There are many things which we do not understand, both collectively and as individuals. Learning is the process of discovering that there is even more which we do not understand.

I disagree with Webster on this issue. Learning is not the act of obtaining knowledge. Learning is interpreting knowledge and transforming it into wisdom. You may seek all the knowledge you wish during the course of your life, but you are only truly learning if you seek knowledge in order to be humbled by it.

Please forgive me if I come across as preachy. Behind the universe is numbers, but be aware of something behind the numbers.

Learning is not memorization. Learning is the acquisition of a new viewpoint on a problem or idea that allows you to understand things in a whole new way.

Whenever you hear of someone who can do "amazing" things like do calculus in their head, it isn't because of some genetic miracle--it's because, somehow, at some point (maybe from very early on in their life), they acquired a perspective on the concept of number and on spatial understanding that allows them to perform what seems to be "miraculous" to those without this same perspective.

GAKU mana (learning)

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Character Etymology:

Originally written as a highly stylized pictograph of hands combined with two sets of crossed sticks meaning, "to intertwine". Because the sticks were a matched pair, to create the match it had to be emulated by working hands, hence to emulate manually.

Later a roof was added and even later still a child was added under that roof, presumably with the idea that children naturally emulate— they learn. Through heavy stylization, the present character was the result.

A listing of all on-yomi and kun-yomi readings:

on-yomi: GAKU
kun-yomi: mana(bu) mana(bi)

Nanori Readings:

Nanori: taka nori

English Definitions:

  1. GAKU: learning, study, science, scholarship, erudition..
  2. mana(bu): learn, study.
  3. mana(bi): learning, study, knowledge, literary ability.

Unicode Encoded Version:

Unicode Encoded Compound Examples:

学生 (gakusei): student.
大学 (daigaku): university.
学問 (gakumon): learning, studies, scholarship, knowledge, education, culture, science.

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One of the most effective techniques for learning "practical" information has proven to be learning from your mistakes. Even better, learning from someone else's mistakes.

If you don't make the same mistake twice, you're doing good.

go to school, get on the bus
forget the things we thought we would

     There isn't much I remember from classes today, the real lesson has been in hallway glances and amorous reveries.

well what have i learned today:
how to creak and when to sway

     Those gothic religious kids don't look to be too happy with their world. Their temple's a concrete jungle, paved over with simulacratic symbols and faux-optomistic hyperrealities.

worn fatigues and torn-up jeans,
tired eyes are what you mean to me

     That olive drab jacket doesn't quite reflect a tenacious interior; instead, you're made out to be a mimsy kid lost in a romantic counterculture.

when you don't get enough sleep
everything seems to be early

     Their alarm clocks break in the day's listlessness like age-old leather, polished like new. Sleep in class, break you expectations, there isn't much to do with yourself before the afternoon.

well, all that i mean to say
will end up lost anyway

     After everything I'm intent on is apparently internalised, I fear won't be utilised until long after we've left this home.

Learn"ing, n. [AS. leornung.]

1.

The acquisition of knowledge or skill; as, the learning of languages; the learning of telegraphy.

2.

The knowledge or skill received by instruction or study; acquired knowledge or ideas in any branch of science or literature; erudition; literature; science; as, he is a man of great learning.

Book learning. See under Book.

Syn. -- Literature; erudition; lore; scholarship; science; letters. See Literature.

 

© Webster 1913.

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