Entangled Learning

This is how I have come to understand the world. I have adopted this style of learning as my way of seeing the world and unravelling how it works; as my way of living and learning in it.

I came up with the idea of Entangled Learning some time back – I am not sure when; perhaps in some form or other I have always seen things this way. To describe it, I have borrowed the word Entangled from the world of Quantum Physics, where it is used to describe how particles of energy or matter can become correlated in a way that one behaves the same as the other, irrespective of how far apart they may be. This is dry stuff – and boring to most of us (but certainly not to quantum physicists) – so for practical purposes we should think of Entangled as simply meaning ‘inter-twined’, ‘connected’ or ‘strongly associated’.

In learning about something – and by this I mean really learning; deeply learning; studying, dissecting and understanding a thing – we will inevitably uncover a certain set of truths or principles that underpin that understanding; and it is this set of truths (principles/laws) that serves to become the engine that drives our understanding of other things – seemingly unrelated things.

If we learn a thing – we have, at our disposal, the knowledge of that thing. But there is only limited leverage (if any) to be enjoyed in the owning of that knowledge (or skill). But if we can look deeply enough, and clarify our understanding, and in doing so, deepen our knowledge of the underlying principles of what we study, we can (if we are so inclined) perhaps begin to see how that knowledge can be applied to other aspects of our lives. If we can succeed in doing just this we are leveraging that knowledge into further understanding or benefit. This is a powerful face of leverage that often eludes those professing to understand what leverage means.

In short; to reduce it to the most basic idea, it is this: when we come to understand a deep truth in one thing – in looking we will find it in other things.

This may or may not be of interest to anyone but myself – but it is something I have wound and bound to the way I live my life and see the world – and for me; it has underpinned what success I have enjoyed thus-far. I could write volumes on this subject – because like most things, it can be broken down and mapped out to the point where it would become obvious to almost everyone. The deep truths I have come to understand in my martial arts practice are now woven throughout the fabric of my life – through my marriage, my investments, my re-creational pursuits, my fitness regime, etc. I use that understanding to solve problems, to play, to grow, to learn and uncover yet more truths …

Dry stuff … but very meaningful to me.

JBW