Impact of Learning to Learn

[Aaron (Al) Lewis]

Back in May of 1994, I met Mr. Black at a seminar about relationships. He was one of the facilitators. The person whom had invited him was a personal friend and he just told me this man was a wordsmith. I thought. "Just what in hell does a wordsmith do?"  That evening at Mississippi Blvd. Church I soon found out. 

 

Prior to that I thought of myself as a well read, well informed man. In fact I suspected I was ahead of most people I had met in that area because I have been a prolific reader since I was a child. As a reader knows if you don't have conversation with other readers the conversation will sometimes veer way off course because the way the brain and ego works in concert with each other they discourage most people to say, "I don't know."

 

Luckily I discovered that flaw in myself when I was a young person so it was never much of a distraction for me afterwards. In fact I found it to be an attribute and I love learning so much that I am willing to admit even to a person much younger than I that I indeed don't know if indeed I don't know. So it didn't take me long after listening to Mr. Black that evening that he knew something that seemed valuable to me though our meeting was of short duration, just a day and a half. I did however leave that encounter with a desire to learn more about etymology.

 

The one point Mr. Black impressed upon me was that a definition was but a commentary on the meaning of a word. I was 41 years old when I met Mr. Black and it never dawned on me that there was even a difference between a word's meaning and how it was defined. I had never heard of the word etymology and though at times I did see the etymology brackets and would give some attention, I truly did not know or understand its application and certainly had no clue of just how vital it was to critical thinking and understanding. When I think back to the obstacles I have overcome having never completed high school, I was expelled for chronic truancy, yet I made a 29 on the ACT and went on to attend college making the Dean's list twice in the 2 1/2 years I was there, I thought what I could have accomplished had I known this skill? Moreover what started to invade my thoughts was, "Why hadn't anyone ever introduced this method to me?"

 

On occasion after that session I would run into "Doc", as some of us call him, and I would try to engage him in conversation about etymology, but I got the impression he didn't want to be bothered so I respected his boundary. I would years later find out why. However, I did go out immediately and purchased a dictionary on etymology and diligently read it every chance I got. I began to publicly challenge people about words used out of context and to my amazement I discovered that most people I challenged didn't have a clue of what I was asking. By not having the skills I would need to deeply understand language, how it works and truly just how powerful it can be in the hands of a master, I found myself hitting the proverbial brick wall. In other words I could go no farther on my own. I needed a  guide and none was in the making. It had been 9 years since I had met Doc and here I was a stranger in a strange land feeling lonely, isolated and imprisoned in my own world of language and thought.

As luck or fate or chance or perhaps even destiny, take your pick, would have it, we would reunite. It was a few weeks after Hurricane Elvis, in 2003. I was unable to drive due to an experiment that I had failed on physics, I had flipped my SUV 5 times, so I was dependent on friends to transport me being that I had broken several bones, including my back. My friend Thurman asked me if I wanted to attend Dictionary Class. I thought to myself, "Now why in hell would I want to attend dictionary class to hear some jerk talk about definitions." He then said some guy named Cliff Black was the facilitator.

 

I was dressed and ready to go in record time, shoulder sling, pain and all. I cannot really remember those first few weeks. I was in so much discomfort I could not truly focus. I do remember thinking that this was something special, so special in fact that I began to invite my friends and members of a group I was involved with. I required my son to attend and my wife and all of my grown children attended also. I discovered that I not only liked, but loved the way I was learning. I had never, ever experienced that kind of enthusiasm in any learning environment anywhere. I was amazed at his ability to take what one would think a simple subject like how and why was World War 1 was started and end up researching all sorts of things one might have never thought was remotely connected. In that I began to understand how learning to research the evidence of history for myself.

Rarely will anyone show you how they mastered a skill. Most just demonstrate or talk about what they know. Few will share how to learn to know or know how to learn, few indeed.

 

From those classes, that I still attend today, we decided to home school our son and he has done exceptionally well. As a result he got a scholarship and accepted the a great university. He consistently maintains a high grade point average and is about to enter his junior year. He did this all on his own, even the home schooling, because in those classes with Mr.Black he learned the skill of teaching himself. Whereas public school and even the much touted charter school said he'd only be an average student he proved them all wrong as he had a 3.9 GPA in home schooling and by his own admission he was quite leisurely about the whole affair.

He is serious about college. He doesn't play with it. He knows his investment now will pay off big time later so then he can play hard with big boy toys if he so desires. As for me, I am still a student, in fact sometimes I even get to facilitate the class and sometimes Doc and I do seminars together.  That has been one of the greatest honors of my life to stand with a man whom I know is a master, if not the best and I have never met anyone better, one of the best on the planet at what he does. 

 

Here is a man that has done what Jesus suggested was the greatest gift a man could offer, to lay down his life for another. That doesn't mean jumping in front of a bullet for another man, it means opening up one's mind and heart to point out a way - to be. It has been my privilege to be a student, a friend and on those special occasions a co-facilitator with this man and I say that with no reservation whatsoever. 

 

Lastly, I had the opportunity along with Doc and Arjuna to be one of the co-creators of this site, The Red Pill Training, and I dare say it is one of the most comprehensive and insightful websites on the internet. Even I am impressed with the quality and thoughtfulness of our articles, blogs, forums and mostly our members. The reason I say that is Doc has accused me of being too modest and he is correct, but on this I must concur this one heck of a site.

Namaska,

 

Al Lewis

Moderator

The Red Pill Training