Learning : An Endless Process

Is it true that learning never ends? 

This was the question, I once asked the participants of my workshop on Personality Development. While most of the participants said YES but one of them said NO. 

He said -“I’ll go against the tide and say that it depends. Not everyone is willing to learn. There is the saying You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, which means that it’s impossible, or almost impossible, to change people’s habits, traits or mindset. And some people cling very hard to these things, as well as their beliefs and delusions about themselves and the world around them. They don’t want to learn new things that will change their attitudes and behaviors.”

According to him, it is true that learning never ends, but only for people who want to learn and are willing to expand their horizons.

But, as a matter of fact, learning is an endless process! 

Everyday we have various experiences that teach us something or the other. Learning does not necessarily mean rote learning or any academic persuasion but a practical  information that we gain through that experience. In our life time we can never master one area of knowledge.

Knowledge is a framework that helps us to predict events and the consequences of the our actions. But there is no “one true knowledge”. There are merely competing ideas in the world. And you choose them to build your world view. You pick or reject different theories based on your understanding of them. This is a process that never really stops. You always keep updating your ideas and your understanding of the world. Learning is essentially responsible for that.

There is no end to our search for knowledge and capacity to learn new things. No kind of knowledge goes to waste. Even flawed theories teach us to be cautious and choose better in the future.

Learning is the only thing we will always have. One by one we will start to learn which will never end.