Learning Versus Knowledge

In the work I do with clients during a Time Line Therapy ™ session we talk a lot about learnings from a specific negative experience in order to release the emotion attached to it.

These “learnings” are a vital part of the technique and they are very often about communication, forgiveness, self-respect, confidence in self, love, acceptance etc. resulting from a specific event.  What I always find is that once these learnings have been made, a very profound change takes place in the client, which is absolutely joyful to witness and gratifying to share with the client.

What seems to happen is that the client internally runs an integration pattern of all the new choices in the light of the newly found learnings. This can be clearly calibrated in the individual through features like the face lighting up with joy, breath calming down, shoulders relaxing, flushing, a few tears and many more.

“I am learning about myself from moment to moment, and the myself is extraordinarily vital. It is living, moving; it has no beginning and no end. When I say, “I know myself, “ learning has come to an end in accumulated knowledge. Learning is never cumulative; it is a movement of knowing that has no beginning and no end.

……… J. Krishnamurti, On Learning and Knowledge, 1994

What wise words from a renowned spiritual teacher of our times. There seems to be a huge difference between learning and knowledge. Knowledge is the process of accumulating information or experience in a given context. This knowledge is an event. Learning, on the other hand, is movement of knowledge beyond an event. Learning is a continuous process, a state of preparedness, embracing change. The word “learn” sometimes triggers feelings of blame and inadequacy in people and it may be useful to refrain from using the word itself to avoid resistance. Something to watch out for.

From my experience as a therapist it certainly seems to me that real learning involves our heart and not just our brain or intellect. Whereas knowledge is the gathering of information learning is the development of creative intelligence to transform this information into action. The transformational part into action is really what I am interested in with regards to helping people getting out of stuck states.

There are lots of people out there with an impressive amount of accumulated knowledge and the unquenchable thirst for more. When you ask them what they want to do with their lives they all seem to know what to do but for some reason they just don’t ever do anything. What is happening to all this information, to all this knowledge?

“Knowledge of external reality is merely a stimulus. Learning is the transformation in the self in response to this stimulus.” How does a particluar piece of information help you to grow and change and transform yourself?

More and more gets talked about the heart being so much more than just a pump ensuring the blood circulation within our bodies. The heart is being considered the seat of our feelings and emotions. Some people say it’s the heart we are thinking with not the brain. The New Science is looking into the field, our auras surrounding our bodies, as being the center of all intelligence. I am following all that with excitement and interest and it makes a lot of sense to me. There was a time we believed in the world was flat and big heavy machines would never make it into the airspace. There is so much out there we do not know yet or we have forgotten over time.

All I do know is that true learning and preparedness for change and growth separates a true leader from the rest of us. Self-learning is a neverending process of discovering oneself and our true potential. And when true learnings take place we always seem to get that feeling of joy, warmth and inner knowing not necessarily in our brains but in our hearts.

References: Debashis Chatterjee, Leading Consciously, Butterworth-Heinemann 1998