Thinking, learning, and striving, when I see these words, my first reaction is, who doesn't know these things! But when I really reflect on my past, I realize that I have never really understood them.
These things should have been understood during my student days, but now I have to make up for it.
Reflection 1: How to Think?#
My reflection on this question comes from "The Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason." In this paper, Schopenhauer criticizes the views of many famous philosophers and points out their problems in great detail. It made me realize that although philosophers may seem impressive, their views are ultimately just ideas. Since they are ideas, they are influenced by various purposes and limitations. Every person's truth is just a one-sided perspective.
"The Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason" is also the most difficult book I have read so far. On one hand, I lack the background knowledge mentioned at the beginning of the book, and on the other hand, my thinking ability is insufficient. The process of arguing the viewpoints made me think deeply. Although I couldn't understand most of it, I could always catch a glimpse of the essence that I had never recognized before, and I could faintly feel the charm of thinking. Thinking directly points to the essence and makes people feel enlightened.
As for whether Schopenhauer's views are right or wrong, I still don't have enough knowledge to judge, including his criticism of others. But the act of criticism has had a great impact on me, making me think about what kind of thinking ability and knowledge I need to discover the loopholes and point out the problems convincingly.
I started to reflect on "How to Think?"
When it comes to "thinking," the first thing that comes to mind is using your brain. But we use our brains every moment of every day, and countless thoughts pass through our minds. Can this be called thinking? But all these "thoughts" are just clouds, they are all ineffective thinking.
I still don't have a good answer to the question of "How to think effectively?" The brain activity that can be called effective thinking must have a purpose. After reflection, I believe that the ultimate goal should be: to explore the essence of things with the aim of solving problems. Only by seeing the essence of a problem can we truly solve it, and problems can never be completely solved.
💡What is true, in-depth, and effective thinking?
💡What kind of feeling is it?
When I really reflect on these questions, I realize that the complexity far exceeds the scope of my current knowledge to answer. I dare not easily give an answer, afraid that my current answer will become a biased prejudice. I hope that one day in the future, I will have the ability to answer.
Reflection 2: How to Learn?#
Two recent events have made me reflect on the question of "How to learn?"
The first one is a podcast episode I listened to recently called "Deliberate Practice," which talked about efficient learning methods. I realized that learning is not simply about receiving information. Now I realize that there is so much to explore, and it will benefit me for a lifetime.
The second one is in the fifth lesson of the training camp, where the teacher demonstrated a simple learning method for high school chemistry. After listening to it, I finally understood what learning truly means. It starts from the essence of a single point and connects all the knowledge points, and even after more than 20 years of graduation, I still remember them. It opened up my cognition once again, and some of the points mentioned in the podcast were also related. One concept I encountered in the podcast is called "psychological representation," which connects isolated knowledge points.
I reflect on my years of studying from elementary school to university, and I feel that I never really understood learning. I have never truly understood any subject and always remained in a state of partial understanding. I can never solve difficult problems, and the problems I thought I could solve turned out to be wrong. The fundamental reason is that I have never taken learning seriously and never put in effort.
In the past, learning was just something I was pushed to do. The school and teachers arranged everything, I just listened to the teachers in class, did homework, and took exams. I never actively invested my energy into it.
I feel that learning is a very personal matter, and no one can do it for you. There is no way to directly transfer the knowledge in someone else's brain to mine.
The brain always has an illusion that makes me think that hearing or seeing something means I know it. Now I realize this false feeling, which makes me feel like I am learning, but it is actually useless.
This world is an information world, and we are shaped by the information we receive every day. How we receive information determines what kind of person we will become.
I also deeply realize that effective learning is a science, involving how our brain processes information. Learning is not simply receiving information, but a process that requires specific processing of information.
Reflection 3: How to Strive?#
The word "strive" is familiar to everyone, but I have never taken it seriously. I once thought about the question "What does it mean to strive?" when I was young, but I was too young and lacked knowledge. I didn't have the habit of reading and didn't know how to ask. This question has always lingered in my mind until recently when I read the reading material "3 Years of Shenghe Academy Preparatory Class" sent by Mr. Bi. It mentioned "effort no less than anyone else." It made me start to reflect again, and I also overlooked this important point when listening to Mr. Dan's lectures. It is also very important.
If there is a method to strive, I believe that being attentive is the way to strive. You have to care about why you do everything and every decision, big or small. To achieve this, you must be attentive. Without being attentive, you will not care about these things.
At the same time, I realized that the concept of "striving" is actually very unclear. What level of effort is considered the most striving? I found that the concept of "striving" is so unclear that anyone can say "I have strived." With the content of Mr. Dan's lectures and self-reflection, I increasingly realize that what seems like striving is actually ineffective. Ineffective striving is a behavior that allows oneself to find comfort or escape in the inner world. The brain will tell you "I have really strived."
Strive to the best of your ability#
Recently, when I heard the word "strive," I feel that the word "strive" is clearer than "effort." Striving makes me think of doing everything possible, and striving has a time frame. Especially for some short-term goals or tasks, regardless of the outcome, whether I have tried everything I can think of in this process, I can clearly judge whether I have strived at this moment, both during and after the process. At the same time, striving must also be for a specific goal and path, otherwise, you will not be willing to spend a lot of time and energy.
Ask yourself if you have strived, not if you have made an effort.
In Conclusion#
Thinking, learning, and striving all have an important foundation: being attentive.
Tell yourself to be attentive in doing things, rather than blindly immersing yourself in them. Life is limited, and attentive thinking, learning, and striving reduce the possibility of going astray.