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Learn How to Exist Without Learning

For all of April, I’m going wordless for the A to Z Challenge.

The title of each post is a phrase/ sentence that inspires me as a
writer, and below is a picture I think best embodies it. In the
comments, I invite you to discuss what the phrase means to you, as a person, a
reader, or whatever other role you might choose for yourself in life.

Learn How to Exist Without Learning: Image via Anita Peppers
Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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32 Comments

  • Stopping by from the #atozchallenge !
    @JLenniDorner

    A very interesting phrase there. Quite a conundrum.

    Thank you for stopping by my blog. I replied to your comment.

  • mysay.in says:

    exist without learning !! wow ! the pic justifies the statement … its gr8 to scribble without knowing how to write..ur free..learning is a better process if it happens with experience … on its own .. !!

  • Kristen Dyrr says:

    I love to learn; it's one of my favorite things to do. I think even the most silent, solitary moment can have some amount of learning in it. Almost everything we do involves some form of learning. I don't know, I think I have to just disagree with this one.

    #atozchallenge, Kristen's blog: kristenhead.blogspot.com

  • I love the picture. It is thought provoking.

  • baltic4 says:

    freedom, no regulations to adhere to, thinking outside the adult box.

  • I love that image. I'm not sure about the title–might need to reflect on that a bit more.

  • Love the concentration on that child's face.

  • A love of learning is one of the things I hope to pass on to my children. It's so important.

  • TaMara Sloan says:

    I don't think it's possible. I learn something all the time. It may not always be book knowledge, but I learn about people just through living life and interacting with others.

    TaMara
    Tales of a Pee Dee Mama

  • dayya says:

    My first thought when I read the phrase: take in experiences, filter them through who you are, and listen to the wisdom of your heart. Great, thought-provoking post.

  • How is that possible? You would have to wear blinders, dull all your senses, not talk to anyone or read. Sounds like a zombie or you're six feet under. Pretty photo.

  • I think there are people who purposely don't want their worldview changed, and go through trouble not to read or watch anything that will change it. There are people who never travel, never read fiction. It's not that they don't learn anything, but they don't learn much.

  • Tracy Jo says:

    The first thing I thought of when I read the sentence was trusting my gut & not listening to what society has taught me. To go and move with the flow of where life takes me. I love how this made me think and the picture is awesome!

  • Trisha F says:

    Great pic! It seems that this way of existing comes more naturally to children.

  • I hope you are okay, love the picture and as alway, thought provoking.

  • Erick Farish says:

    Learning about life without living every once and a while would be an awful waste of learning!

    Erick @ A Brief Sinfonia: Loving You're Wife From A-Z

  • klahanie says:

    Art be the passion of the mind of a child.

  • Andrea says:

    LOVE that picture!

  • Sumita Pai says:

    This is eerie. The picture is almost a reflection of my L post! Was about to say it is not possible vis-a-vis your title, but an article I read a couple of days ago probably shows that it is possible indeed to learn to live without learning. All the kids and people afflicted with various disabilities probably stop learning and growing, yet they continue to exist. It is another matter that they are a source of great inspiration and learning to those around them.

    Four Leaf Clover

  • Love this! Children do this so well. We need to remember to do it as adults.

  • sassyspeaks says:

    I suppose the only people who stop learning are either very boring or very ignorant or both

  • Amy says:

    Hmm.. not sure that is possible. To exist requires a minimum of learning for sheer survival. So much learning has already taken place by the child in this photo and she is continuing to learn through her own experimentation. Thanks for the mental exercise and fore visiting earlier. Hope your back is doing better. 🙂

  • Susan Scott says:

    I see the child utterly absorbed in her doodling as she learns how the pen makes form out of her imagination. She discovers that she make something of her own making and thus learns ability.
    Thank you! This was interesting!

    Susan Scott's Soul Stuff

  • Learn how to exist without learning? Ugh. I don't want to be one of those that tune into Fox News everyday thank you. Pass.

  • Robin says:

    I don't think it's possible to exist without learning. Everything we experience, see, touch, smell, teaches us something.

  • M Pax says:

    Learning is mind food. I don't think I could do without it. I think I'd wither. I read Scientific American or Sky & Telescope w/ my breakfast every morning. And one of the things I love about writing is I get to keep learning.

  • Mary Rack says:

    Writing as a parent, grandparent, great grandparent and sometimes writer: To me this represents the essence of life, discovery without purpose. It's openness to the moment with naked appreciation and no need to understand.
    Mary at Mary A to Z

  • LinWash says:

    It's hard to respond in kind without words. But I really love that image.

  • How to exist without learning. Hmmm. . .. I think what it means to me is that you figure life out on your own without the guidance of others. Which I'm not sure is possible. After all, when we interact with others, it's an opportunity to observe their lives and what works for them — or not — and to determine if the qualities observed would work in our own lives. To exist without learning is to live in a vacuum.

    Thanks for the thought-provoking sentence! 🙂

    -Melia Alexander
    http://meliaalexander.com

  • Jo says:

    Don't think its possible. Love the picture.

    JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE

  • What a lovely picture, the concentration on the little one's face – totally absorbed. It makes me think, can we actually exist without learning? Life is a journey of discovery, each day can bring something new.

  • DL Hammons says:

    Honestly….I can't. 🙂