18.1 Designed Always to Learn

Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end (Isaiah 9:7). – Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:29). That they might know – Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

At no point in forever will we, as humans, not be learning new things and increasing our understanding and abilities in what we already know. To know Christ Jesus is to increase our knowing of created things, that is, science, for all created things have their existence through Him and are being sustained by Him.

God designed the human to learn.

The Likeness of God. This quality designed into us by God is easy to understand now that we have a much deeper definition of “the likeness” of God. The “likeness” of God is our ability to take the next part of Himself that God is desiring to show, to make that next part of God part of ourselves on a small scale (likeness), and to reveal God into our world as He wishes in that moment (image).

Since God is infinite, learning of Him, becoming part of Him, and revealing Him, point after point, must be forever. And God is revealed by and into every tiny aspect of His creation, and especially everything that has to do with humans. We never “seek for God” in created things. Rather, knowing God arising always inside our own hearts, we learn of Him as we know and shepherd all that comes out from Him.

A Life of Learning. I am astonished at how much I have learned in my now 65 years, and the percentage of my time in which learning was taking place. At the present time, I find myself learning whole new fields of study that are complex and vast in my project of creating a food forest and productive gardens.

You may learn in a different manner from how I learn; nonetheless, your life is a life of learning just as much. Speed or ease of learning is not what counts, but rather depth of learning. I am a hare, as in Aesop’s fable of the tortoise and the hare. I run fast, but am easily distracted. Others might plod along slowly in learning, but are never turned aside.

A Job to Do. My point is to establish every human as a learner in the fundamental makeup of their beings, regardless of any experiences in “schooling.” In fact, modern schooling works more to control and even destroy the innate drive to learn. You see, it’s not possible to bring independent learners under control, people who always think for themselves, people who refuse group “consensus.”

In other words, whatever your experiences with schooling might have been, set them aside to see yourself now as an innate and natural learner, made that way by God. You have a job to do forever, and that is “Learn of Me,” and in doing so, reveal God as He is into your immediate world.

Some Questions. Let’s set out some questions to shape the remainder of this lesson. First, what does “to learn” mean, and what does it not mean? Then, how do we learn, followed by what do we learn? Finally, what is the purpose or outcome of our learning? What do we do with what we have learned?

When we lived our lives imagining God far away and ourselves entirely for ourselves, we would have answered these questions in a certain way, a way Paul and James both called “earthly” and “demonic.” Then, when we became Nicene Christians, we answered these questions as weights of obligation towards God.

The Purpose of Learning. As sons of God, however, made just like the Lord Jesus, of His same kind, we learn of Him through whom all things come. And in learning of Christ Jesus, we turn and reveal the Father as He is to all.

Actually, let’s start with the purpose of learning. Learning has three purposes. The first purpose of learning is to reveal the Father to creation as His image. The second purpose of learning is to be an effective nurturer of that part of God’s creation given to us. These purposes, of course, are always working together, part of each other. But tucked into these purposes is a third, which is to know ourselves in full potential, that is, in glory.

Defining “To Learn.” To Learn (from Webster’s 1926): 1. To gain knowledge or understanding of, or skill in, by study, instruction, or investigation; to receive instruction concerning; to fix in the mind; to learn a lesson; to learn dancing… 2. To acquire information or intelligence about; to find out about; to ascertain; to hear.

Notice that this definition follows Bloom’s taxonomy – to know, to understand, to apply, although that taxonomy came some years later. We would then say, “and,” not “or,” because all three, knowledge, understanding, and skill, must flow together before real learning has begun. “By study” means to read about what others learned. “By instruction” means a teacher. And “by investigation” means to learn it for yourself by informed trial and error.

The Action of Learning. Then, consider these verbs in the Webster’s definition: to gain, to receive, to fix, to learn, to acquire, to find out, to ascertain, to hear. The thing in common with all these actions is that the learner is the active one, reaching out, even aggressively, to make the things learned part of one’s self.

The first law of all human action is that every action is initiated by any human with purpose and for perceived self-interest. To learn is action; without a perceived self-interest, that is, if the student does not see some gain for present interests, then the student will not incorporate learning into their own life. Learning takes place as the learner says, “This is important to me and to what I am doing right now.”

What Learning Is Not. This brings us to what “to learn” is not. There is no passivity in learning. If a person is passive, no depth of learning is taking place. Modern schooling creates an utterly passive environment first, and then requires the teacher to create a small amount of student involvement sufficient to show some “learning.” Yet most of this “learning” is not really substantial or personal. Then modern schooling adds a powerful element of anti-learning to their weak “student involvement,” and that is that all the labor of a child for many long years is worthless, of no value to anyone, and is immediately thrown into the trash.

If the work a child is doing has no actual value to anyone else, it cannot have value to that child either.

Behaviorism versus Christ. Forced learning is not learning. Bribed learning is not learning. Nicene Christianity has imagined both upon those they seek to blind towards the Lord Jesus. They interpret “Learn of Me” as meaning, “get it right” and you “get to go to heaven,” that is, “get an A.” And “get it wrong” and you burn forever in hellfire, that is, an “F” for flunky and failure. This is behaviorism applied to God’s “education,” that is, response conditioning. It is anti-Christ and anti-human.

In complete contrast, Paul’s gospel of union with Christ means that I take that which is Christ (Learn of Me) and make it part of myself, that part of Jesus now becomes me. I am highly motivated for my own self-benefit, for there is nothing more glorious to me than being just like the Lord Jesus Christ, actively and personally.

Personally Involved. We then apply this same principle to all real learning. I plant garlic, then I study to learn about planting garlic to discover, “to ascertain,” all the things I did wrong. Why didn’t I study first? I did not study first because I would not have known what was important, and all the facts I might learn would have little personal relevance to me.

To learn, then, means being utterly fearless towards “making mistakes.” You see, when I discover what, exactly, I did wrong when I planted my garlic, I am already personally involved. My labor made garlic-planting part of my life. Now I possess a deep self-interest. Which means that when I hear how to do it right, that knowledge has great value to me, it fits perfectly into what I know and am doing.

Self-Directed Learning. Learning must be personal. If it isn’t personal, it isn’t learning. The only learning that ever actually takes place is self-directed learning, reaching out to obtain new information to be able to more effectively accomplish what I am presently creating.

This is why I contend with you, dear reader, to connect always with God. For if you yourself are not engaging directly with God, even desperately, then you can learn nothing from me. Only those who really want to be like the Lord Jesus – self-benefit – gain from the things I teach.

Real learning takes place only when I am busy accomplishing something important to me, something that brings value to my world and benefit for others, for then I NEED to know this.

What Do I Like to Do? From that definition of real learning, let’s consider the second purpose of learning, and that is to be an effective nurturer of that part of God’s creation given to us.

My philosophy of wholistic education would separate the middle school learner, that is, grades 7-10, almost entirely from the classroom and into a series of interesting projects. The primary thing being learned during this time is “Who am I” and “What do I like to do?” No child can know what they like to do unless they have put their hand to a number of very different things. Then, the final two years of schooling should be a focused and disciplined development of those things the student now knows that they love.

The Part of Creation Given to You. Once a student knows what they love to do and how that love brings value to themselves and benefit to others, then they will learn, even aggressively.

Here is a fundamental truth of the revelation of God through us. What you love to do is that for which God made you, that is, it is that “part of creation given to you.” There was a season in my life when designing and building homes was that part of creation given to me. Then, for a season, teaching people to write effectively in order to do well in other classes was that part of creation given to me. At the present time, teaching you to know the Lord is that part of creation given to me. And in all these things, I study, making the things to be learned my own, utterly part of me, that I might be effective.

Revealing Father. Inside of human interest, then, that is, the many-faceted expression of God’s personality, you will find a NEED for every conceivable field of real study. What do we do, then, with what we learn? We reveal God as He is through us as we are into our world. Man is God-Revealed. – He that has seen Me has seen the Father.

I am convinced that what I have laid out in this lesson is central to God’s meaning through Isaiah. – Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.

What is glory? Glory is being all that God made you to be and doing it, really, really well. Glory is revealing the Father.