Thoughts About Learning

Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again.   - 3 Nephi 17:3

I really enjoy this verse for a reason that I can't quite explain.  Maybe it's because it tells us how to learn spiritual things.  Maybe this is just the learning process.  First of all, we go to church, go to class, or in the case of the Nephites, listen to the words of Christ from Christ himself.  There has to be information conveyed.  In this case it's Christ's doctrine to the Nephites.

The second step is pondering what was taught.  I find it significant that Christ tells the people to return to their homes before he counsels them to ponder His words.  There is something about studying in our homes, during our own personal time, that shows we are willing to incorporate this into our lives and are willing to sacrifice in order to understand it.  to some extent, I think this is the role that homework plays in the classical learning experience.

He then tells us that we must pray and ask the Father for understanding.  This is becomeing a patttern I see more and more in the scriptures - ask for direction and heavenly guidance, then do the best you know how until that direction comes.  Heavenly Father wants to help us, but giving us the answers to the test with effort on our part isn't helping us.  It actually keeps us from learning.

The final step in this process is to prepare ourselves to receive more knowledge the next day.  i think that in both gospel learning and secular learning, this includes writing down or making note of the things you feel you need help understanding.  It means taking care of things that could keep you from getting to church, or from reading your scriptures.  It means cleaning up any sins that may impede you from fully feeling the Spirit teaching you.  If our minds are not open to new knowledge and at least the information from yesterday is true, even if we don't understand it completely, we won't be mentally capable of moving on and learning the next day's material.  It's so interesting how the Book of Mormon, under the guidance of the Spirit, can teach you anything, even how to learn, if that's what you need at the moment.

Other scriptures related to this verse:

D&C 11:22
Isaiah 34:16
John 5:39
2 Nephi 31:20