The more aware we become of what we can do, the list of what we know to be uncapable of grows longer and longer. Learning can be compared to zooming in on a fractal structure. Based on our personal preferences for distinct types of content, often referred to as interests, we randomly choose a domain inside a vast sea of information.
It is way more important to learn how to swim in a specific domain of this metaphoric ocean than to attempt exploring every corner of it.
Let’s say we pick a broadly defined topic like art, science or spirituality. Once we know something about a field, we are able to find more and deeper knowledge on it. From there we can go even deeper in a specific direction of the field. The very last step after spending quite a while studying a specific topic is to reach the frontier of what has been documented to be known right now.
In practice this means to read a currently published paper on the topic.
(Note: There will be more insights in the future which will lead to further improvements. We can’t read them now, so we are “stuck” at the current state of the art; all the time.)
We only have a chance to understand this paper by having some background knowledge on the matter, for example from related textbooks. A successful attempt to understand them in turn is rooted in sufficient common knowledge and fundamentally a fairly well understanding of language itself. Having a wide array of vocabulary to choose from, not only enables us to describe the world in a “higher resolution” , it also gives access to understanding more detailed explanations.
Along these lines, developing a deep understanding of language makes us understand what we perceive to be beautiful. Not because things are less beautiful when they are not described; thorough perception will always outperform description.
Language is a sculpting tool for objects which cannot be seen at the moment or are in progress to be edited or processed. The more accurate a flawed description.
The first things we learn in school are reading and writing. Everything else builds up from there. We read and write to communicate when writing a letter as well as when producing readable messages on our phones, to inform with warning signs or little notes, to understand what someone else is thinking by reading a manual or to remember what we did on a specific day when journaling. All these activities enrich our lives because they eliminate a lot of guesswork.
Learning how to interpret the hands on a clock or the sequence of the weekdays, human made concepts, does a great deal in holding society together. Once we know time and date, we can then move to planning a week and scheduling to finish a list of tasks. From there we might learn about yearly planning and habit formation. Another step in adding more detail to our personal “operations flow”. As long as we keep on improving, it will always be a prototype (in an good, innovative and empowering way), like the latest discoveries in a science paper.
The more daunting side of writing is the theoretically absolute persistence of information over a long timespan. To write means to leave a piece of information about ourselves for everyone to see. Writing exposes us.
We can re-read a chat history, a letter, a document, a book; the information won’t change most of the time. Even message edits, ink erasers and blacked out text tells us something about the history of a document or possible underlying reasons for choosing a treatment.
Imagine receiving a letter where about a quarter of lines are blacked out. What do you think about the sender?
Now imagine receiving the same letter in a flawless handwriting without mistakes. What do you think now?
Beauty cannot exist if there is a lack of courage to show it to the world. And the paradoxical thing about this statement lies in the numerous interpretations of beauty. We never know if there isn’t someone out there who really appreciates what we do if we hide our craft. As long as we strive to add value in what we do, chances are someone will be able to recognize it.
References:
Lobi Smiles 
Leave a comment