We have a presentation coming up called "Is It Relishing, Dependence or Addiction?" by a psychiatrist who works with the question professionally. I assume he is going to talk about drugs or alcohol but he could be talking about learning and stories, that is, fiction and non-fiction in written or film form. I am interested in the phenomenon of senior citizens who have means and ability to take courses, read or watch tv and do so. I think of the deal as the market or audience for knowledge.
Only a short century ago, just about the entire world was convinced that only a few children are born smart enough to learn to do the magic of writing or decoding written message and the weird manipulation we call "arithmetic". Now, more and more countries are realizing that like basic musical ability and basic drawing ability, most kids have a high level of intelligence. What with falling birth rates, each child born healthy and whole is increasingly important to all of society. In addition, humans as a whole are slowly increasing their understanding of good instruction, education, mentoring, and management/administration to the point that not only are curiosity and general knowledge admired, they are encouraged.
So, the short version is that there are more and more experts in anything you can name and more and more hungry minds interested in being expert and then expert on a higher level. We have more tv shows where the heroine or hero is so expert that they are considered a nerd. We have independently wealthy senior citizens free to attend to whatever they want and they choose a nonfiction subject like ceramics or underwater photography. It is as though more and more of us are capable of concentrated study to a PhD level (created in its present form by Germans a little more than 100 years ago). Not just capable but also motivated.
So, we get to the point that our wives are so interested in travel that they band together and travel together without us, our sons are so interested in programming that they program all night, our friends know so much that no amount of conversation and questioning reaches the limits of their knowledge.
Like everything else, we can develop an obsession about learning and new experiences. We can investigate, sitting back and surveying what we have and where we are going. We can ask,"What good is all this knowledge?" Eric Berne in "Games People Play" pointed out that psychologically and emotionally, some marital violence is the playing out through habit of a game. You get me so angry that I lash out. When you get lashed, you really feel noticed. Then, we cuddle and make up. Anything can become a habit and a thought-free refuge, a way to spend our lives. So, what about learning? What good is it?
Well, what good is a Ravens game? {The value of a Packers game is clear and unarguable so I won't use them in my example.} It's fun. It contributes to the patient stream for medical aid. It sells popcorn, beer and sweatshirts. My learning about raccoons and the serious problems they create for Japanese temples is fun and is a good way for an old guy to spend his time. Such learning alerts to me to the wholeness, the unity of my world and everything in it.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
