Unlearning 101

The Fog of Unlearning

I am in Iowa to deliver a keynote presentation (entitled "Why Future Trends in Healthcare Will Require Unlearning") to the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative today.

After working on my presentation early this morning, I decided to go for a walk at sunrise. The photo to the right offers a view of what I saw.

As I stared at the pool of fog in the distance, it occurred to me that I was also standing in fog--I just couldn't see it clearly.

It then dawned on me that it is always easier to see when someone else is enveloped in a fog; it's far more difficult to comprehend that you are also in the thick of it.

One key to unlearning is to begin to appreciate--whether you realize it or not--that we are all in a fog.

To Grow: Unlearn

If you can unlearn your ideas about what is possible, you can grow almost anywhere.

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The Tree of Unlearning

A Plant Whose Virtue Has Yet to Be Discovered

A Plant Whose Virtue Has Yet to Be Discovered

One day a child came upon the traveler sitting in a field. He was studying a weed.

"Why are you staring at that ugly weed when so many other beautiful flowers are nearby?"

Without looking up, the traveler replied, "Everything has virtue. The real challenge is to find it where it isn't immediately obvious."

Other short parables by Jack Uldrich 

The Answer

The Circle of Truth

A Sip of Reality

A Glimmer of Truth

The Tree of Unlearning

The Steep Unlearning Curve

The Circle of Truth

"I want to walk a straight and narrow path toward the truth," said the student. "How do I do it?"

"Walk a crooked and wide path," replied the traveler.

"That doesn't make any sense," responded the student.

"It does once you understand that if you drift in one direction just the width of an eyelash every mile, by the end of your journey you will have only succeeded in walking in a giant circle and you'll be no closer to the truth you seek."

Other poems by Jack Uldrich

A Sip of Reality

A Glimmer of Truth

The Tree of Unlearning

The Steep Unlearning Curve

Rake Your Brain

After a long winter, I was finally able to get outside this past weekend and begin preparing my yard for the spring growing season. As I raked away the leaves, I thought the exercise was a fitting metaphor for what each of us should every now-and-again.

When was the last time you raked your brain and:

Cleared away some old, obsolete knowledge?

Pruned back an assumption?

Swept away an old, ineffective habit?

Or tilled a new area for potential growth?

It is tough, dirty work to be sure but, if you do it right, the results can be both beautiful and life sustaining.

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The Tree of Unlearning 

 

A Positive Spin on Negative Emotions

Have you ever considered that true happiness isn't found in the accumulation of more positive emotional experiences -- such as buying a new pair of shoes, taking a cool vacation, buying a new car, securing a better job or finding a more attractive partner -- but rather in the simple act letting go of the negative emotions of anger, anxiety, fear, greed, grief, envy and jealousy?

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Let it Go

An Easy Way to Gain Wealth: Unlearn

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Are You Unhappy? Unlearning Can Help 

A Sip of Reality

"What's reality?" asked the student.

The traveler didn't answer. He said only, "Go to the stream and fetch a bucket of water."

The student did as instructed.

"Now grab a cup of water from the bucket and take a sip."

The student again did as instructed. The water was cool and provided refreshment. "Aah, so this is reality."

"No," replied the traveler.

The student looked perplexed.

"Where did the water come from?"

"The bucket?" responded the student.

"You are closer to the truth," replied the traveler. "The bucket of water offers a better picture of reality but it is incomplete and stagnant."

"Aah, so the stream represents reality," said the student excitedly.

"Closer," said the traveler, "but if you were to go back to the stream it would be different because a stream is always flowing."

"Just as reality is constantly flowing and changing," replied the student in a knowing tone.

"No," said the traveler. "Your understanding of reality is still incomplete."

"How so?"

"Because the stream comes from the snows on the mountain and flows into a river. And from the river the water flows into a larger ocean only to evaporate and turn back into rain and snow. So it is with reality. We may sip freely from various fountains of reality but we must always remember that ours is really an incomplete --and, likely, stagnant--picture."

Other related poems by Jack Uldrich

A Glimmer of Truth

The Tree of Unlearning

The Steep Unlearning Curve

The Heart of the Matter

He doesn't think there is anything the matter with him
because one of the things that is the matter with him
is that he doesn't think there is anything the matter with him.

This wonderful quote comes compliments of Inger Mewbern and her post Why You Might Be Stuck

A Glimmer of Truth

"What is truth?" asked the student.

"Study the moonlight on the water," replied the traveler.

The student did as instructed and returned with a satisfied smile. "It is like a constant upon a wavy ocean."

"No," answered the traveler, "it is but a fraction of all the light reflected by the moon."

"I see," said the student.

"No, you don't," replied the traveler, "because the moon itself captures but a fraction of the light that the sun casts."

"Aah, now I see," said the student.

"No, you don't," said the traveler, "because our sun is but one of an infinite number of stars."

Other short poems by Jack Uldrich:

The Tree of Unlearning

The Steep Unlearning Curve

The Tree of Unlearning

"Study the tree," said the traveler.

The child did as instructed and returned the next day.

"What did you learn?"

"The tree's strength rests in its ability to bend on a windy day."

"Good," replied the traveler,"but you must also learn to see what isn't there."

The next day the child returned and said, "I now understand that the tree's roots are vital to its survival during the dry season."

"Better," replied the traveler, "but keep studying the tree and don't return until you have come to a new insight."

It took some time but the child finally returned. "The tree's renewal depends on its ability to drop its leaves and its long-term survival lies in its ability to drop new seeds."

The traveler smiled. "Unlearning is the same for you."

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The Tree of Unlearning

The Steep Unlearning Curve

The Tree of Unlearning Keeps Growing