Unlearning To Learn -Discarding Old Knowledge For New

On my way home from school one day, I saw a woman running with an unconscious child in her arms. Behind her, running with equal purpose was another woman holding a wooden mortar. And ahead of both women was a man, screaming for both women to hurry up. The second woman fervently called to the first, “sister slow down and touch the mortar. Slow down!” The first woman did slow down and touch the mortar with the unconscious child, and then she continued.

I was confused and greatly saddened. I thought the child was dead. Why isn’t the man who was obviously strong and faster, not helping with the child? But why was it so important for her to touch a mortar with a dead child? Mortars are used for pounding, grinding, crushing!

Unauthenticated Knowledge; Learning To Unlearn

I hurried home and asked my mother.

“Why do they touch dead children with mortars?

“They’re not dead children. They’re unconscious.”

“But why do they have to touch a mortar? What does that do for them?”

“When a child has seizures or is unconscious, a woman has to carry the child close to the heart, to keep them from crossing over to the dead. A mother’s heart and touch will keep the child from wandering into the deep, that is why women always carry them.” My mother said.

“That makes sense. But what about the mortar?” I asked.

“It has a spiritual meaning.” She said.

“What does that do spiritually?” I pressed.

“Stop asking questions about that abomination before you bring it on us. Go change and come eat.”

End of discussion.

I didn’t ask anymore questions about convulsions and seizures. As my mother had clearly indicated, talking about it would magically transfer the seizures to our household and I wanted no parts of it. Even if it wasn’t death, unconscious didn’t look fun to me. And so anytime I saw another child on a woman’s bosom being carried hurriedly away, I’d conjure images in my mind of how the woman’s heartbeat restrained the child from descending into hades. And how the touch of a mortar reminded the poor child how palatable fufu and peanut butter soup was. “Come on home dear child, Mama is here and good food is in abundant supply. Do not go to the dead.”

Learn To Unlearn

I learned in high school that the frequent seizures I had witnessed in my peers was much likely a result of unmanaged malaria. It wasn’t an abomination, not spiritual, but bad old malaria! Talk about unlearning to learn! Or should I say learning to unlearn?

Years later, pregnant with my first child, I got a copy of What To Expect When You’re Expecting, and that book, together with prenatal classes taught me many things. One of the most important lessons I learned from the book was how infections, viral and bacterial can lead to fevers and how high fevers can lead to seizures. I further learned that the seizures in the children I saw were also probably due to parents dousing their children in cold water when they had fevers, causing their body temperatures to reduce too drastically and thus sending their little bodies into shock.

Unlearning to learn! Mortar be damned. I could understand a little display of affection from Mama, especially for a sick child in an emergency situation. But the mortar, made absolutely no sense, so out went old knowledge and in came practical new knowledge that has come in handy and helped my young family in a myriad ways.

Trade Old Obsolete Knowledge For New

I personally strive to unlearn to learn. A wise woman once said, “all knowledge is spendable currency, depending on the market.” I like to keep my currency updated, just in case!

Very often we hold on to things just because! Maybe it is tradition, or maybe you’ve held on to a piece of knowledge for so long that letting it go sounds like betrayal. Or it could be spiritual and sacred. Maybe unlearning your beliefs and replacing them with new ones may be a lot of work, physically and emotionally. But would yo rather hold on to knowledge that does you a disservice or you want to learn to learn new things and challenge your old beliefs? The unlearning process may be hard, and so may the learning process. But what are you forfeiting by refusing to find out?

When evidence and common sense points to it, I believe we owe ourselves a duty to examine and challenge what we think we know, to unlearn and to learn. We need to check out new ideas, think about them carefully, maybe even compare and contrast them with existing knowledge, this may open us to a new world of thinking, of doing things. So learn something new today!

What are your experiences with learning and unlearning? Let’s discuss in the comments below.