Learning Spirals and the Craft of Writing

Collage by J. Outram

Lesson #7

Consider:

To conclude unit one we will explore the nature of learning. What is learning? How do you define learning? How do you know if you are learning? Is there a difference between the act of learning to write and the act of writing?

For the last fifteen years I have been learning to write and I have been writing.  Learning moves through our lives like a spiral. Learning winds its way through our subconscious. Learning spins our thoughts in different directions. Learning tiptoes up the spiral staircase of our beings or flies up into the gravitational pull of a life-changing twister. Learning happens whether we are aware of it or not.

Mary Catherine Bateson introduced me to the idea of learning as a spiral. In Peripheral Visions, Bateson demonstrates how learning moves through themes. We move through lessons, we pick up from them what we need, we move on, and then loop back to the theme in another ring of the spiral to deepen our learning. Continue reading →