ON LEARNING
A poem by Paula Underwood
And Learning . . . is so valuable . . . that it is therefore Sacred.
A life filled with Learning is the greatest gift of all.
A life so lived is celebrated . . .
. . . There are songs to be sung that honor
the beauty of such a Life, reminding us all of our
purpose . . . and our potential.
The Learning Way begins with the assumption that it is the responsibility of each of us to learn to understand who we individually are, the unique way in which we learn, what we need from our community and what we can give in return.
It is the responsibility of the community to enable and encourage those understandings in the most effective ways it is able to devise.
Paula Underwood
Three Strands In The Braid
a guide for enablers of learning
To help with this task, the People evolved three learning stories . . . one for each fundamental aspect of this life experience . . .
"One for Body . . .
One for Mind . . .
One for Spirit . . .
The Learning Stories were told when the People would gather around their council fire . . . to the children, the adolescents, the adults, to those with the longest of memory. After listening attentively to the story, someone would rise and share their understanding. They would share what they had learned with one another so that all would prosper from the weaving of this gathered wisdom.
Paula first heard “Wuff”, as she affectionately called Who Speaks For Wolf, when she was only three years old. Each time she heard it she would be asked, “What may we learn from this? Her father gently encouraged her to look for the many possibilities for learning inherent in each of the three stories. Simple, childlike responses were gradually followed by deeper understanding and discussion as she explored the many nuances of each story with her father.
We are encouraged to do the same. . . read the learning stories aloud for our own pleasure, read them to or with our children, with our friends, with our partners. Then listen, listen carefully as each person speaks of their personal learning and how it might relate to their present circumstances . . . to their own unique understanding and perspective. What may we learn over time from the people in our lives if we truly listen? What may we learn from each other? How might our own understanding grow if we just listen?