There are many lifestyles people can partake in during their time here on earth. This can include an adventurous lifestyle where one’s focus is on discovery, exploration and new experiences, an athletic lifestyle of training and developing one’s body to be of peak performance, a spiritual lifestyle of practicing yoga, meditation or connecting with a higher power, as well as many other possible ways of living. One lifestyle I have been practicing for some time now is a lifestyle of learning. I have found the pursuit of knowledge to be an incredible way to structure my life as well as a foundation to the way I approach almost any other aspect of life. In order to reap such benefits one must first understand the importance of knowledge, what it means to live a lifestyle of learning and how to partake in it. Knowledge and learning are key concepts discussed in the Analects of Confusious, which are essentially a collection of conversations where the ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius, discusses many of his thoughts and ideas on society, morality, right living, and much more. The analects describe the importance of knowledge and provide wisdom which can help teach us how to properly live a lifestyle of learning. The six attendant faults describe the importance of learning by illustrating the dangers of trying to uphold good virtues without wanting to study. There are also key mind sets I’ve extrapolated from the analects which help to illustrate what it means to live a lifestyle of learning and help us to figure out how we can partake in it. Finally, I’ve identified a key aspect of this lifestyle, that is mentioned in the analects, which I consider to be one of the most important parts of the learning process. 

Confucius discusses the six virtues and the six attendant faults in the analects in order to describe the importance of knowledge. “The Master said: “You, have you heard the six phrases about the six distortions?” You answered that he hadn’t. “Then stay a moment,” Confucius said, “and I will tell you.” If you love being kind to others, but don’t like to study, then your kindness will be distorted into simplicity. If you love wisdom, but don’t like to study, then your wisdom will be distorted into aimlessness. If you love trustworthiness, but don’t like to study, then your trust will be distorted into harm. If you love candor, but don’t like to study, your candor will be distorted into rudeness. If you love boldness, but don’t like to study, your boldness will be distorted into unruliness. If you love persistence, but don’t like to study, your persistence will be distorted into rashness” (Muller Analects of Confucius 論語 17.6). These essentially illustrate the dangers of trying to uphold one of these six virtues without wanting to study. I have come to conclude that this is dangerous because, while one’s intent may be good, not wanting to study means that you won’t acquire the knowledge required to accurately uphold them. At the root of this passage is the idea that good intent alone does not produce good action. Good action requires not only good intent, but also knowledge acquired through studying. Without wanting to study one can not acquire the knowledge needed to take good action. I used to believe that good intentions were all that one would need to take good action, however over the last few years I have had an experience which well represents this idea that confucius has developed. My friends and I were quite reckless in high school leading to some of them needing to sober up in rehab while I got my life on track alone which forced me to develop extremely healthy habits without the help of professionals. When we reconvened at the beginning of covid and I wanted to teach them what I had learned about staying sober outside of rehab because I could tell they had not been taught some of the most important things required for long lasting sobriety. While I had good intentions, I hadn’t studied psychology or techniques required to lead, motivate or help people better themselves, thus my flawed strategies produced bad action and had no benefit to them, ultimately resulting in conflict more than betterment. Later, we went separate ways again, and I got closer with some of our other friends. I still wanted to be a good influence on the people around me but realized I needed to study to learn how to be a good influence. By reading “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, The Bible, The Analect, and studying psychology, and philosophy I was able to learn what I needed to know to effectively lead other people and be a good influence on them. In my learning I was able to identify the two main things I did wrong. First was my approach to how I told them what they were doing wrong and what they could do better. My tactic that relied on lecturing and commanding which would lead to dishonesty in my friendships because they would want to avoid  being lectured for their mistakes. Second was how I would rely on criticizing and condemning as ways to motivate change. This would lead to many things but one of the most dangerous is the denial of problems because no one wants to admit their flaws to themselves not to mention someone else who has shown their tendency to lecture them. I was also able to identify some tactics I could do that would actually have a beneficial impact on those around me, and have since I’ve started using them. The first thing I learned was the power of listening more than talking which leads to a more informed perspective and provides the individual with an opportunity to discuss their thoughts and feelings with someone who won’t criticize or lecture them about what they say. When this is combined with reflective questioning based on what they’ve said can also help them gain awareness of their own decisions, actions, feelings, situation, values, and more on a much deeper level than they would have otherwise. The right questions at the right time can help them organize their thoughts and feelings as well as gain better insight on their own psyche. At the root of what I learned was a key perspective shift. My initial outlook was along the lines of “I need to convince them to do this because it’s what’s best for them.” This perspective comes from good intent, but leads to criticizing, and lecturing because it is not based on knowledge of how people work. Through studying I learned to adopt a new perspective of “I want to listen to their thoughts and help them guide themselves to what they believe is best for them.” Upon discovering this difference through studying I was able to take action grounded in good intent and knowledge. This produced good results as my friends started coming to me with their problems. With this new approach I was able to watch as they would come to better understand what was right and wrong for them and consider their position from many positions. I am now able to help my friends think about their decisions, values, perspectives and develop their own understandings in a healthy way all thanks to the knowledge I gained by studying. This taught me the important lesson of studying before taking good action, and not relying on good intent alone to drive good action. Knowledge provides us tools to be good at life, solve problems, and is an important factor in effectively carrying out the good actions of our good intentions. 

“The Master said: “The ancient scholars studied for their own improvement. Modern scholars study to impress others” (Muller Analects of Confucius 論語 14.24). This quote really caught my attention as I started wondering why it is that people will study simply to impress others. I’ve seen many people do this and I’ve certainly done it myself. I think the reason people will study for something other than their own improvement is because they don’t love knowledge itself. One who lives a lifestyle of learning does so for the sake of the knowledge itself, not for show. In my considerations I identified three key mindsets that drive one’s pursuit of knowledge that are the foundation of living a learning lifestyle. The first key mindset is an eager want to expand one’s understanding of reality. The first step in developing this mindset is gaining perspective on how limited our perception of reality is and how little we know. Consider the sum of all human experience and knowledge and compare it to that of your own. All of the sudden 30 or 40 years don’t seem like much. We have an incredibly limited perspective due to how little experience each of us have. People are born into different cultures, times, and situations which drastically affect the experiences we have throughout life and the perspectives we will take on those experiences. While this becomes daunting at first it can invigorate one’s curiosity and opens up many avenues and questions for their mind to wander down. This acceptance of how little we know leads us to asking ourselves questions about the nature of reality in many facets. This curiosity breeds excitement to study and find answers to these questions with the goal of uncovering the secrets of the universe to satisfy our own curiosity. When one is driven by this mind set it doesn’t matter if others know how smart you are because they’re admiration won’t satisfy one’s curiosity. Second is the mindset that studying has no end goal, but is seen as a lifelong pursuit. To conceptualize the pursuit of knowledge as a pursuit that ends in being smart is to forget the purpose of this lifestyle. Since there is always more to learn, learning is never complete, thus learning is a journey with no end destination. It’s important to see that you don’t “have knowledge”, you pursue understanding of reality and develop your library of knowledge. This mindset promotes enjoyment of the learning process itself as there’s no stress to reach some desired end point, but instead take part in a continual journey. A similar idea is expressed in the Bhagavad Gita in chapter 4: Wisdom in action. The main idea of this chapter is that one should take action for the sake of that action itself and not for the results of that action. Admiration of others is a result of our actions that we must detach ourselves from inorder to truly enjoy the process of learning. Finally, one must adopt the mindset that knowledge is important because it provides us with control over life, the external world, others, and ourselves. As previously discussed, the six flaws illustrate the importance of knowledge through dangers of taking good intended action without being willing to study. While this is true the importance of knowledge goes beyond that. When considering the problem of freewill in metaphysics we can see through a soft deterministic perspective how actions are determined by antecedent factors. When considering wallar’s definition of freedom as one’s ability to act in accordance with their long term goals and values we can examine how different antecedent factors contribute to one being more or less free. We can divide antecedent factors into two categories: internal and external factors. External factors are less controllable and represent things from the external world that determine our actions. Internal factors are more under our control and represent the aspects of the self that determine our actions. In order to be more free by wallars definition we must establish and develop internal factors, such as good values, cognitive structures, opinions, mindsets, and so one that make us able to act in accordance with our long term goals and values. Knowledge is one one the most important internal factors to develop as it provides a library of information that can guide your actions in a way that is coherent with reality. Life is full of problems that need to be solved in order to live the life one wants to live. Knowing how to solve these problems is the first step in being free. To illustrate this idea, imagine a problem in life as a tree that needs to be chopped down, and the tools available to chop that tree down represents knowledge. Someone who does not study wont have many tools and is therefore less free in the way they go about solving the issue. However, a well educated individual has developed a large inventory of tools allowing them to choose the way in which they solve this problem, as well as being equipped to solve many other problems. Seeing knowledge as a key factor in being free allows us to identify the importance of it by seeing the ways in which it can make our life better. One’s eagerness to expand their perspective of reality, pursuit of knowledge as a lifelong journey, and attribution of importance to knowledge are the three key mindsets that are at the heart of living this lifestyle because they instill a deep love for learning. 

In addition to these mindsets one must also understand how to structure the process of learning inorder to effectively practice a lifestyle of learning. Confucius warns against lackluster understanding that comes from one only learning bits of information without deep comprehension of the topic at hand. For example, some will watch educational youtube videos with fun graphics and shocking facts that provide entertaining, but surface level knowledge that simply provides a feeling of accomplishment without developing deep understanding. Youtube can certainly be a good resource for learning, but this is a trap that is far too easy to fall into. To avoid lackluster learning we can practice Deep Reflection which divides the learning process into four main stages. First is the “pursue passion” step where one must find something that peaks their curiosity or invigorates a want for intellectual exploration and discovery. The following step, “learn from beginning to end” is where you dive into the passion you’ve identified and learn everything about it from the most simple aspects (often what you’d see in a youtube video) to its most fundamental aspects and finally find root ideas. Third is “analyze and understand” which is meant to instil a comprehension of the learned material allowing you to utilize what you’ve learned and apply or relate it to other concepts. I consider the final step, which will be revealed soon, to be the most important aspect of the learning lifestyle as it provides an opportunity to incorporate one of the most important aspects of the human experience into the learning lifestyle. Finding something we are passionate about can be tricky, so I have developed my own three step system which helps me find an idea or topic that I feel passionate about. First, I gain lack luster understanding on a large range of topics. During this stage I generally watch a series of educational youtube videos to get a taste for each topic or idea. I explore videos related to science, philosophy, psychology, gardening, game design, and much more over the course of a few hours. Second I spend some time cleaning, walking or sitting outside without any distractions and let my thoughts flow. As I think about the videos I just watched I wait to see what ideas I naturally gravitate towards. Finally, once I’ve identified an idea or topic that has stuck with me for a while I’ll start considering it from various angles to develop a question in regard to it as well as try and make predictions as to the answers I may find upon further research. This development hypothesis greatly invigorates that desire to learn as I want to put my predictions to the test and see how close I may have been. It also allows me to incorporate previously learned information on my newest intellectual pursuit. Upon the identification of an intriguing topic one is passionate about it becomes time to learn about it from beginning to end. I’ve also developed a system that allows me to move through this step of the process, which I call the pursuit of root ideas. The fundamental idea behind this system is that some things exist because they were created, and other things exist because they are properties of reality. These properties of reality are root ideas. You can identify a root idea as something that has always, and will always be a part of reality regardless of time. To illustrate this lets examine the microwave. A microwave is something that exists, but it did not exist before it was invented. On the other hand, the physics that made the invention of the microwave possible (as well as the parts that make up the microwave) are root ideas because they have existed since the beginning of time, thus being fundamental aspects of reality. Another example can be the observation of someone’s actions. An action that someone takes, such as talking about someone behind their back, did not exist until it was carried out. However, the aspects of human nature, like envy or pride, that lead to such an action are root ideas as they exist whether that action was taken or not. Root ideas are consistent aspects of reality that are discovered and can be extrapolated to provide understanding on specific things that occur or are created within reality. Furthermore, all things are a result of root ideas. In order to learn something from beginning to end I chase these root ideas through yet another three step system. First is observable understanding, which is to know what a thing or idea is, its purpose, and its definition. With this level of understanding one can identify and define the item of consideration. For example, a microwave uses radiation to heat up food for whatever amount of time you tell it to, and needs to be plugged into an outlet to work. The next level of understanding is Constituent Understanding, which is where you take this topic and break it down into its most immediate components and learn about them. For the microwave example one may look at and figure out what electromagnetic radiation is, what its circuit diagram looks like, and what a magnetron is. This step is repeated again for each of these components as one continually moves towards root ideas. For the microwave example a possible next step would be further understanding what a magnetron is. By moving through these abstractions of each component that makes up the specified topic we can eventually discover the root ideas that underlie this thing or idea. In the microwave example we can observe that a magnetron is composed of a diode vacuum tube, which is made up an anode and coaxial cathode that generates direct current, and an oscillating magnet which produces magnetic flux allowing for an induced alternating emf to generate electromagnetic waves. While this may seem quite complicated the idea is that the transition between constituent understanding and root understanding was achieved when physics became the focus. Diodes, anodes and cathodes were all invented, but the laws of physics that pertain to electromagnetic waves, and magnetic flux have always existed.  The third stage of deep reflection, analyze and understand, essentially involves the utilization of all that has been learned while moving from conceptual understanding to root understanding. “The Master said: “You can recite the 300 poems from the Book of Odes, but when you try to use them in administration, they are not effective (da), 34 and in handling the outlying regions, you cannot apply them, then even though you know a lot, what good is it?” (Muller Analects of Confucius 論語 13.5). This quote from the analects depicts Confucius’s warnings of lackluster knowledge. One can memorize many things but true knowledge is resembled by one’s ability to apply it. This part of the learning process provides increased comprehension through application of newly learned concepts. This is where the learning lifestyle provides something beyond studying, in the form of application. There are many ways to apply what’s been learned depending on the topic. In the case of studying physics and technology I have developed hobbies around engineering. For Example, since I’ve spent a lot of time working towards root ideas related to the physics of electricity I started building a punch activated flamethrower as it required me to use my understanding of circuit boards, solenoids and arduinos to produce a tangible outcome. Using newly gained knowledge is extremely fulfilling and provides a real sense of accomplishment. For something like psychology it’s fun to try and contemplate the actions of your friends and make predictions as to how they will act in a given situation, or use certain principles to make people act the way you want them to. For example a psychological principle I learned long ago is the idea that if you make small requests to someone that will definitely result in a yes answer they will gradually be more open to say yes to more extreme requests. The psychology of learning is also very useful and a great thing to study when getting started on practicing the lifestyle of learning. The lifestyle of learning requires patience to practice, but with the proper techniques in attaining real knowledge beyond surface level understanding one can find they’re way to the fundamental aspects of reality and enjoy the fruits of their labor through hobbies and projects. 

Teaching, the final stage of deep reflection, provides one the opportunity to pursue knowledge with friends who take part in the same lifestyle which incorporates one of the most important aspects of life: socializing. The reality is that we are social creatures and need interactions with others in order to feel fulfilled in life. Teaching is an essential part of the learning process because it helps us to solidify our understanding of something by finding holes in our knowledge by explaining that thing from beginning to end to someone else. This requires us to let go of assumptions or generalized summarizations by explaining things to someone who can not do so. A peer may also ask questions we had not yet thought of leading us to consider the topic from different perspectives. Teaching a friend what we’ve learned also requires that we can easily move up and down the 3 levels of understanding inorder to identify what information they need to understand the topic. Furthermore, to ensure they understand the concept we must be able to explain it in many ways and discuss each of its aspects which can not be done with rote memorization. Another aspect of the social aspect of the learning process is working with others on intellectual ideas and pursuits. When discussing ideas a friend can help us see and consider things from different perspectives which can account for our inherent biases, different experiences, perspectives and often show us considerations we would not have taken into account as they are utilizing an entire second library of knowledge. By combining these libraries of knowledge we can produce better results and come to conclusions that are more representative of truth because they are based on more factors than one person could consider alone. For example, while working on my punch activated flamethrower project I ran into problems I was struggling to figure out. An engineering friend of mine, Steven, came one day and asked me about it. As I started showing it to him and explaining it he was able to identify the problems and help me find work arounds that made it possible to continue making progress. Without his perspective I would not have been able to come to such conclusions because I do not have as extensive a background in programming as he does. I would have had to learn an entire new set of skills had he not helped me with the project. There is only so much time in life to learn so many things, a wise person knows how to identify what they know and need to learn as well as what others know and can help them with. We don’t need to know everything, utilizing others’ experiences and knowledge can help us accomplish far more with much greater efficiency. Our peers and friends have also spent time studying and learning so they can compile and convey information to you without the need for you to do the same research. This can help streamline your learning process because, if they have deep understanding on a topic, they can identify how to personally help you grasp the idea or concept. In the analects Confucius describes another way to learn from people, “When doing something together as a threesome, there must be one who will have something to teach me. I pick out people’s good and follow it. When I see their bad points, I correct them in myself” (Muller Analects of Confucius 論語 7.22). Often, when we see someone’s strengths we feel envious or insecure if we lack them, when we see their weaknesses we feel better than them or try to make them fix themselves. I think this quote from Confucius helps illustrate the proper way to learn from others. We can listen to and observe others to identify practices, values, outlooks, and so on that work in life. We can also identify those that don’t, but instead of trying to fix that in them we must look inward and fix or avoid that in ourselves. 

Utilizing the right mindsets on learning, practicing deep reflection, and incorporating this process into fun activities and your social life can allow you to live a fulfilling life through the lifestyle of learning. Knowledge is extremely important as it helps you to avoid the dangers of trying to take good action without the want to learn as described by the six flaws, as well as providing you with the tools and resources enabling us to act in accordance with our long term goals and values. By adopting the right mindsets one can develop a genuine love for learning which makes this lifestyle come naturally. Deep reflection provides an effective structure for the learning process. Finally, Incorporating hobbies and friends into the learning process provides meaningful experiences into the lifelong journey of learning that ultimately makes this lifestyle fulfilling. Only a handful of quotes in the analects and ideas from Confucius provide an effective outline for how to turn learning from a chore, into an incredible lifestyle that results in a life worth reliving.

Sources Cited:Muller, Charles. Analects of Confucius 論語, 20 Aug. 2020, 9:00, www.acmuller.net/con-dao/analects.html.