我们所说的学习,究竟指什么?当你仅仅积累知识、收集信息时,这算不算学习?这也算学习的一种,是吧?比如你是一个学工程的学生,要研修数学等课程,学习、熟知、积累相关知识,以备实际应用;这种学习,就是知识累积,是为学日增。如果大脑仅仅停留于吸纳、累加、猎取,这是真正的学习吗?抑或,真正的学习是另一种迥然不同的状态?
我认为,为学日增并不是真正的学习,而只是机械的记忆堆砌,此时你的心如同一架机器,是僵硬刻板的,并不能真正地学习——机器除了做机械累加,根本不具备学习能力。真正的学习,是截然不同的,我来给你们解释一下。
当心灵处于学习状态,绝不会说“我懂了”,因为获取知识只是盲人摸象,而学习则总是整体的。学习,并不是从已有的知识出发,继续做累加——这根本不是学习,而纯粹是机械的重复。在我看来,真正的学习全然不同:在生活中的每一个当下,学习、认识自己,认知“自我”是极其重要的;学习,是鲜活的、流动的,无始亦无终。当我说“我懂自我”的时候,学习已经结束,并落入了知识堆砌的窠臼。学习,绝不是做知识加法,而是认知自我的动态过程,这个过程没有起点,也没有终点。
——克里希那穆提《生命书:365观心日课》(The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti)
A Mind That Is Learning
What do we mean by learning? Is there learning when you are merely accumulating knowledge, gathering information? That is one kind of learning, is it not? As a student of engineering, you study mathematics, and so on; you are learning, informing yourself about the subject. You are accumulating knowledge in order to use that knowledge in practical ways. Your learning is accumulative, additive. Now, when the mind is merely taking on, adding, acquiring, is it learning? Or is learning something entirely different?
I say the additive process that we now call learning is not learning at all. It is merely a cultivation of memory, which becomes mechanical; and a mind that functions mechanically, like a machine, is not capable of learning. A machine is never capable of learning, except in the additive sense. Learning is something quite different, as I shall try to show you.
A mind that is learning never says, “I know,” because knowledge is always partial, whereas learning is complete all the time. Learning does not mean starting with a certain amount of knowledge, and adding to it further knowledge. That is not learning at all; it is a purely mechanistic process. To me, learning is something entirely different. I am learning about myself from moment to moment, and the myself is extraordinarily vital; it is living, moving; it has no beginning and no end. When I say, “I know myself,” learning has come to an end in accumulated knowledge. Learning is never cumulative; it is a movement of knowing which has no beginning and no end.
SEPTEMBER 20