What is considered 'natural' when learning a new skill?

I have been thinking how learning a new skill pertains to Taoism.

Taoism is about doing things in the 'natural order' of things correct?

However, when learning a new skill our first attempts are bound to be unnatural and awkward...does this mean we should not strive to do anything? I think not.

I suppose it is pertinent to factor in human adaptability into the equation of what is 'natural' for us. We are versatile creatures.

That which is 'unnatural' only remains so until we learn the new skill and it becomes what we call 'second nature'.

So how, according to Taoism, is the ideal way to cultivate a new skill?

I would hazard that one should do something to the best of their ability, yet stop before they reach the wall of dimishing returns. For instance I have done things such as university work where I would go and go and go with very little break. I disciplined myself to be able to work very long 'shifts' with very little break in between. I found it got to a point of dimishing returns however, where it came to be that I would be really struggling to complete a portion of work in four hours say, when it would usually take 2 hours at peak performance. This would show that I reached the point where I am 'going against the grain'. From there I would find my work becoming stale and stagnant and taking breaks was necessary not only to refresh the mind but also to inject inspiration back into the work.

What are other's thoughts on this?

What counts as 'natural' when endeavouring to learn something new, and indeed, what is the impetus to do so? I would say getting as close as we can to the Tao is our objective and thus things should be endeavouried with this in mind.

 

Good question. Here's my take FWIW...

I'm not sure the term 'natural' is very helpful for this discussion due to the wide and sometimes negative/discriminatory connotations it possesses. It's difficult to say that anything is 'unnatural' within the Tao - for if it is not natural to the Tao, how could it possibly exist?

Adaptation and skill learning certainly seem to be part of the human being's true nature but I think it is less an issue about the learning of the skill than why you learn the skill and how.

With the 'why' - many people might learn a new skill to seek some kind of reward, praise, acceptance, or validation. This I think is taking one away from harmony with the Tao and your inner nature or 'Te'. The urge to learn a new skill should be an almost physical thing - a need or drive towards the skill or knowledge itself - not to the things possessing it might bring you. Certainly that's how I judge whether I really want to learn something or whether I need to examine my motivation.

With the 'how' - I fell it should very much be approached by 'going with the flow'. Listen to your feelings and when you feel the urge to learn & practice then do it, and when you don't - don't. You must however watch out for issues raised above in the 'why' section which may lead you to over-do it, and you must also watch for the inertia which can come from internal feelings of inadequacy or can be induced by the magnitude of what you are attempting to do.

Personally I find that if I decide to spend a minimum of 5 minutes working on a skill a day, I overcome the inertia (because it's hard to find a reason why you cannot dedicate just 5 mins to practice or learning out of a whole day). After 5 mins I may decide that I've had enough, or more usually I think "well I'll just do 10 mins more" - a process that can repeat so that some days it will turn into hours of continuous work.

Obviously this can be an area where a Taoist approach can come into conflict with other structures and wider society. We make people go to school and learn a set curriculum of subjects, you go to university to learn skills - some of which interest you and some which do not. You go on courses to learn skills related to your job. You need to meet deadlines or work to other peoples agendas.

How you reconcile these with your Taoist viewpoint is the hardest part and I'm not sure I've worked out any real answers yet short of retiring from society and living in a cave!

With the actual approach to learning, I would suggest that it is essentially similar to a meditative state. In meditation or learning the key is keeping the mind here & now, not drifting off in circles of distracted thoughts, and I'd seek much the same state in learning.

:cheers2:

 

Hi mate,

thanks for the detailed reply.

You make alot of astute observations :toetap05:, much along the line I was thinking.

I too would say nothing is 'unnatural' to the Tao, however, as humans, things can certainly be unnatural for us. I think a more helpful term for us is imbalanced. I believe that to achieve oneness with the Tao we must achieve a supreme level of balance and with it homeostasis such that our consciousness is no longer tied up in petty day to day 'problems' but is now in a supreme state of 'flow' in whatever aciton we partake in. We still partake in activity but it is done in the spirit of wu wei such that nothing seems like a chore and is rather a flow experience which brings us closer to the Tao.

I agree with alot of your premises however your conclusion I disagree with. You say that short of living in a cave you do not know how you would reconcile yourself with the Taoist viewpoint. Here's my take. As I said above everyhting is 'natural' to the Tao yet everything isn't necessarily natural to us as humans. The reason I think you say it is hard to reconcile yourself in our current epoch is that humanity as gotten so 'smart' that it has built all this stuff up around it and has yet to catch up with it psychologically. As such, I believe that it is not impossible to live at one with the Tao in say, a big city, however, it is certainly more challenging as we have more to 'untangle'. As we are born into society if we live in less than ideal circumstances, which I'd say everyone does to some degree as noone is born into the perfect situation, then we are accruing negative equity from the getgo; granted it is less for some than others. This would not have been as much of an issue when we were living in closer balance with nature (meaning the natural world as it was before big cities) thus it would have been easier to align ourselves with it, as it was closer at our side.

What has happened though is that we, as the 'clever animal' have surpassed our evolution in the respect that we have built all these massive buildings and complex social strata. All this is still at an early stage and our evolution is still calibrated to 40000 (I think, I watched it recently) years ago, so our brains have yet to catch up. So, back to the negative equity, this situation is only exasperated due to our living in complex social systems so it takes alot more untangling.

And so I conclude that- becoming one with the Tao is certainly not an impossible task within such complex social systems but alot more challenging, at least to begin with, before one gets a 'knack' for it and 'sees the matrix' to use a modern analogy . I think that it becomes easier and easier once one gains momentum in the correct direction. I would also even hazard that what at first caused negative equity now only speeds your progression as all the force behind it is compounded in such a microcosm (now working for you rather than against).

 

I'm sorry - I don't think I really explained this clearly. I don't have a problem reconciling myself with Taoism, I'm just pointing out that in the context of learning you often have to work within a non-Taoist framework. Following a Taoist approach might lead you to learn at one pace whereas the requirements of the course you're on might require you to learn at another. You can follow the Taoist approach but fail the course through not getting the work done on time, or keep to the schedule and pass but fail to follow where your inner nature guides you. The same situation arises with working, but how you navigate your way through these conflicts is tricky.

Working at your own pace will mean that you learn the stuff in a balanced way but possibly end up a failure by academic standards. This is the type of thing Lao Tzu is referring to when he talks about the sage appearing to be a fool.

 

the natural way of things is as such...

1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
1
2
3

 

Natural and Unnatural could be misleading concepts anyway, but for what it's worth, I think seeking new skills is fairly natural, otherwise we would all still be mewling like infants and breastfeeding

Doing nothing but aquiring new skills and knowledge but never using them, that would be "unnatural" I suppose

 

Depends on the skills - if you learned to kill etc as a trainee soldier and never put it into practice that wouldn't be so bad.

Nature forces humans to develop skills to cope with survival needs - thus better forms of shelter developed as human culture progressed, from caves, to huts to proper houses.
If we just took 'nature' as it would be without humans, there are only a few places on the planet we could survive.