On Adult Learning

Dr. Zack Mezirow professor emeritus of Columbia Teachers College Believes the essential element of adult learning is to challenge our own ingrained perceptions and examine our insights critically. Dr. Mez says adults learn best when faced with what he calls a disorienting dilema - something that helps you critically reflect on assumptions you've acquired. ( Barbara Strauch New York Times)

In taking a Directed Studies Course with a close look at specific Christian Traditions I met my first " disorienting dilema " in re visiting the Desert Fathers. My disorientation was confusing at first. Something had happened to the Desert Fathers since my last visit. This time they had become friends. Dry, ascetic, weird men I had been told once lived in the desert and their sayings,practices and lifestyle had planted the roots for the monastic movement in the Church. The change was I had come to believe in the Communion of Saints. This changes how one studies people whose names begin with Saint or Blessed. Their words had started to life off the page and follow me around during my day. Standing at the gravesite of  an old monk the words of the readings and sayings of the desert fathers felt fresh ,appropriate , fitting for such a moment. Here was a living example of a life lived in
the shadow of their teachings. How could I view what they had to say as irrelevant and archaic. What were these men and women all about. They were about a change of heart. Changing ones life to follow a simpler more humble.less judgmental  path. Listening to the words they spoke with my heart instead of my head started to find their simple but deep saying creeping up in my daily life. They6 used a kind of physically austere hyperbole to make a point. They wanted to find a way to remove distractions from their life that seperated them from God and weakened their battle with darkness. They founded the monastic life.