The True Power Of Higher Learning

YOUR INITIAL THOUGHT HERE MIGHT BE that I am speaking exclusively of academia; I am not. Although formal academics present a structured way to learn, some graduates tend to dampen their innate desire to learn once they are beyond their Degrees. I have the greatest respect for academic achievement, and I have worked extremely hard for mine, but the highest achieving erudite must combine experience with academics to truly learn a matter.

Albert Einstein stated, “We cannot solve problems by using the same type of thinking we used when we created them." However, some are content to follow a habitual groove of sedation in their lives and do not see new experiences as opportunities to learn. I was convinced many years ago that we tend to learn more from bad experiences than we do from positive ones. I feel that this is most unfortunate, since none of us prefer bad experiences, and some of us (including myself) must relive the same bad experience many times before we finally understand how to not relive it. Aging does present us with an unequaled opportunity to learn. If we open our minds with a desire to learn, we can grow in wisdom, intellect, memory, and experience. Muddling through life with a closed mind precludes learning.

For me, some of the greatest attributes of formal academics were a heightened self-awareness, an escalation of open-mindedness, and a validated increase in my ability to solve problems through logic and research. These formed a foundation for much greater learning. I feel that qualitatively and quantitatively we may not learn the greatest lessons in life through academic study alone. Our brain never graduates! Even if we are not looking for a lesson plan, life itself impresses upon our thinking, our social adaptation, and rationale, nudging us to learn. It behooves us to be healthy, fit, open-minded and welcoming of changes. At times, that will be from the dramatic impact of a life-altering event, at others, it may blossom from simple quiet thinking.

Throughout our history, many Americans have found great riches through business endeavors without completion of higher formal academics, but are considered a genius. People like Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates were not college graduates but became extremely successful through their business ventures. In America, financial fortune and material gain are usually considered the Hallmark of Achievement. It is the widely-told Horatio Alger story; the bedrock on which our American system of Capitalism is built. However, riches alone do not bring happiness. Wealth makes us comfortable in life, but we have come into this life without possessions, and we undoubtedly leave this life in the exact same way. What happens in between those two events become who we were, regardless of station in life.

On average our brain atrophies (shrinks) by as much as 25 percent as we age. Disabilities, strokes, and disease can hasten this atrophy. The good news here is that brain atrophy can be slowed tremendously with brain use. In other words, if you retire to sitting on the front porch watching cars pass by, or continually watching television that does not stimulate learning, you will lose intellectual capabilities and memory on a continuous downward linear slope.

Additionally, our brain and heart require around 20% more oxygen than all our other organs. Good health through good nutrition and exercise, coupled with solving puzzling problems or deep thinking, will prolong our intellectual abilities. If we eat healthy natural foods, strength train, and raise our heart rate with a small amount of cardio work, science proves that we could still grow in intellect and knowledge even if we reach our nineties.

If you are not already on this trail, try tweaking your lifestyle to keep your body fit with good food (the more natural, the better), plenty of water, adequate sleep, strength training, an activity to get your heart pumping additionally for at least 20 minutes, and learning something new every day. Good luck!