Can one study too much?

Discussion of the nature of Ultimate Reality and the path to Enlightenment.
burnout
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Can one study too much?

Post by burnout »

Is it possible to study too much? In other words, can studying in large quantities day after day be too much on the brain, just like overtraining?
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Dan Rowden
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Dan Rowden »

burnout wrote:Is it possible to study too much? In other words, can studying in large quantities day after day be too much on the brain, just like overtraining?
Absolutely. There is no question of this, especially if what you are studying is not what you really love and desire.
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jupiviv
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by jupiviv »

I find it impossible to study much of anything at all, because my own mind is too active. I never got good marks in school because I could never set my mind on the things I read. Whenever I started reading something, I would start to think about the things written in those books outside the context of those books. For example, when I read about thermodynamics, I thought about whether there are other universes which could destabilise the balance of energy in this one, and how that situation would be like.

Also, I am extremely lazy.

From Schopenhauer's essay "On reading and books":

When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process. It is the same as the pupil, in learning to write, following with his pen the lines that have been pencilled by the teacher. Accordingly, in reading, the work of thinking is, for the greater part, done for us. This is why we are consciously relieved when we turn to reading after being occupied with our own thoughts. But, in reading, our head is, however, really only the arena of some one else’s thoughts. And so it happens that the person who reads a great deal — that is to say, almost the whole day, and recreates himself by spending the intervals in thoughtless diversion, gradually loses the ability to think for himself; just as a man who is always riding at last forgets how to walk. Such, however, is the case with many men of learning: they have read themselves stupid. For to read in every spare moment, and to read constantly, is more paralysing to the mind than constant manual work, which, at any rate, allows one to follow one’s own thoughts.
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Ryan Rudolph
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Ryan Rudolph »

yes, attempting to retain a large amount of knowledge too quickly is like grinding the gears on a bicycle with very little grease. End result: The bike jams up, and you fly off.
Animus
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Animus »

Reading for the sake of reading and not studying isn't going to tax someone too much. You could read through a whole book and not really know what you've read while entertaining your own thoughts in addition. Or at least I do this all the time, I have to frequently reread large portions of text because although my eyes have been processing and the narrative voice is active, my focus is on other processes. I've found that "studying" can be extremely hard or extremely easy and it really seems to depend on what attitude is taken toward the process.

I have started to read books and found shortly into it that I probably wasn't going to agree with the author, which makes it difficult to actually read. Its like when I see a post by someone and it sounds like they are out to lunch, I have a tendency to want to respond to them without finishing reading what they wrote, and even if I read all of what they wrote, I have a tendency to not really process it. But I've been able to turn this completely around and thoroughly enjoy reading material I thought was completely wrong. Now, I still avoid reading such material to begin with, but its something that isn't necessarily right.

There are other kinds of reading too. I find it easier to read journal papers on psychology, or a psychology textbook, than to read neuroscience or something. Some subjects require more mental output to wrap my head around. So what I do is mix up what it is I'm studying. I only study one subject to the point that I'm at my threshold and then move onto something else. I might go back to inquire further into the subject, but for a short time I will avoid it.
cousinbasil
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by cousinbasil »

The original question is can one study too much, which for me at least is not the same as reading. I often read without studying, and one can study yet not be reading at all.

You can definitely study too much. You study to retain, or develop in a certain area. If you are not developing, you may be studying too much and not assimilating. In college, for instance, I felt material was being forced down my throat and pulled out of my ass before I had a chance to digest much of it. I thus learned an invaluable skill: how to bullshit. It is often all that is required of you.

Can one learn too much?
Gurrb
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Gurrb »

my iq and marks in school do not correlate. i am not interested in the subject matter in school, and get distracted too easily when trying to retain this information. i see studying and prosaic tasks as being a waste of time. i'd rather be happy in a medium-paying job than to be miserable in a high-paying job. the world is to be explored, and a book cannot help you truly achieve this. reminds me of the dialogue between will hunting and sean. all the reading and knowledge can only do so much if you haven't truly experienced it.

better to burn out than to fade away.
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Blair
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Blair »

Sounds like a classic case of ADD, chump.

Get off the drugs and go back to school. Learn how to capitalize and use correct punctuation, then you won't come across as such a half-witted, uneducated deadbeat.
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Kelly Jones
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Kelly Jones »

Gurrb may have ADHD, or he may be one of the many intelligent blokes who realise that schools these days don't make room for thinking, because they are little more than factories for standardising worker-ant levels of education.


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Blair
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Blair »

Maybe so, Kelly...

I personally have never taken anyone even remotely seriously if they can't abide by the basic rules of english grammar, such as not bothering to capitalize an I. Call me old-fashioned.
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Kelly Jones
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Kelly Jones »

Well, sometimes there are good reasons, and sometimes psychological reasons, for not sticking to grammar rules.

An acquaintance of mine never capitalises "I" to help destroy egotism.

Bukowski only rarely uses a capital I, and breaks many rules. But it seems quite appropriate, psychologically. One of his poems goes:


As
the
form
appears
the
spirit
wanes.


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Anders Schlander
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Anders Schlander »

Kelly Jones wrote:Gurrb may have ADHD, or he may be one of the many intelligent blokes who realise that schools these days don't make room for thinking, because they are little more than factories for standardising worker-ant levels of education.


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The ladder sounds likely, it was the same with me, if i had to sum it up, school is great for 'go with the flow people', and not with free-spirits. Bureacracy is not much for freedom and creativity. A person wrote this on the wall at school: "Only dead fish go with the flow", to that I would add: , but the others go upstream"



Prince, danish does not use capital I to address oneself. It happens that I miss it simply because I'm not used to it, funnily enough, danish people are usually always saying to themselves that they shouldn't feel important. It's being modest as a form of cowardice, the 'me' is not as important as the 'us'. The unwritten social rule is not to act big-shot, but this is just a social law that protects people from responsibility.




I empathize with Gurrb on his outlook at school. The last thing I'd want to do was fade away into nothingness, even if being conscious has it's pains, I'd rather be able to discriminate with my own mind instead of being a complete puppet.
cousinbasil
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by cousinbasil »

Gurrb wrote: i'd rather be happy in a medium-paying job than to be miserable in a high-paying job. the world is to be explored, and a book cannot help you truly achieve this.
Which book are you talking about?

No matter, you won't have to worry about either kind of job with an attitude such as that.

Imagine trying to explain to potential employers why they should hire you even though you cannot be bothered learning anything.
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Kelly Jones
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Kelly Jones »

Gurrb wrote:the world is to be explored
cousinbasil wrote:you cannot be bothered learning anything
Gurrb's aspiration to explore the world directly and firsthand, rather than through the perspectives and traditions passed on by others, is "cannot be bothered learning anything" ? I would have thought that was the more intelligent way to learn.


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Diebert van Rhijn
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Diebert van Rhijn »

Gurrb wrote:i am not interested in the subject matter in school, and get distracted too easily when trying to retain this information
This is the common reaction I get from teenagers attending school. It's in itself not evidence of IQ or cognitive distance! In my opinion a sign of being really smart would be to suck it up for a while waiting for the right time to follow your own directions in life. For all you know you might not be able yet to face an out-of-school life with the demands and responsibilities that come with it. Mediocre jobs might be more tedious than you think. Or at least you should not idealize it too much. And some well-paying jobs might be way more challenging and satisfying to your mind, full of the worldly experience you crave, more than you realize right now. But they might require some basic schooling as evidence for your ability to do any boring groundwork when required.

And there are also schools out here which follow different, more flexible educational methods which might suite you better.
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by jufa »

How can such a statement"
"can one study too much?"
ever be a valid point of discussion culminating in yes or no when just the continuum of moment of moment of moment is the study of living and adapting to circumstance, situations, and conditions?

Never give power to anything a person belives is their source of strength - jufa

http://www.theillusionofgod.com
cousinbasil
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by cousinbasil »

Kelly Jones wrote:Gurrb's aspiration to explore the world directly and firsthand, rather than through the perspectives and traditions passed on by others, is "cannot be bothered learning anything" ? I would have thought that was the more intelligent way to learn.
This is pure nonsense. You are saying we should all invent the wheel and discover fire?
A school situation is an attempt to cull the important learning from others to date and impart it. If you truly believe your objection which I have quoted, you are a blockhead.

Do not encourage a young mind to eschew reading a book, simply because it is the perspective of someone else. You cannot learn which books are useful and which are not without reading a good deal of them, and having someone who acts in the teacher's role is vital.

The next time I undergo neurosurgery, I plan to avoid any self-taught physicians.
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Kelly Jones
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Kelly Jones »

Relax, cousinbasil. I have nothing against books. All I meant to convey was the importance of thinking, not simply absorbing gullibly.

Books from the last millenia clearly show that much human knowledge has changed --- and yet this knowledge is written. So published literature doesn't necessitate reliability. Isn't the need for personal scrutiny blatantly obvious? That's all I'm trying to point out.


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jufa
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by jufa »

The advise give herein this thread is essential to the ways of our living in the sense all ascribe to finding security in the work place, or physical body. And I've found regardless whether one receives an education herein attested to, the reality of living in this world is that life itself will never strand an individual who seek betterment for himself, and hopefully others.

The crux of education certainly is in the retaining of that which one is taught, but then, I've found the reality of education is not so much in the retaining but having the ability to apply that learned in the arena not of the field one is educated in, but in all walks of living one enters. Example, what would a masters degree do in the world of being a junkie, or addict to sex, etc., etc.?

In the final analysis, the question and answer one seeks has been presented to them before the dilemma of the moment arose, for all have entered this world with a desire upon their soul/Spirit which supersede anything the human mind presents, the universe is structured this way. I am saying I have found each and every individual enters this world with a impulse, or outlook of achievement far beyond that which the world offers. And should that impulse be followed obediently, through education, or common sense living and application, those things of the world will be added to ones life in righteousness, peace, and love.

To follow one bliss is to do what is right, not what is expected.

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Never give power to anything a person believe is their source of strength - Jufa
Gurrb
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Gurrb »

before you jump to conclusions, i would find it to be quite hypocritical of my statement of freedom from education if i were to abide by the standard grammar rules. i type, and you understand; regardless of capitalization techniques. i am not devoid of education, i just feel its importance to be exaggerated in today's society. you've misunderstood me; i did not say i have given up on education. i had an 'a' average in university, but my iq would allow me to achieve a near perfect average if the dedication and lack of unique thoughts were prevailing. do i want to be trapped in a job i don't enjoy? kelly, you seem to understand my viewpoint. why read about a flower and its fragrance, when you can go outside and *experience* it?

i choose not to be another person in the sea of people, but rather my own individual.
Gurrb
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Gurrb »

the questions you need to ask yourself a: would you rather read about past geniuses and innovators, or be one yourself? would you rather read of love, or be in love? would you rather know of all about past philosophers, physicists, mathematicians, and so forth, or would you rather know all about you?

i don't have add. an active mind appears to be distracted, but it is merely focused on something else. as a child, i was labelled as intellectually gifted, won math contests, chess tournaments, spelling bees, but despite these educational achievements, i didn't excel in school. i'd much rather be outside or doing something else, rather than learning simple things i already knew. call me old-fashioned, but i think happiness is something worth pursuing.
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Diebert van Rhijn
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Diebert van Rhijn »

Gurrb wrote:as a child, i was labelled as intellectually gifted, won math contests, chess tournaments, spelling bees, but despite these educational achievements, i didn't excel in school. i'd much rather be outside or doing something else, rather than learning simple things i already knew. call me old-fashioned, but i think happiness is something worth pursuing.
Then why are you here on this particular forum which is about pursuing something else entirely? Happiness is easy. The challenge is to be able to reason freely while not being crushed by the weight of the consequences.
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Kelly Jones
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Kelly Jones »

Gurrb, your post reminded me of this gem from Diogenes:


"Very few of Diogenes' disciples had the physical and mental stamina to become cynics. One in particular left the circle, but not before entreating Diogenes to give him one of his books. "You really are a silly fellow," said Diogenes. "Surely you wouldn't have painted figs instead of real ones. And yet you pass over the genuine practice of wisdom and would be satisfied with what is merely written." "

i think happiness is something worth pursuing.
What about wisdom?

And perhaps you might share your thoughts on marriage and relationships. For instance, does an emotional relationship sound to you like "petty squabbles with a bag of blood and guts", or "the sound of harps playing over a golden background of stars and sunsets"?


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Gurrb
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Gurrb »

i believe relationships are a necessity for happiness. we cannot truly feel happy until we identify ourselves, until we see ourselves in someone else. love is the truest form of happiness. very few things, if any, compare to the importance of love in a life.
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Kelly Jones
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Re: Can one study too much?

Post by Kelly Jones »

Does love compare to truth, in terms of things that are the most importance in life? Which comes first for you?

And if truth doesn't come first, wouldn't that mean you're not telling the truth about the importance of love and happiness........


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