The students asked the Master, “Why is learning so important?” The master explained, “Learning gives us the knowledge and skills to understand the world, interact and communicate with others, and make our lives richer and more meaningful. It is a basic necessity in our development, character cultivation, and progress. However, knowledge is only an asset if we can understand and use it effectively daily.”
Confucius said this about learning: “Learning without thinking and understanding is confusion. Thinking without learning is lost and dangerous.”
Textbook knowledge cannot be used arbitrarily. Its use and application in real situations must be adjusted and tailored to be relevant, as the context and circumstances are different. This requires a good and deep understanding of the knowledge. On the other hand, if one follows his random thoughts and behaves without proper training in planning skills, he will be in disarray, lost, and dangerous.
Sunzi, a military strategist during China’s early Warring States period (5th century BC), wrote the famous “Art of War”, which was used during that period by warring states. In modern times, many corporate entities use it to guide their business strategies. However, the Art of War is not a static text of standard operating procedures, where the right chapter can just be plucked out for certain use. One must understand it thoroughly and apply it only after careful consideration and fine-tuning that it can be effective for that situation.
Aristotle said this about learning: “The pleasures arising from learning and thinking will make us learn and think all the more”. “For the things that we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
The interrelationship between learning and thinking, between learning and its practical uses, cannot be over-emphasized.
In the jungle, a flock of beautiful parrots lived by the lake. One day, a hunter came and captured one of them. The man brought her home, kept her in a large cage as a pet and fed her well daily. He also tried to teach the bird a couple of simple English words. The bird found this very interesting and indeed learnt many words. One morning, she escaped captivity and returned to the lake to rejoin her friends. The parrots were extremely happy to see their long-lost friend. The bird told them she had learnt many new things, including English words. She was very proud, and every morning, while they were flying and enjoying themselves, she would say a few words to impress the others. At first, the parrots found it fascinating. But they quickly became quite irritated and disturbed because they could not understand what she was saying. They began to distance themselves from her. And she was lonely. She finally understood the reason and has since stopped the habit. Her new learning was of no practical use.
The great Greek philosopher Socrates was extremely serious about learning and acquiring new knowledge. He spent almost his entire life telling people that he was not wise but ignorant, wanting to learn from others. His famous sayings in this aspect tell it all: “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is I know nothing”. “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing”. He also strongly promoted curiosity because he felt curiosity could motivate questioning and learning. To him, knowledge brings intelligence, but curiosity brings wisdom. Be humble, act ignorant, and others will teach you. Never be shy to ask and seek answers. When you ask, you are only a fool for a while. But if you don’t, you are a fool for life.
Learning is a long, never-ending process. The world is constantly changing, and so are our knowledge and skills. We have to update them to stay relevant and current and take on new frontiers.
It is said that “the more you know, the more you know, how much more you don’t know”. Understand this, and you will be wise.
But this is also valid: “The little you know, the little you know, how little you know”. Then you are ignorant and lost.
It is never too old to learn new things.
One of the persons I respect most is Mr N Vaithinathan, the founding principal of Tanjong Katong Technical School. I attended this school (1958-1961) when he was the principal. At age 57, in 1972, he earned his law degree, left the education service, and started law practice. After 18 years as a lawyer, he retired to spend time reading and translating. On top of Tamil, French, and English, which he learned in school, he started to learn Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian and began translating Russian literature into English. In 2005, at the age of 90, he published a translation of 3 Russian short stories to raise funds for Tanjong Katong school. He died in 2017, aged 102, still reasonably alert. A fantastic man with significant accomplishments and a very fulfilling life indeed. People like to say that we are too old to learn. But Mr Vaithinathan has proven this to us: “We do not stop learning because we are old. We are old because we stop learning”.
Learning is not limited to improving knowledge. It can also involve new skills, interests, and activities such as sports and games, hobbies such as dancing, gardening, singing, and exercises.
Continued learning keeps us healthy, providing exercises for the body and the mind.
The Master said to his students, “Knowledge is like the water falling down endlessly from the high waterfalls into the lake. We swim in this lake to absorb the freshness of the cool water. It keeps us on top of the world.”
Cheong Quee Wah
Cheong Quee Wah, graduated in engineering and business administration, was in the government service for 24 years, and had held the appointment of permanent secretary in various ministries. He also studied traditional Chinese herbal medicine and is a trained qigong master.
