The pleasures of learning
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, The title of my speech is the pleasures of learning.
Do you feel delighted when bathing in the morning sunshine?
Do you rejoice when walking through shelves of books in the library?
Do you feel ecstatic when exploring a new subject unexpectedly?
If the answer is yes, you tasted the pleasures of learning. Learning is not only from books, but also from nature. As what is said by Bloomfield “The fields his study, nature was his book.” Natural beauty is an all-pervading presence. It unfolds into the numberless flowers of spring. It waves in the branches of trees and the green blades of grass. Learning from nature means opening the mind and being active to achieve all kinds of experiences. Admittedly, in most cases, we are faced with piles of books. If you choose to be a bookworm, what a pity! The books are not lumps of lifeless paper, but minds. So by opening one of these volumes, it is like starting a miraculously journey, talking to a wise man far from time and space, hearing it mind to mind, heart to heart. But why are we still sometimes in want of passion? Is it because we are getting older? No, the chief danger confronting us is not age. Age is a state of mind, if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. What threatens the pleasures of learning is laziness, routine, and stupidity –seeping into our blood like venom.
The best way to overcome obstacles is to enlarge your interests. On each holiday I would play the piano to hear the tranquil melody. That was a constant gaiety. Aesthetics, rhythm, and symmetry all exist in a delicate balance. Then bit by bit the walls of ego recede and personal life becomes increasingly emerged in the universal life. More inspiringly, the mortal can be sublimed to eternity.
As Thoreau said, “I was rich, if not in money, in sunny hours and summer days.” We don’t have much, but we own exactly what we want. Life is as short as morning dew, there is no time for us to be trapped in trifles.
Do you feel delighted when bathing in the morning sunshine?
Do you rejoice when walking through shelves of books in the library?
Do you feel ecstatic when exploring a new subject unexpectedly?
If the answer is yes, you tasted the pleasures of learning. Learning is not only from books, but also from nature. As what is said by Bloomfield “The fields his study, nature was his book.” Natural beauty is an all-pervading presence. It unfolds into the numberless flowers of spring. It waves in the branches of trees and the green blades of grass. Learning from nature means opening the mind and being active to achieve all kinds of experiences. Admittedly, in most cases, we are faced with piles of books. If you choose to be a bookworm, what a pity! The books are not lumps of lifeless paper, but minds. So by opening one of these volumes, it is like starting a miraculously journey, talking to a wise man far from time and space, hearing it mind to mind, heart to heart. But why are we still sometimes in want of passion? Is it because we are getting older? No, the chief danger confronting us is not age. Age is a state of mind, if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. What threatens the pleasures of learning is laziness, routine, and stupidity –seeping into our blood like venom.
The best way to overcome obstacles is to enlarge your interests. On each holiday I would play the piano to hear the tranquil melody. That was a constant gaiety. Aesthetics, rhythm, and symmetry all exist in a delicate balance. Then bit by bit the walls of ego recede and personal life becomes increasingly emerged in the universal life. More inspiringly, the mortal can be sublimed to eternity.
As Thoreau said, “I was rich, if not in money, in sunny hours and summer days.” We don’t have much, but we own exactly what we want. Life is as short as morning dew, there is no time for us to be trapped in trifles.