Analogous Learning

Analogous learning is the way that we use the reference of one learning experience to enhance our perspective and navigation of the next learning experience.  It’s the most basic way we build experience, by relating one thing to another.  Analogies themselves are the way that we attempt to convey something that another person has no or very little reference points for.  Analogous learning is the accumulation of reference points. It is the learning about learning that is done with each new experience and the building of a general understanding or feel for various aspects of life.

A benefit of understanding this concept is that it creates a freedom for motivation, experimentation, and playfulness in our attitude and actions towards learning pursuits and opportunities.  By being mindful and/or conscientious about the process of analogous learning, the value of a reference point in addition to the multitude of benefits incurred in any type of experience, it becomes less important what we learn and more important that we keep learning and appreciating.  We learn as much from our failures as our successes and nothing is truly esoteric.  This enables us to follow our inspirations and motivation without judgement on value or chances of success.  Removing the pressure in-turn allows us to have a more lighthearted and playful attitude about our learning and experiences.  Learning and experience are all about relationships.  Whether relationships with other people, animals, physical objects, places, ideas, ideals, our bodies, ourselves, or our God/sense of meaning; all have some commonality and speak to our sense of meaning and joy in life.