Learning - The Learning Ability

The learned is not the one who has learned a lot but actually the one who has learnt the ability to learn, unlearn and learn back again. How do you gain such an ability? Is it god-gifted or can you actually learn it starting fresh and ultimately become an expert?

I know more than few people who are prodigiously good at what they can do and that too without any formal education. These few people are either brilliant researchers or have such an amazing mind that they are able to grasp the complex of concepts within a blink of an eye.

We all think -- but most never analyse our thinking process. Why do we assume, perceive, take, mind, view and even idealise things as we do? Yes culture, peers, society, knowledge and education plays its part but in the end all this adds into our own thinking and we come to a certain liking, disliking, opinion and conclusion.

Let's take an example of one of my friends. She would shop or eat from a place where everyone is shopping or eating. The sole reason being, masses cannot be wrong. When this friend buys an eatable from some not so famous place -- she would start complaining about the taste, quality, quantity etc.

We are learning constantly amazingly even when we are taking a nap. It is nearly impossible not to learn even if you are trying not to learn. Learning is easy -- but unlearning what we have already learnt and learning a totally new concept over it is pretty hard.

If we can unlearn our notions and develop new notions over them then we can be classified as learned in real sense. How can you achieve such learning ability? It is not simple but you can try by being open-minded, ready to challenge your norms, accept being wrong, ready to being corrected, ask others for help and lastly but more importantly never becoming an expert.