When a
child starts learning, there is no concept of teaching or explaining – and
still each of us transforms into a master of walking, speaking and interacting.
As a child we learn the most complex things: directing our physical being,
outsourcing our thoughts and dealing with our own and other people’s emotions
without attending a single class. What this may prove is that the complexity of
life is not illustrated in any single book but nevertheless humans are able to
capture it using one inborn skill: intuition.
Intuition, described
as “the ability to require knowledge without proof or conscious learning” incorporates
reproduction and creativity on the same level as failure and discovery are
attached. It shows that everything a person needs to know is already there,
inside of us. But once we witness the society we live in, we start feeling
surrounded by perfectly developed curricula and many people who teach you how
to follow prescriptions without thinking.
Entering a
school describes the opposite of what we have practiced as young children and
as many of us, I also experienced disillusion. In my therapy training I had a
boss who kept saying that we all have to wait. “You have to wait until you know
how to treat people. You have to wait until you understand psychology.” Now is nothing
but a blind moment in the queue towards understanding? I remember another
moment in which a friend tried to teach me climbing. He precisely explained me
the theory behind the movement, but still I kept falling of the wall. Another
day, I went climbing by myself with only one task: trying to listen to my body’s
actual movement in order to understand its mechanism. Then I would observe
those who climbed already high and tried to process what their movements were
about. Sometimes I also asked people to explain me their specific movement and
from there I continued learning. I understood that in climbing the biggest
muscle we use is our brain.
When I
started to be a teacher on my own, I experienced that my joy in teaching
resulted from learning what my students would share. Every group I taught on
the same hand became a teacher for me. I realized that teaching is learning,
and learning is teaching. There is no border between a person who teaches and a
person who learns. When we add this thought to our idea of intuition it shows
that all the skills we need to learn things are already within us. The idea I
follow now is to ask why we do not open more spaces which allow intuitive
learning as its main concept.
Which
aspects do we have to change? And what does it require?
As many of
us I grew up in an environment which described learning as a long and infinite
way. There are two aspects I view as critical in this approach. The first is,
that many of us are frequently remembered to just have started to learn, but as
we proceed no one ever tells you when to succeed, which may cause frustration
but also an ongoing orientation towards the future but not the present moment.
The second thing is describing learning as a process in which people start and
others are experienced we create hierarchies among humanity.
Today we
live in a world in which all our knowledge is gathered in the pockets of our
pants. We can use our mobile phone in order to answer any question, whether it requests
the amount of cells inside a body or how to build an electronic car. The last
thing we need to learn is how to fill our brain with even more facts and
knowledge. What our society yet leaks is to provide an approach towards
intuition. Even young children do not experience anymore a playful relationship
to their own body which should encourage us to dedicate our educational system
in this direction. Experiencing the unknown allows the creation of new ideas in
a free mind.
How do I
imagine intuitive learning?
In my
teaching I first tell all my students that I actually have nothing I could
really teach them. In contrast to that we all create a space in which impulses
may shape new ideas. The real thing we learn is the interconnection between us
learners and teachers. Failure is a part as compassionate learning requires the
fall. There are many ways of moving towards a goal and every one of us needs to
find his individual approach in there. I remember how frustrated I experienced
the drawing classes in my therapy education.
I’ve never been skilled in drawing and trying to foster this only caused
disappointment. One day I discovered finger paint. I took a huge blank poster
and started painting. The movement which shaped the painting resulted from my
belly, my feet and my hands as my body worked as a whole. I just did what I
have done so many times before – I used my entire body to navigate myself over
the surface of the poster. Yet, I wasn’t a drawer, but I’ve always been a great
mover. This situation inspired me to ask my students always one question: What do
you already know?” If we all ask ourselves, we will find all the answers we
need.
I imagine
learning as a concept which does not require a certain outcome but allows the
mind to freeflow in given material. Learning happens everywhere, we just have
to be ready and see it. We are all experts of the unknown, equipped with all
resources we need to move on. Anyone of us can become an expert while
considering himself as a professional in beginning, which allows him to grow
even stronger. The most fruitful of this
aspect is the active attitude towards learning, which is more encouraging than passive
copy and paste of passed ideas. So better ask yourself right now!
