Chapter-2: The Laws of Learning
The ideas developed in this chapter are extensions of the axiomatic beliefs from the previous chapter. Moving forward, I will refer to these extended ideas as the eight laws of learning. However, these extended concepts or laws are not fixed. A better way to view any of the ideas presented within this book is through approximation and growth over time.
The First Law of Learning
To begin, I direct the reader’s attention to the three most foundational beliefs contained within this manuscript: consciousness, evolution and free-will. In greater detail, I claim that every person has consciousness, is part of evolution and has free-will. Furthermore, I claim these three foundational beliefs are assumed to be true as defined within this manuscript. And, as a natural consequence, each person is still part of evolution; and is still a participant in the processes connected with adaptation and overall learning in life.
In general, evolution can be described as the ability of consciousness: to learn from previous limitations in order to grow into a more able form of consciousness. As a result, the first law of learning is:
The First Law of Learning:
Learning happens when there is a need to adapt; and not when there is happiness and or a pleasure to experience.
Remember, you are part of evolution, which means that you can adapt and progress yourself throughout life. Granted, you could think yourself to be at the pinnacle of evolution; but this belief would be beyond arrogant and counterproductive. Instead, it is much more realistic for an individual to have the perspective that: anyone can and does have the ability to adapt in life, if needed. And, in keeping with the idea of evolution, a living being adapts to a better stage in evolution because of stresses and setbacks that have been overcome.
The Second Law of Learning
Keeping in mind that all people are still part of evolution, then, we must consider that movement by choice is at the heart of all learning. In greater detail, this movement by choice does not occur because another person decides it to be so. Instead, this choice to move and to adapt is and must originate from the individual. As a result, one approximate definition that describes learning is that it is a product of two factors: motivation and deliberate active searching. And, to be clear, by learning it is meant that:
Learning is the deliberate practice of gaining new knowledge, which may be applied during life span development in the universe.
The Second Law of Learning:
Learning is the product of two main factors: motivation and deliberate active searching. Using symbols: let B = learning; let M = motivation; and let a = deliberate active searching. Then an approximate equation for learning is given by:
B = (a)(M) Equation-β
The main point with this second law is personal responsibility and initiative. That is to say, a person needs to provide both motivation and deliberate active searching if any learning is to occur. And, most important of all, this law states that the individual learner holds all responsibility to provide these two factors during any learning session.
Remember, all persons have free-will. And this law states that people have the ability to use their consciousness to carry out their perspective of life within evolution. As such, adaptations and changes in life are deliberate—not random. Of course, most adaptations and changes will be the result of intentional trial and error; but, still, not random. Getting to the point—growth, studying and learning are all deliberate in nature too. In other words, learning happens because there is a need to adapt and to change. And, typically, this means some level of discomfort and boredom and heaviness must be present for learning to occur.
The Third Law of Learning
There is a saying that states: mankind is a creature of habit. When I was younger I didn’t fully understand this saying; but, now, as an older man, I agree that habits are key movers in all human actions. With this in mind, the third law of learning addresses the strict factors involved within any habit. For added perspective, this third law is a foundational element when establishing the actual learning process that exists in reality; but this process will be addressed in a later chapter. For now, I only state a definition for habit; and then I will state the third law of learning.
Habit is the strict product of three factors: first, cue; second, practice; and, third, reward-recuperative.
To be clear, by “cue” it is meant that a preparation for a response or responses is given. By “practice” it is meant that a routine or action or a series of actions are performed immediately following the cue. And, by “reward-recuperative” it is meant that a deliberate positive phase of repose is followed immediately after the practice.
It is important to note the word “strict” in the definition of habit. It serves a crucial aspect of any habit. This means that the order of the factors that produce a habit must occur in one and only one order. As such, extreme care must be observed with establishing any habit.
To reiterate, the order of the factors of any habit must follow a very strict process. In other words, the product of the factors of any habit is not commutative and not associative. Of equal importance, there is a time component that must occur between each factor. Typically, this time component is best served at almost instantaneous intervals of time. For this reason, I will not state the definition of a habit using any algebraic symbols.
The Third Law of Learning:
All learning comes from the consistent application of the strict process of habit, which consists of: cue, practice and then reward-recuperative.
The main point being made with this law is that learning, adaptation and evolution all follow a meaningful objective process. For learning, this process must always involve three components: 1. preparation for action; 2. the actual action; and, 3. the immediate benefits or rewards or repose of those actions. The difficulty arises when the benefits are not grasped or acknowledged within a timely manner. This is where the idea of delayed gratification will come into play, especially as pertains to the study of subjects that are of low interest to the learner.
The Fourth Law of Learning
This next law depends on understanding the exact factors involved within motivation. As such, I will now focus on discussing each factor of motivation; and, then I will state an approximate definition of motivation.
Recall, I defined motivation to be the product of three factors: value, expectation and willpower. Unlike a habit, motivation is produced in any order of its three factors. And to be clear, I state my definitions for each factor.
Value is the free-will to assign an amount of worth to something in reality.
Expectation is the free-will to assign an amount of belief that something has occurred, is occurring or will occur in reality, regardless of proof.
Willpower is the free-will to act in a participatory manner with reality; such that, it functions like a muscle, and it will fatigue over time.
Notice, motivated reader: value, expectation and willpower are each free-will dependent factors. As such, these factors have a strict dependence on the individual practitioner: they are dependent on the person valuing; they are dependent on the person expecting; and they are dependent on a person’s strength of willpower to create action in reality.
Therefore, the product of motivation is and always has been a self-directed and self-accumulated quantity in an individual’s life span development.
Motivation is the free-will expression of consciousness in reality, which consists of the product of three factors: value, expectation and willpower. In symbolic form, letting M = motivation, v = value, e = expectation and
w = willpower, then an approximation to motivation in a person is:
M = (v)(e)(w) Equation-1
The Fourth Law of Learning:
The required motivation to learn anything is completely the responsibility of the learner to produce. In greater detail: value, expectation and willpower to learn must originate and be maintained by the individual learner.
The Fifth Law of Learning
The fifth law of learning depends on understanding the factors within fun. Recall, that fun consists of four main factors: expectation, value, joy and willpower. And being consistent, the definitions for value, expectation and willpower carry the same meaning within the context of fun as they do with motivation. As a result, there is no need to redefine or state them here. Instead, I need only provide a definition for joy.
Joy is an emotion that serves as one method of free-will communication between the three types of consciousness; and, this communication results from an ostensibly positive experience.
In its current form, joy is not as detailed as it can be. Instead, I further claim that joy is the difference between happiness and pleasure, where happiness and pleasure are defined as stated in chapter one.
Most importantly, there exists an interconnected aspect between motivation and fun. Meaning that, the purpose of fun is to enable motivation (willpower to be exact) to recover and grow.
At this point, I am now able to clearly define an approximate definition for fun.
Fun is the interconnectedness of consciousness that varies inversely with willpower and varies directly with the product of value, expectation and joy. In symbolic form, letting F = fun, v = value, e = expectation, j = joy, W= willpower, h = happiness and p = pleasure, then one approximation of fun is:
F = [(v)(e)(J)] / [w] Equation-2
Alternatively,
F = [(v)(e)( h – p)] / [w] Equation-2.1
where J = h – p, the difference of h and p
The Fifth Law of Learning:
Fun is used by the learner, at the end of a learning session, in order to establish a healthy habit of repeated learning sessions.
To reiterate, this fifth law is extremely critical because it states that fun is never the goal of any learning session. Fun must be applied after any learning session. However, some individuals require much shorter learning intervals, which means these individuals require many more reward-recuperative phases in order to convince themselves to continue learning.
The Sixth Law of Learning
The sixth law of learning depends on recognizing the limits or current strength levels of any learner. This concept of recognizing current limits is important for progress in anything, especially studying or learning. Specifically, the limitation that I am referring to is motivation.
To be clear, all movement and choice in a person’s life is a result of motivation. In other words, every thought, belief and action of a person is directed by personal motivation.
However, the main limiting factor in motivation is willpower. The best representation of how willpower works is to consider it as a muscle. As a result, under normal and extensive use, a person’s willpower for any activity will decrease over time.
Naturally, once a person’s willpower is exhausted, their motivation for a given event or action will diminish too. Of course, a person could take short breaks, fight through most of their fatigue and continue marching onward towards a goal. But there is still a limit that must be acknowledged. Perhaps, this is one reason why all human beings, after a certain amount of time, must sleep in some form.
Therefore, in order to establish a healthier long-term habit of studying, learning or living, there needs to be an individual personal balance within a learner. (Note, from a percentage viewpoint: balance need not be 50:50. Balance exists on a range, which means that a 70:30 or an 85:15 split could also be well within a healthy balance, work:recovery).
Above all, a person must be honest and respect their needs in order to provide adequate self-care. Otherwise, when motivation is exhausted to dangerous low levels during any given day, the body will develop its ways to protest repeated bouts of personal disrespect.
As a result, for balance in life, a person must be both deliberate in their choice of hard work and in their choice of healthy recuperation and repose. Meaning, a person is not random in the work or activities they participate in everyday life; and, nor must a person be random with the repose or reward-recuperative aspect after their hard work.
The sixth law of learning:
All learning sessions will fatigue the learner’s willpower, which will result in a diminishing in the production of motivation in learning. As a consequence, there must be a scheduled allotment of time invested in free-will recovery, such as with: rest, fun, sleep or other recuperative activities.
The Seventh Law of Learning
The seventh law of learning pertains to accepting the fact that learning happens through growth and adaptation. Granted, there are some individuals that may grasp concepts or develop skills faster than others; but, these individuals are still bound by their rates of growth, intentions, consistency, values, expectations and willpower.
Regardless of starting ability, all individuals are part of evolution. Hence, all individuals have the ability to improve in any area within their range of development. And, with practice, time and consistency, all individuals will improve upon their range of development, to a certain extent.
With all that said, here is the seventh law of learning.
The Seventh Law of Learning:
Learning is the result of individual growth and adaptation, which means that learning results will vary from person to person.
The Eighth Law of Learning
The final law of learning re-emphasizes the purpose of fun. In particular, I am talking about the reason fun and motivation function in an interconnected relationship in life. Simply stated, the use of motivation will always fatigue a person’s willpower; and fun is used to allow for recovery, growth and adaptation to occur. In other words, the main purpose of fun can only be utilized after willpower has been worked, stressed and challenged within motivation in life. Hence, there exists an objective reality between motivation and fun.
Otherwise, if a person aims at fun for the mere purpose of experiencing fun, then a person increases their risk of living a pleasure-centric life. And, from an evolutionary perspective, pleasure and happiness are not equivalent. Moreover, a person dependent on pleasure will make it difficult to experience happiness in their life, (see equation-2.1.)
The Eighth Law of Learning:
The purpose of fun is to allow for the factor of willpower to recover within a person’s motivation; such that, willpower must be stressed or trained sufficiently before fun has any meaning and proper function in life.
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