
                                   LEARNING

                             (K) 1987 by Jehana.  
                  Disseminate freely if copied in entirity


     The learning process can be examined as a three-tiered model (remembering 
that, as always, the map is almost always not the territory).  The three tiers 
I shall examine are:

     * Absorption

     * Integration

     * Expression

     For any reasonable approximation of full and complete learning to have 
occurred, all three stages are necessary.  One might argue that there are 
different types of learning, and that each of these types have their own 
requirements; or that science must be learned differently than philosophy, but 
I think there are fundamental similarities governing the learning of all types 
of things -- the emphasis and mechanisms may change, but the underlying 
principles apparently remain.  

     Absorption is the act of taking the external and bringing it into the 
internal.  Absorption may involve the cramming of information for final exams; 
it may involve the day-to-day experiences of life; it may involve the 
shattering emotional impact of traumas.  However, this emotional impact is not 
reacted to at this stage of the learning process.  Absorption is the coming 
aware of information, whether for short or long term, from the whole body of 
constant information bombarding the physical senses at all times.  Not all 
that is witnessed or studied becomes absorbed -- the human mind needs a 
filtering agent.  

     Integration is an internal process, where the knowledge recently gained 
is integrated with what is already in the mind.  No mind ever starts out as a 
vacuum, despite the efforts of generic television to assume this.  Not all 
that is absorbed is integrated -- that which falls into short-term memory is 
not; nor is material that is studied simply to know for the knowing's sake.  A 
deep and thourough internal integration of material is not necessary in all 
fields of study, although to some extent this takes place in all devotees of a 
subject, whether it be mathematics, engineering, art, or philosophy.  This 
integration leaves its touches upon the person, and will affect his/her 
filtering for material to absorb in the future.  Be advised that some 
integration is voluntary; while other integration is involuntary.  The actual 
process of integration bears no relation to what Other People Are Doing 
(although one may integrate a dependency upon others, for instance.)  A 
conscious awareness of integration is fostered in the study of certain 
religious paths (such as the Craft) and in many of the philosophies, as well 
as in many of the arts.  The necessity for the stage of integration is one 
reason why the learning of anything of internal value generally takes time 
-- there are no Instant Philosophies which work.  

     Expression is essential for communication.  It is a step shallowly 
expressed in the regurgitation of information on a quickly-studied exam, but 
when dealing with philosopy, art, or livelihood, it should be of more durable 
quality -- in other words, expression should be tempered with the fires of 
Integration.  Expression may be involuntary (the fright reaction from a 
phobia), or it may be voluntary -- but the most fervent Expression is rooted 
within the internal regions of the being, and is not the shallow sort of 
expression related to acting the way other people expect you to act; for 
simply the purpose of scratching that itch of satisfaction (gaining or giving 
satisfaction).  The most useful forms of Expression occur in taking that 
information which one has both Absorbed and Integrated, and then Expressing 
it.  However, needless to say, some forms of Expression (ie, phobias) may be 
well-integrated and absorbed, but are counterproductive to happiness.  The 
true conscious learner must therefore take a hand in what he/she decides to 
learn/unlearn (the steps involved in the process of Unlearning are the same as 
those in the process of Learning.)  

     *Absorption and Expression without Integration is mindless and empty 
reading/living.  One may as well be a parrot.  Absorption and Integration 
without Expression is hypocritical and/or schitzophrenic.

     *Integration and Expression without Absorption permits no external 
influences to have any bearing on thought -- one may as well be autistic.  

     *Expression without Absorption encourages fallacies, untruths, and easy 
answers.  

***************************************************************************

All portions of the Absorption, Integration, and Expression cycle are 
necessary for true learning to take place.  While much of the current school 
system as set up in today's society emphasizes the Absorption and the 
Expression stages, leaving the Integration process to be assumed, children 
still do grow up learning to emulate and integrate the values that impinge 
upon them.  (Not all these values are necessarily beneficial -- the learning 
process does not always rely on those values externally professed, but does 
pick up on those implied on a deeper level.)  Therefore, say, a geography 
lesson need not be Integrated within the student, as a study of values or  
personal transformation should most definitely be.  A student has, through 
life experiences, already Integrated a system of functioning; of viewing the 
world.  (Indeed, the student may have Integrated a varying set of systems -- 
this often leads to internal conflicts, which really should be resolved.  
Within certain alternative Philosophies, Integration of other ways of viewing 
the world and the person is done in a more purposeful manner.  The student 
learns that true learning is not in rote memorization but in the acceptance 
and the working with of all three stages of learning.  Also, the student 
learns to realize that Integration is a personal stage, wherein the 
information absorbed interacts with that he/she has already Integrated during 
life -- therefore this Integration may definitely not resemble the 
Integration process of another student in the same class.  Nor should 
Expression be forced (at least when dealing with the momentous events of a 
life-philosophy -- it should come from the heart -- in other words, it should 
come from the Expression of the Absorption and the Integration the student 
has undergone, rather than from what someone else has decreed to be Proper).  

                                                                            