You never learn much until you really want to learn. Desire is the foundation of all learning and you can only climb up the ladder of knowledge by desiring to learn. You may be surprised to hear that you already know a great deal! Any time you see something new or very special, if the thing is resting on the ground, as your examination and inspection proceeds, you find that you eventually walk around it.
You desire to know the thing better by looking at it from all angles. To acquire knowledge walk around the thing studied.
The thing is not only what you touch, what you see; it has many other sides, many other conditions, many other relations which you cannot know until you study it from all angles. Have a free, broad, open mind! Be fair to the thing studied as well as to yourself. When it comes up for your examination, walk around it! The short trip will bring long knowledge. The world honors the man who is eager to plant new seeds of study today so he may harvest a fresh crop of knowledge tomorrow.
The world is sick of the man who is always harking back to the past and thinks everything wroth knowing has already been learned. To learn, experiment! Try something new.
See what happens. Lindbergh experimented when he flew the Atlantic. Franklin experimented with a kite and introduced electricity. The greatest experiment is nearly always a solo. The individual, seeking to learn, tries something new but only tries it on himself. If he fails, he has hurt only himself. If he succeeds he has made a discovery many people can use. Experiment only with your own time, your own money, your own labor. If you would have knowledge, knowledge sure and sound, teach.
Teach your children, teach your associates, teach your friends. In the very act of teaching, you will learn far more than your best pupil. Knowledge is relative; you possess it in degrees. You know more about reading, writing, and arithmetic than your young child. But teach that child at every opportunity; try to pass on to him all you know, and the very attempt will produce a great deal more knowledge inside your own brain.
From time immemorial it has been commonly understood that the best way to acquire knowledge was to read. That is not true. But you can surely learn from reading if you read in the proper manner. What you read is important, but not all important.
How you read is the main consideration. It was a definite individual, working with a pen, pencil or typewriter — the writing came from his mind and his only. If you were face to face with him and listening instead of reading , you would be a great deal more critical than the average reader is. Listening , you would weigh his personality, you would form some judgment about his truthfulness, his ability. But reading , you drop all judgment, and swallow his words whole — just as if the act of printing the thing made it true!
If you must read in order to acquire knowledge, read critically. To know it — write it! How often you have written something down in order to be sure you would have a record of it, only to find that you never needed the written record because you had learned it by heart!
The men of the best memories are those who make notes, who write things down. And because they DO learn by writing, they seldom need to consult their notes, they have brilliant, amazing memories. How different from the glib, slipshod individual who is too proud or too lazy to write, who trusts everything to memory, forgets so easily, and possesses so little real knowledge.
Writing, to knowledge, is a certified check. You know what you know once you have written it down! You have a pair of ears — use them! When the other man talks, give him a chance. Pay attention.
If you listen you may hear something useful to you. If you listen you may receive a warning that is worth following. If you listen, you may earn the respect of those whose respect you prize. Pay attention to the person speaking. Contemplate the meaning of his words, the nature of his thoughts. Grasp and retain the truth. Of all the ways to acquire knowledge, this way requires least effort on your part. You hardly have to do any work. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
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