Life is a Highway. Let's share the Commute.
-
chonsigirl
- Posts: 33633
- Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2005 8:28 am
Stop Lollygagging in the Comfort Zone
And I enjoy Tae Kwon Do.
Stop Lollygagging in the Comfort Zone
If you feel the need to understand something specific, is it really disinterested knowledge? Just because you don't want to know it for a practical application doesn't automatically put it into that category.
The people who make a habit of disinterested knowledge would gladly learn anything about anything in equal proportion, because it is the knowledge that is the purpose.
I mean, prioritizing the order in which you seek out knowledge in a given choice of areas suggests a degree of interest does it not?
The people who make a habit of disinterested knowledge would gladly learn anything about anything in equal proportion, because it is the knowledge that is the purpose.
I mean, prioritizing the order in which you seek out knowledge in a given choice of areas suggests a degree of interest does it not?
Stop Lollygagging in the Comfort Zone
Most everyone has played with jigsaw puzzles and recognize how we put such puzzles together. When we start a new puzzle the first thing we do is construct the frame. We gather all the pieces with one straight edge and slowly construct the outer perimeter of the puzzle.
Such is the case when we organize knowledge. When we begin to learn a new domain of knowledge in school our teachers help us set up the frame. They hold our hands while we construct the outside boundary and slowly fill in the image by adding new facts.
After we leave school if we want to become a self-learner and to become knowledgeable of new domains we will follow this same procedure but with a significant difference. We will have no teacher to supply us with the pieces of the puzzle. Especially difficult will be gathering the appropriate side pieces so that we can frame our domain. After this we might very well have to imagine the image of the puzzle because we will not have a teacher to help us ‘see’ what the domain ‘looks like’.
When we become a self-learner we will often find pieces of knowledge that do not fit our already constructed frames, when this happens we have two choices. We can throw away the new fragment of knowledge or we can start a journey of discovery in an effort to organize the construction of a new domain. The odd piece of knowledge is either trashed or we must begin a big effort to start construction on a new big puzzle.
I think that knowledge is easily acquired when that knowledge fits easily within one’s accepted ideologies. If we have a ready place to put a new fragment of knowledge we can easily find a place to fit it in. When the knowledge does not fit within our already functioning ideas that fact will be discarded unless a great deal of effort is made to find a home for that fragment of knowledge.
We are unable to move beyond our ideologies unless we exert great effort. No one can give us that type of knowledge; we must go out of our way to stalk it, wrestle it to the ground and then find other pieces that will complete a frame. That is why our schools do not try to take us beyond our narrow world because it is too costly in time and effort. Our schools prepare us to be good workers and strong consumers, anything beyond that we must capture on our own.
No one can give us that kind of knowledge. It can only be presented as an awakening of consciousness and then we can, if we have the energy and curiosity go and capture the knowledge of something totally new and start a new puzzle.
Such is the case when we organize knowledge. When we begin to learn a new domain of knowledge in school our teachers help us set up the frame. They hold our hands while we construct the outside boundary and slowly fill in the image by adding new facts.
After we leave school if we want to become a self-learner and to become knowledgeable of new domains we will follow this same procedure but with a significant difference. We will have no teacher to supply us with the pieces of the puzzle. Especially difficult will be gathering the appropriate side pieces so that we can frame our domain. After this we might very well have to imagine the image of the puzzle because we will not have a teacher to help us ‘see’ what the domain ‘looks like’.
When we become a self-learner we will often find pieces of knowledge that do not fit our already constructed frames, when this happens we have two choices. We can throw away the new fragment of knowledge or we can start a journey of discovery in an effort to organize the construction of a new domain. The odd piece of knowledge is either trashed or we must begin a big effort to start construction on a new big puzzle.
I think that knowledge is easily acquired when that knowledge fits easily within one’s accepted ideologies. If we have a ready place to put a new fragment of knowledge we can easily find a place to fit it in. When the knowledge does not fit within our already functioning ideas that fact will be discarded unless a great deal of effort is made to find a home for that fragment of knowledge.
We are unable to move beyond our ideologies unless we exert great effort. No one can give us that type of knowledge; we must go out of our way to stalk it, wrestle it to the ground and then find other pieces that will complete a frame. That is why our schools do not try to take us beyond our narrow world because it is too costly in time and effort. Our schools prepare us to be good workers and strong consumers, anything beyond that we must capture on our own.
No one can give us that kind of knowledge. It can only be presented as an awakening of consciousness and then we can, if we have the energy and curiosity go and capture the knowledge of something totally new and start a new puzzle.
Stop Lollygagging in the Comfort Zone
Our schools prepare us to be good workers and strong consumers, anything beyond that we must capture on our own.
My school also taught me to think critically, to analyze, to expand my horizons, and to always be looking for new information that challenges the way I think. I guess we just had very different educations.
My school also taught me to think critically, to analyze, to expand my horizons, and to always be looking for new information that challenges the way I think. I guess we just had very different educations.
Stop Lollygagging in the Comfort Zone
Devonin;1061838 wrote: My school also taught me to think critically, to analyze, to expand my horizons, and to always be looking for new information that challenges the way I think. I guess we just had very different educations.
You are one of the fortunate few. I have encountered very few individuals who attended schools that were able to teach CT.
You are one of the fortunate few. I have encountered very few individuals who attended schools that were able to teach CT.