I made a bit of a profound discovery today while working with Chandler on homeschooling. We just finished reading "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and I want him to do some sort of project to express what he thought was important out of the book. I bet most of us ended up doing a book report on it. That was pretty lame and I don't really care about a written report as much as I care about Chandler making a connection with the book. And then it hit me...
All of our learning, all of our lives has really been a self discovery. All this time I thought I was learning about the topic (e.g. how to do maths, how to break down a problem, etc.) and I was partly, but for the larger part I was actually learning about me. I learned problem solving quickly and so I discovered I have good analysis skills. I read and write well and so discovered that I can express myself that way best. When I fell in love with the works of Mark Twain and J.R.R Tolkien, I discovered even more about me through their characters. Each iota of learning clings to a part of me and helps me see it more clearly. The comparison goes on and on.
Things I struggle with tell me just as much as things I pick up quickly. As strange as it sounds, it is all about me. And it is all about you too. I once read, "The process of learning is only taking that which we already know and making us conscious of it." I can now add to this sublime phrase and say that all that we learn is a discovery of ourselves.
It seems all our life is a discovery of what we are and what place we hold.
