Lately, and by lately I mean for as long as I can remember, I have had the urge to absorb knowledge.
Many people have always told me that I must ‘like to learn’. And I’ve always just smiled and nodded.
But it just struck me, I don’t know whether it is that I like to learn or whether it is that I like to know. I’ve never been one to react well when I don’t know about topics being discussed in conversations (whether it be why the sky is blue or news around the world). It makes me feel intellectually inferior. And that does not sit well with me.
So, I’m always running around trying to read articles or books (between you and me, I spend more time looking up which books to read than actually reading the books…!). But what ends up happening is I either cannot follow the article (e.g. very technical mathematical information which I have no foundational knowledge) or I just lose interest (because my mind is racing to learn the next important thing). And of course, this frustrates me because I feel like in our day and time we have so many resources, we have no excuse to be unaware or not knowledgeable about anything and everything!
This shows me that maybe I don’t like the process of learning, I just like knowing for the sake of knowing (and so I can carry a meaningful conversation, I guess).
Or, do you think liking to learn is very intricately linked to liking to know? I’m sure they are linked in a way but maybe it has largely to do with your intentions—do we want to learn for our satisfaction or because we want to seem intellectually superior?
(side note: the other day on the train I actually overheard a girl say that she likes to learn and likes the structure of school! I gasped (in my mind) but then I realized I don’t know if I gasped because who really likes school! Or that I actually like the structure of school as well—I’m too scared to go that far deep into my mind to actually figure it out!!)
What do you guys think? Do you like to learn or do you like to know? Pretend you could only pick one!
…
Chat soon.
P.S. I absolutely love Business Insider for articles. They have a mix of fun and informative articles!