Learning should always focus on curiosity. Discovery. Chasing the burning questions.
Education is not the filling of a pale but the lighting of a fire
Nevertheless it can be tempting to think about learning like a progress bar to fill, a course to run. Like putting eggs in a basket. I often remind myself of the parable of the martial artist, telling the story of his journey.
He laments his early naivety. When he had been studying the arts for a year, he recalls believing he’d mastered the craft. After a second year of study, he recognised he’d known little after a year, but after 2 years, he was sure he knew everything worth knowing. Following 4 years of study, he realised he’d been ignorant at the 2 year mark, but as a 4-year student, he had every certainty that he knew the martial arts complete.
Now, after 8 years, he laughs. He knows he knew so little at at the 4 year point. Finally now, he says, with 8 years of study, he has achieved the state of assurance that all that can be learned, he has learned.
Despite all evidence he has gathered to the contrary, he still believed that there was an endpoint, and that he had reached it. Year after year he laughed at his old self while repeating the same mistake. He saw growth as finite, over-estimated how far he had come and misjudged all that was left.
An asymptote is a curve that approaches some point, but as it comes nearer its progress towards it slows in proportion. Consequently it gets closer, painfully close, but never reaches. Learning is a little bit like that. As you get closer, you have to work harder to move forward. And you never make it there.
Learning also is not asymptotic. There is no end, not even a theoretical one. No craft can be perfected. It’s more like nuclear physics. Every time you zoom in on the particle, you see finer grains of detail. Everything that you knew was wrong, and it all must be adjusted in response to this sharper image. You learn everything about these sub-atomic particles, before zooming in and realising they aren’t particles at all. They divide further, into smaller, more fascinating entities. This is what is happening to the martial artist. Right when he thought he knew it all, he zooms in and is forced to question everything he held true.
Even if we study the night sky for years, a telescope will reveal so much we had never imagined. Don’t worry about all you think you know. The tree is never done growing. Follow your curiosity, and keep zooming in.