Mental Cusp

I believe I have already or I am approaching a point in my intellect that is nearly impossible for me to surpass. I have a living situation that is entirely ideal for self education and I strive daily to learn and absorb information/concepts on a massive scale.

Doing this and having this incredible opportunity would appear to make a person happy, but in fact it has made me infinitely depressed and angry. Depressed I still don't seem to know a damn thing and angry that I struggle so much with very little results.

I feel very dumb. Realizing how much I don't know is very intimidating. I feel alone and misunderstood. I have trouble relating this feeling of intimidation to other individuals. I feel weak and insignificant. Understanding the amount of information that I do not comprehend and that I am not even aware of makes me want to learn more and learn more efficiently, yet I have no idea how to go about doing this. My brain can only handle so much and there is only so much time in a day to learn.

My peers all seem to think that we can only learn so much and it should not be expected of anyone to really know much of anything. I suspect this mentality has something to do with being an American, but I also believe that we all tend to accept that we will never learn much beyond what is required of us in terms of survival. What a load of crap! Seriously.

It feels like everywhere I turn people are being oppressed with an invisible "stupid stick" of some sort. The scary thing is they seem to like this.

My point is this: I need to find a way to maximize learning. To go beyond my own limits. Others should strive for this, but seem to go in the other direction as time goes on.

Hey Wyote, maybe you should check out this site: http://www.dhara.dhamma.org/ns/index.shtml

I think you might find it interesting. If you're stressed out or depressed this might be just the medicine you were looking for.

Everyone reaches their peak sometime, and unfortunately there's nowhere to go but down from there. That's a fact of life, not something to agonize over. What you've got to remember is that even if you're not learning as fast as you were (or faster than everyone else around you), you're still learning, and you'll definitely learn all you need eventually, unless you quit. I'm not sure whether you're referring to formal education or not, but if you are, there's no long term prize or reward for graduating a year early, or penalty for doing so a year late.

What is it that you are trying to learn about and why are you doing it? What I mean is, have you got a reason for trying to absorb so much information and is there a time limit on it, for example to prepare for an exam/s or are you just persuing knowedge for knowledge's sake?

I simply seek knowledge and understanding. I do this to better myself and those around me. I may have lost sight of the importance of simple awareness, but I do strive for peace within myself above all other things.

I have a lot of anger about a lot of things, one of them being the fact that I am not omniscient. That's not to say that I want to know everything, but I do always want to know more. And it feels as though I will never know more than I do presently. I may learn new information, but my ability to process and store information is at a peak... or so it would seem.

Think of ways you have not yet tried. I recently found out that throwing yourself in a situation you want nothing and know nothing about can teach you a lot. Try learning a new culture. Try understand why someone else feels a way that you feel is very wrong. If you havnt already, which I'm sure you have.. Its just, I find it difficult to believe that you've done all you can to learn. For instance, whens the last time you went to a farm and lived a very simple life? Or whens the last time you were in grave danger?

so long as you drink of this cup, you will never grow full.

Wyote,
Im happy to assure you from my own experiences, that you probably aren't going to be at the same level of intellect or mental processing forever.

At exactly around your age I felt the same. Id taken up Tai Chi and really gotten deeply into the philosophy behind it. And I felt that even at the age of 21 I had begun too late to achieve all the things and explore all the possibilities that that martial art had to offer.

I felt even if I lived to be 1000, I would never be able to get where I wanted.

This seemed to cross over into other things in my life at the time too, and I came up with the concept: The more I know, the more I realise just how little I know.

I became aware for the first time; there is just so much out there in the world, that one human being in one lifetime just cannot get it all in. You cannot experience everything. You cannot learn everything. You cannot theorise and philosophise and know everything.

I actually wonder if we as humans aren't experiencing and learning all these things separately so that it can all be assimilated into some eternal ethereal higher consciousness.

Maybe that is the mind of God, who sees all and knows all...

And all our lives and our thoughts and experiences and decisions aren't the universal equivalent of neurons firing in a brain.

(I feel there is more to that idea, which Im working on. Someone remind me to write more on that theory. See, there is just so much to think and learn and know and work out. )

But you can be assured that your level of intelect should change if you are a thinking person.

I myself, at your age could not have come to this site and held the same conversations I do now. I was intelligent for my age, but just no where near what you younger guys are.

I have changed so much from the way I thought in my early twenties to become the kind of thinker I am now.

It is also one of the things that gives me hope for the future. That each generation learns things faster and becomes just that little bit more sophisticated.

And this is what you have to accept. You will never have all the answers. But you can learn and experience what you can in your lifetime and pass it on. And those that come after you (the ones that actually think.) will be saying what you are saying- but maybe at the age of 15, instead 23.

There is no end to numbers. Think of the largest number you know of and now add one to it. Similarly there is no end to the amount of knowledge you can attain. Think of all the knowledge you have and now add one more thing to it. Perhaps wyote you have just learned all the things you have wanted to learn?

I am currently a student at the University of Phoenix Online. If you want to learn, what better way than to go to school? Online you can go to class any time day or night. Why not do something constructive, and if you want to learn...go to school. Right?

Jesus I think the University of Phoenix is stalking me.

I might be searching for an answer here that doesn't necessarily exist.

Academic study at any age I think is a good thing. The Open University has taught me a lot and I love the summer schools. However you don't have to formally study. Just read and read some more. if in doubt pick up a book!

I go through stages of what I read depending on my mood. I might pick up a Steven King novel and then that's all I'll read for months. At the moment though I'm reading "Gilgamesh - A new English version by Stephen Mitchell" I must be going through a Mesopotamian, Sumerian, legend phase!

Higher learning is a complete waist of time. Spend 4-10 years of life in a classroom, for what? So you can put on a pc of paper that you learned of to re-geratate (spelling wayyy off) information on the spot.

No thanks, to me higher learning has to do with you teaching yourself lessons.