Life: Textbooks, Labs, and Picasso

Last semester, I took my one lab science course, Astronomy, as a part of my core requirements. It was a great example of different types of learning, because in lab courses you learn and experience. The best labs were ones where we used a spectrometer to see the different properties of light or where we lined up lenses and saw how they flipped a poster at the end of the hall upside-down. The good labs weren't just worksheets with specific numbers; that's classroom, textbook stuff.

If your mind is as crazy as mine can be, you've already reached a moral: life is about living, not formulas, calculations, and textbooks. It's not about playing it safe and coloring inside the lines. But that's not the only thing I'm thinking about.

Go back to the learning analogy. Remember that there are different styles of learning. Some people learn best when they read off the page; they remember where the text was relative to other information and pictures, the re-read the words until they fall neatly into organized memories and can be recalled as needed. Other people have to speak or teach what they are trying to learn to etch it into the sands of their recollection. They need to look at the keyboard as they type so they can close their eyes and recall where the keys were. Still other people need to know why; they need to understand what works and what doesn't work about everything relating to that fact or theory. They need to experience it.

Now consider how people live their lives. Some people read historical, philosophical, or even religious texts and grasp a great deal from the text. They can apply the meaning to their lives, and they truly internalize the concepts. Others need to process their understandings by talking to other people. They have an "open mind" and are truly touched by the experiences of others. They change when they see something happening. And still other people learn what the painting of their life will look like as they simply color and find out what looks good. It's not that they do not understand that which motivates the first person. It's not that they do not wish they could be completely motivated and changed by the stories of others, after all it would be nice to learn from another person's mistakes. What if it was that this type of person simply learned differently?

What if, instead of condemning others who do not condemn themselves, we allowed them to go "Picasso" on their life's beautiful canvas until it became uniquely beautiful?