No, lots of us enjoy learning. However, we have to take so much boring crap in school, that it sort of trains us to hate learning.

mentat_kgs wrote:

Everybody loves to learn. That's why TV works so well. TV is a constant input of useless information.

Even with the "useless" qualifier I think you're being too generous. Is there any information useless or otherwise transmitted during your average reality tv show? (Other than "there is no hope for humanity")

kazelee wrote:

The uncenteredness, the slight feeling of chaos, I love it.

Yeah but I can only handle so much before I black myself out... The way you're putting it, studying is in a way masochistic, but in this sense you spend all day scarring your brain, not your body.

Jarvik7 wrote:

mentat_kgs wrote:

Everybody loves to learn. That's why TV works so well. TV is a constant input of useless information.

Even with the "useless" qualifier I think you're being too generous. Is there any information useless or otherwise transmitted during your average reality tv show? (Other than "there is no hope for humanity")

Yes?
Information is information and taking it in is learning. You may just be learning about fake over acted lives of jerk-asses, but you're still learning something. So, the worthless qualifier was just fine. No need for your attitude.

revenantkioku wrote:

Information is information and taking it in is learning. You may just be learning about fake over acted lives of jerk-asses, but you're still learning something. So, the worthless qualifier was just fine. No need for your attitude.

Attitude? Damn some people here are sensitive.

The time I learned something is the time I got bored of it.

Precisely, ファブリス, TV teaches you not to try harder, not to chalenge yourself and not to ask questions. People learn it well.

ファブリス wrote:

I think you can get a high from being just in the moment, which happen eventually when you actively put your attention to something.[

I think so too. And the 'something' on which we're concentrating seems to matter less than the simple act of concentration. On this point is an interesting book "Flow: The Pyschology of Optimal Experience" by Csikszentmihalyi.  The NY Times Book Review offered this blurb: "Flow is important...The way to happiness lies not in mindless hedonism, but in  mindful challenge."  Added bonus if the activity, unlike crossword puzzles, has a social benefit.

The exhilaration of playing with ideas ... and the potential benefits. In a chapter on Flow of thought, he discusses how people who have an internalized symbol system (math, poetry, music, RTK? etc) can be, in a sense, independent of external stimulation. Such mental playgrounds have even been a means of survival in cases of extreme deprivation (eg. concentration camps, isolation). He suggests also that people without it can be too easily captives of the media. The idea is that we are in control of creating order out of what would otherwise be mental randomness (or an externally imposed order).

Taken to extremes, however, I suppose becoming too absorbed in anything can be another form of pleasurable reward and distraction from reality not unlike other forms of addiction. Balance.

[corrected author]

Last edited by Thora (2009 January 29, 5:07 am)

mentat_kgs wrote:

The time I learned something is the time I got bored of it.

That's deep, and so true.  I love it.

As for the original question...  No, it's not 'weird'.  Everyone loves to learn something, especially when it makes them feel smart for having learned it.

Japanese is hard.  Every step is an accomplishment.  Heck, learning -any- second language is hard.  Japanese just has more steps than some other languages.

I get that 'high' when I use the knowledge, rather than when I'm studying, though.  (There's an 'aftershock' the next time I study, though.)  When I'm watching an anime and suddenly can read a sign in the background that I never could before, I get a jolt of energy.  The next time I'm studying, some of that energy comes back and helps me study a bit harder, or longer.

I love learning Japanese.

Wisher wrote:

It is a good feeling.  I have jokingly said, "When some people get depressed, they drink, smoke, or do drugs to feel better.  Me, I go and learn something."

I wish I felt this way in High School, but I only get high when I learn something I like. This Kanji thing has me giddy. I almost to feel bad that in the next 3 months, I would have learned all of the them. 

Well, not to bad since there is RTK 2 and 3.  That will buy me sometime until I need another "fix". Mabey I will learn Mandarin next.

Learning to recognize the kanji is only a small percentile on your way to learning japanese, so I wouldn't worry about finishing Heisig... if you're going to use the sentence method to learn japanese, you can have years of awesome learning ahead of you

That doesn't stop you from starting Mandarin as well though! ^^

I agree with liosama. If you like learning that much, come to grad school. We get paid to learn (at least in the sciences)! I.e., we're professional learners and we create our own brand new knowledge. Very rewarding, but it's probably the hardest learning challenge of your life ;-)