Anything you learn can be infinitely fruitful without time’s expense. It's pain-free.
If you can’t master a skill in thought, you won’t master it in practice. To explain, I’ll draw an analogy, a mental experiment, elucidate the scheme and recount how education might change in the years to come, as well as the necessary steps to exploit it.
Any book title, flower in a hive, muffled music carves, peels and hews your mind. As such, I’ll venture an analogy on how to utilize it:
We all use words. They represent a considerable set of abstract floors, perspectives altitudes : Words, letters, lines and dots. You can perceive them down on any of the aforementioned concepts, escalate up and vice versa.
To wit, imagine you grab a piece of paper, draw 7 dots and use lines to attach them together. If beauty is your standard, you would be limited to employ either straight, curvy or zic zac lines. If you were ambitious and aimed to mingle these three into one network, you’ll detest its appearance. In order for it to be tasteful, it should possess either a pattern of straight lines with curvy lines, or a single zic zac pattern. In intending beauty, you will be restricted to one single line/pattern that is repeated across the seven dots. Interpret it as the more number of possible connections , the less is the variability of presentation under the spectrum of beauty.
As a second scenario, imagine there were 2 dots; one dot parallel to the other. The variability of presentation would increase exponentially. You can portray a silhouette that resembles the human face starting from the forehead down to the chin or the shape of a nut: it has two ending points. Its oval shape has a bass relief, cracks, thin lines of lighter brown color, gradient of browns near the ending points. Simple shape, huge variability of presentation. The fewer dots, the more variation in its elements. As a result it charms due to subtle differences along conspicuous similarities. It’s a delightful nut.
Going back to words, you can either perceive them as words, letters, lines and dots. If you perceive them as words and letters, due to the dazzling sum of elements, enormous number of possible connections; it’s noxious for your creativity. Although meager patterns are easier to rise. That sum limits the bond with an alike shape for it to be graceful: another letter or another word.
For lines and dots which are far more interesting. Namely, words seen as lines equals finding the sweet spot between complexity and simplicity: the place where it can either go up or down. It reveals how digging down to the essence can refurbish a newfound element from which brand-new patterns crop up so they are conveyable. In this case, dots are the foundation of the element from which patterns emanate: the line. That is to say, you can construct a novel, unprocessed element out of dots from which innovative patterns emerge.
Elon Musk posits it as “Thinking in first principles”. I paraphrase:
“I think It’s important to reason from first principles rather than analogy. By analogy I mean ‘It’s like something else that was done in the past, what other people are doing’. With first principles, you kind of boil things down to the most fundamental truths as a way to get closer as possible to what’s true and then reason up from there. This approach gets you more clever solutions and widen your innovative potential.”
In a learning scenario, to put japanese as an example; a language related with oneiric witch tales. In the language textbooks, the particle “ga” is taught as the describer of an “action”, implying the existence of someone or something , and the boundary between the existence of an inanimate object and an animate one in a sentence. All totally true. Although, at its core, it’s the main-subject marker. Its child’s play function is to mark the main character of a sentence. Nothing else. Here, the textbook teaches it from the perspective of words and letters, not that of lines and dots; the fundamental truth from which all the secondary functions arise.
This analogy applies to languages, music, dance, acting, etc. As you learn new skills, wonder whether you are seeing it from the perspective of words, letters, lines or dots; because once you dig down to its essence. You won’t be controlled by what you think is true and false, but by what you think is right.
A thinker once said
“You can decide on what’s true or false, but can’t decide on what’s right. Also, you can’t decide on what’s true or false, but can decide on what’s right. Even better, separate what’s right and what you think is right, what’s true and what you think is true. The same with false. What was I saying?”
To elaborate “right”, I’ll go back to the analogy with dots and lines. No one can deny words, letters and lines are made out of dots. So why can’t we discard what people think is true or false if we take off a debate with the essence, foundation of whichever topic and water the semantic tree from there? In that psychological chamber, you’ve found what’s right due to inability to repudiate it. Many times have I seen debates where one was discussing words in the theme of lines.
Some days ago, I debated on religion with a friend. An aimable discussion.
I paraphrase on what she argued
“The concept of God and religion was a human invention as well as other things and that it leads us astray from what truly matters: nature, to live peacefully in a respectful society.”
I ignored how important that line was to assemble a vigorous argument. It was the essence, the values, the foundation of all her ideas: to live in a world where there’s peace and everyone respects each other.
At the moment, I clumsily replied with arguments on how religion,I thought, compensated the raw reality that the belief foundation of every man isn’t and can’t be objective/ scientific, that we needed to believe in something we couldn’t verify, a dubious veracity that ideals stemmed from that societies aimed at so they thrive; that which offers meaning to human phenomena.
As expected, it didn’t convince her. That argument was irrelevant in a world with inevitable peace and ecstatic respect for one another. A comprehensive mistake. If I had claimed how religion fashions a peaceful, harmonious world, it would have persuaded her; because,in her mind, religion distances the world stars away from it. This shows how arguments based on the values of your listener are crucial for leverage and agreement.
The same with humans, no one will ever deny that suffering exists and thus crave love. That’s the essence from which your personality and belief systems stem from. So why not build from there? Because I believe, in a society, not in a jungle, love will always be right no matter size, scale and magnitude.
People live by the year of a second and the millenium of a year by not doing what’s acceptable; but doing what’s righteous. For God is by everybody’s side and love therefore will prevail.
Personally, I define love as the balance between love and egoism: I’m willing to be loving as long as it doesn’t harm my integrity, self-respect, self-dignity and wellbeing. Namely, I’ll be selfish once it repeatedly hurts me and I’ll be loving when it doesn’t.
I promised myself to always choose love under any conflict and with every interaction I have. I’m human so I don’t expect excellence, perfection unless mathematics is involved.
Education is Undergoing Black Holes of Change
Thanks to education, I think people define life in terms of “words” and “letters” rather than “lines” and “dots”. The dragon called education. Slay it from the tail and you’ll lose your head. Cut the head off, and you’ll keep it.
Formal education dismisses “if you can’t master a skill in thought, you won’t master it in practice”. Let me give you one example. I think music is seen from the perspective of letters and words, but not from dots from which a new line pops up:
Every minor or major scale and the modes that are born out of these scales work under the same dynamic: triads. In the C major, C minor, C melodic minor, C harmonic minor, the first degree will always be 1-3-5. Regardless of it being a minor third or a major third, 1-3-5 stays the same. The same with its second chord, 2-4-6; third, 3-5-7; fourth, 4-6-8; fifth,5-7-9 and so on. No person won’t resist the simplicity of this system once they grasp it they can practice it while walking or doing the laundry.
For example, if you were to improvise under a backing track in A major. The chords were 2-3-5-1, 2-3-5-4. Confident, you would pick your guitar and play 2-4-6 scale notes while the second chord is being played; 3-5-7, during the third; 5-7-9, during the fifth; 1-3-5, during the first, and so on.
With regards to harmony, it’s the up and down movement of notes which travel a certain distance which is known as intervals. Mostly both the minor and the major of the third and sixth movements in a chord progression will create an harmonious mood while the second and seventh movements will create a dissonant mood. In a chord progression, the movement of the bass and higher notes are the ones which will determine how harmonious or dissonant something sounds, how open or closed, how lifeful or dark. In these cases, the second note in a triad will determine the “color” of the chord, and secondarily how harmonious or dissonant it sounds. It’s important to see chords as intervallic movements rather than just degrees of a scale, so mixed with the triads system; you’ll be poised to know on which chord you are landing.
With rhythm, you can play a number of hits each beat: perform four hits per beat, three hits per beat or two hits per beat,etc.
You can improvise with all of those rhythms across time: play four hits in the first beat; the next, three hits; the next, four; the next, two, and so on. Later, you can start adding silences. That’s to say, you can silence the second hit during the four-hit beat, silence the second hit of the three-hits beat and so on.
To practice, amuse yourself with rhythms as you walk, clap while eating with your family, whatever. Again, if you can’t master a skill in thought, you won’t be able to master it in practice.
This video is completely improvised. Laying aside the fingering, 90% of the chord harmony happened thanks to 3 basic, easy-to-understand principles that I play in my mind as I roll on, all of them knitted together by a fundamental principle. I’ve practiced these principles while walking, doing the laundry or shopping myself. I didn’t even know I was in C major playing along C Lydian, but that doesn’t make it sound less better.
Sitting down with the guitar isn’t as gratifying when you can’t communicate with it and current music education clearly has suffered from neglect in this area.
For some months now, I pondered how learning worked, its existing purpose ¿How did the first generations educate themselves? ¿What was the foundation of learning itself? So the idea that dawn on me implied observing nature and then passing those observations to the next generations. By observing, I mean observing Mother Nature. Every discovered fiber, subtle differences, artistic curves as a step forward for humanity. To pass that knowledge, they would simplify it enough so children would grasp it and expand from there. This way, future generations shatter knowledge gaps into one cord. I think we’ll be going back to those habits eventually, or at least require to.
Leonardo Da Vinci would carry a notebook in his lone hours around the desolate force of nature. He observed any detail along the robust trunks and the mathematical lines which embeds the leaves and flowers inside one receptacle. The swirls in hydraulic expression across the rivers. Draw them in his notebook with the eye of an engineer. Day after day enamored with his notebook as Narcissus with his reflection on the water. He would apply these observations to the first prototype of a car, a robot, propeller, etc. There’s immense wisdom and creative power in nature, as well as healing stamina.
Education was created to be seen by your eyes, not your ears
College isn’t as valuable as it used to be. I think what will matter in the upcoming years is how people can learn as many skills as possible in quantum periods of time, nanoscopic ones.
During the 80’s, Computers were the Quantum Physics of that time. Its great potential would unveil eventually with education.
I’ll dye an analogy: if you had any malaise, physical discomfort, a sign of a disease; you’d go to the doctor and obey him line by line because it was an “undeniable” solution. The pharmaceutical's wealth augmented as they varnished a world of their omnipotence for your recovery. If you required the nutritionist, the same would happen: Obey him line by line. Doctors were respected during those years because of information superiority indispensable for your wellbeing.
Those days without Google, Youtube, etc, are long gone. Before, doctors held a position of greater esteem in society. Now, doctors aren't as needed anymore. People found out there are a plethora of natural options for whatever they suffer, how they can eat healthy, and the wonderful welfare of exercising. People found Internet’s well of knowledge. Doctors are literally starving to death. The exchange of college taking your time and money for education isn’t as valuable as it used to be.
Again, I think what will matter in the upcoming years is how people can learn as many skills as possible in quantum periods of time, nanoscopic ones.
Education is becoming the pillar for the personality to creatively reform itself as artistic boxes for public exhibition. The classical arts married technology, gave birth to a realism which couples the categorical walls of what it, in modern days, means to be an actor, a painter, a photographer, a musician,etc.
Pablo Picasso thought he was ruined when the camera was invented. During his time, painters were paid thanks to portraits and salespeople who sold their art. The camera could do in two seconds what would take months to Picasso. He then decided to travel back to Spain, Malaga. He desired to find a new style of painting and spend time in solitude in a deserted place. Inside a small church in that desertic small town. He found a little sculpture with refined regular lines in geometric shapes. It had an oval face with sharp edges and a rounded nose as though it was combined with a cylinder. This figure inspired him to recreate his style and begin painting in the style that would make him famous later on.
As such, I expect current art movements swaying away from the thunder of realistic, swift servitude and comfort brought by technology into the realm of untruth, unreal, imagination, fantasy and sorcery. Photography, acting, movies might fall under this dreamy veil. The bipartisan division of realistic art and fantasy.
In order for them to expand, they would need to fuse their essence into a new product which will be embodied in the spirit of future generations in a fractal division of their personalities for public display. The development of the personality into a mercantile product influenced by free connections in various subjects influenced by the renaissance of the arts in their various forms.
This authenticates the great opportunity there’s for educational services for artistic purposes which doesn’t focus on becoming specialists on the subject, but instead learning their essence and blend them to another artistic subject which will chisel, sharpen, fashion the human product of fantasy and unrealness.
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