Broad Education and the Gospel
A friend recently shared a blog entry with me that quoted a post by Eric Drexler (how many steps is that?) outlining basically what I would regard as a method to become educated in a broad range of things.
The method is the following:
1. Read and skim journals and textbooks that (at the moment) you only half understand. . Include Science and Nature.
2. Seldom stop to study a single subject with a student’s intensity, as if you had to pass a test on it.
3. Don’t drop a subject because you know you’d fail a test — instead, read other half-understandable journals and textbooks to accumulate vocabulary, perspective, and context.
4. Notice that concepts make more sense when you revisit a topic, and note which topics provide keys to many others.
5. Continue until almost everything you encounter in Science and Nature makes sense as a contribution to a field you know something about.
This is, in my opinion, and ingenious way of going about things. I think that if I would have done a bit more of this in my college days, I would’ve been a much better student. I believe I often lacked the background to fully understand the material that we were covering in depth, which meant I was always a step behind.
It reminded me, also, of a section I read from an article in June’s Ensign magazine by Elder Douglas L. Callister Of the Seventy:
President David O. McKay (1873–1970) was inclined to awaken daily at 4:00 a.m., skim read up to two books, and then commence his labors at 6:00 a.m. He could quote 1,000 poems from memory. He referred to the grand masters of literature as the “minor prophets.” He was a living embodiment of the scriptural admonition to “seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom” (D&C 88:118).
Skimming two books every day goes along nicely with the approach offered by Drexler.
I think there is much wisdom in President McKay’s habit, and Drexler’s approach. By immersing yourself in knowledge, even if unfamiliar at first, you begin to pick up on the language, the general ideas, and general problems of the subjects you study. Immersion in a world of thought is the result.
I believe this can be done also with sacred things, not just secular. A first time reading of the Book of Mormon by an investigator will obviously not produce a complete understanding of the book. There are many places where even long-time members have trouble figuring our what is going on.
I think that too many of us stop there, however. Immersion in study is a life-long experience that must be repeated over and over until we begin to understand the language of the Lord in the scriptures, and the language of the Spirit in our hearts.
Of course we want study in depth to enjoy the richness of the gospel that we have, but to really have a profitable experience in such an endeavor requires at least a basic understanding of sacred things that can only be learned by experience.
We shouldn’t let lack of understanding frustrate our gospel study to the point of abandoning it. We press on, understanding what we can and letting the Lord build us line upon line, and precept upon precept.
Posted by Ben on Mon Jun 1st 2009 at 09:52 PM #