Adoption

Adoption is a very user-friendly word!
The problem rarely arises, and only when the purpose of adoption back-fires (in one or many ways!). The title to this post finds some justification only at the end of this post, and I chose to restrict any further elaboration, than a mere indicative reference, only because it might hurt people at most inconvenient places!

I thank my good friends for their kind response, to my post on “Unlearning”.
Since the responses were a bit personalized, I would like to quote just the relevant text of their queries, omitting personal name references etc, for which, I have to ‘assume’ their kind permission (or, please try to find a way to pardon me!).
In brief, their responses were: (quote)
1) Does (the writer) ,mean "Unlearning" (which means "not learning" ) or"delearning" (which means forgetting, taking off from our minds, whatever wehave learnt) ? I think we should go through a process of delearning the things we have learnt all these years, and which are of no use to us any more, and give room in our grey cells to learn new things which could be of use to us, and help us to advance spiritually.It is a known fact and my experience too that whatever we learn will beuseful to us some day or the other in our life, but once the usefulness isover and the purpose has been served, it automatically goes out of themind. But who decides whether the usefulness is over or not? Only He cantell. That is why we say that they stay as "Vasanas" in our mind and staywith us for ever, whether we like it or not.It is important that we keep the minds full and occupied so that 1) theydont turn devil's workshops or 2) we dont fall victims to Alzheimer's orsomething similar to that. The mind of the senior citizen should always bekept full and actively employed. This is the reason why I took up theNarayaneeyam commentary as my retirement hobby. It has helped me to get outof my depression and turn spiritual.

2) The word "exaptation" refers to the idea whereby an innovationin one field leads unexpectedly to another innovation. To betterunderstand the idea, consider Gutenberg's printing press--itcombined ink, paper, moveable type and, surprisingly, the machinery ofthe wine press.It is impossible to predict the future but I do think we can stay onestep ahead by incorporating the idea of exaptation into our thinking.For example, let's consider how new advances in material science andnanotechnology might soon combine with continued advances insupercomputing, open-source software design and rapid prototypemanufacturing (3D printing). The result could be a new revolution inmanufacturing, perhaps, one even as big as the revolution caused by theprinting press.I don't know what exactly exaptation will bring about but I do knowit will require adaptation-- and unlearning.The Future Will Require UnlearningLet's start 'Helping Businesses of 'Unlearn'!
(Unquote).

My reply to the responses:
As a kid, I happened to ask elders as to why the books are kept 'closed' for 2 to 3 days, and we children are disallowed to 'read' our school lessons. Not that I 'expected' any credible answer, but, I wanted to 'leave no stone unturned'. Anyway, that was just a kid-story. Later, when I knew, that we have to 'seek' for ourselves, to really grasp the significance of any ritual prescribed, all by ourselves, I kept the question alive in me. Please see, almost all of such rituals carry no logical or tangible explanation. Personally, I felt that something coming down from centuries would not have been without any significance. It is difficult to communicate the significance even though we may be fortunate to have a glimpse of it. All we can do is persuade with some kind of indicative reference.
I fully agree that keeping the mind engaged with some activity helps us. But, spiritual growth depends upon evolving a bit further. We have to 'do what ever it takes', to silence the mind as much as possible, even in utter inactivity! We find traces of "aghora Yoga" being practised even today, especially in north India, towards this end.
"delearning" is also to be looked at as 'consciously' choosing to avoid needless reference to what we learnt, to be able to become more creative, more visualisation-capable, when situation permits. It is not about forgetting. Expansion of mind (the intuitive capability to evolve) would be more conducive to happen when we are able to keep aside for a while what we learnt to do instinctively. Modern 'management' teachers try to persuade that 'out of box' thinking, lateral thinking etc. A cluttered mind cannot hope to make it happen better.
I admire the contribution about the word, “exaptation” (‘There is future and in unlearning’) in this direction.
(Basically, our tendency to look at a suggestion is “How can I adopt it into what I have”! Sometimes, it is also worth trying to look at it as “How can I adopt myself, into what it has”. This calls for more flexibility, obviously.)
Thanks and regards,
PSN(19th October, 2010)