We do not learn in a straight line it is a crazy journey and
a tipping point event.
Over the years I have pondered how people learn. I have
looked at my learning which resembles a wrestling match; sometimes I win
sometimes I lose.
To me the way that people learn is not a gradual improvement
which seems to be the model implied in most academic areas. In fact it is more
consistent with the idea of the mediaeval revelation where at some point in
time after much trial and tribulation it is revealed to you.
We see this idea more in Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey or
any saga; a long journey with lots of tribulation, failures, and alliances,
some form of cheating, double-dealing and then achieving the aim, sometimes not
in the way that was anticipated; and then the journey back, with the treasure.
The reason I think this is so important is that it dissolves
the illusion of how things happen, our intellectual reasoning mind wants things
to be measured and mapped but I don’t think the world works like this and the
more I interview people for the ‘Creative’ podcast the more I see it. In fact I
haven’t actually met anyone who’s had a straightforward trajectory to what they
have achieved.
I have spoken to people whose life has been rocked by
bizarre events, near death experiences, strange meetings by chance, lucky
breaks, disappointments that led to something else but whatever it is never a gradual improvement on a level road
taking us to our target.
It seems that the mind needs to get to that point where the
pressure has built up so much that the dam bursts. For the guitarist the amount
of practice becomes like a tsunami that enables the muscular aspects to change,
for the singer they suddenly find their voice, for the novelist the plot with
all its twists and turns comes into view, for the entrepreneur the idea
suddenly presents itself out of nowhere.
Now that is not to say that we do not need strategies and
tactics that enable us to create and open doorways, because sometimes the Muses
aren’t waiting they have to be called maybe by having techniques that get us
into that mind frame they hear us and we are prepared to channel an idea.
You see everything is really like that, we don’t gradually
learn to ride a bike, we suddenly learn to ride a bike after spending a lot of
time falling off, it’s the same with surfing, walking, talking, in fact the
most common graph that you could draw is a steep rise followed by a plateau,
then another steep rise followed by another plateau and so on.
In one of the solo shows called Tough Love, I talk about
really good pupil who just suddenly gave up when they were just on the cusp of
making a great improvement, however in today’s way of thinking with all its ‘let’s
have it now’ attitude many people stop achieving, and this is exacerbated by
the parents who don’t want little Johnny or little Melissa to be bored or to
have to contact with the uncomfortable feeling of struggle. However this
attitude may be the very thing that is destroying the young mind when learning
to deal with difficulty is what we would have termed in the past, ‘character
building’.
So let us get away from this comfort zone and look at how we
learn, let us embrace the frustration and the delay and the sore fingers and be
prepared for the judgement day went suddenly we can do that thing.
You know it is worth it that is why not many people can play
an instrument or do anything at a high level unless they can wrestle with their
angels and demons.
Vic
