Why Conscious Learning

"The pretender wanted to come to the scene of the mystery
The hand of the unseen came and he was denied."
(Hafez)

We believe it is only the student himself, through practice, that can observe himself and know himself well enough to know what he needs. It is the student who must know why he is learning, and to take action consistent with that intention.

Educators do not have the resources or time to know where all of their students lie on their respective learning journeys. But educators do have the time to help their students learn to ask the appropriate questions of themselves.

Up until now, instead of helping students learn to be conscious of themselves as learners, educators have designed curriculum to manage learning on the students' behalf. But to attempt to automatize learning is to dehumanize it. Human beings are not robots. Learning must be a passionate activity.

"Listen to this reed tell its story
How it complains of separation."
(Rumi)

Students have a natural predisposition for certain subjects over others. That predisposition manifests on two levels. First, in the ease in which the student internalizes the subject. And second, and more importantly, in the attraction the student has for the subject. The receptacle within the self for that particular subject is active, and the student naturally, passionately pursues the material.

But all students are not predisposed to all subjects -- students are naturally "weaker" in certain areas over others. This weakness manifests in an initial lack of attraction the student has for the subject.

One role of the teacher is to promote the inner beauty of the subject. If promoted well enough, the inner breath of the subject can be felt by all students. But that breeze of attraction is not permanent. It comes along only occasionally.

Once the breeze of atrraction towards the subject has been felt and then dissipates, a feeling of separation emerges where students are interested in feeling that breeze and again and again. Love has emerged. They now have the intention necessary for learning.

"For many years my heart demanded a crystal ball from us
And desired from a stranger what itself had."
(Hafez)

The desire to see what another person sees is in the human being's innate disposition. One of the ways in which schooling dehumanizes learning is by codifying subjects, rather than highlighting that knowledge lives within people.

In the modern world, the trend toward specialization is a destructive trend which limits and marglinalizes the empathetic impulse. But in truth, human beings desire to take on another's perspective. The intention to learn is the intention to learn what others see. If others can see, we can as well.

This empathetic impulse to learning can manifest from a great teacher, where the teacher provides a model which we seek to connect with. It can also manifest through books. That is, by reading, we can connect to an individual who is not physically present with us but yet is onmnipresent. We read because we cannot always personally know enough people.

When students are not conscious learners, others can and must monitor and manipulate the student cognitively. The school uses curriculum to manage and monitor instruction, but with disappointing results. Media companies manipulate students by hijacking control of the learning superpower to "teach" students to use their platforms.

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