Study Principles

There are several barriers to successful study. Two are often taken for granted, but should be given some consideration at the beginning of any course of study. They are false data and skipped prerequisites. Is it a valid subject that is to be studied? Is a valid text on this subject available to the student?
Have all prerequisite courses been taken? Are there any lower level subjects that the student is presumed to understand in order to continue with this subject?
In order to be successful in a study the student must have a self-determined desire to understand and apply the subject. There must first be a desire or intention there to get into communication with and make a mental duplication of the theory, facts and objects of the subject. This starts with an intention to get, receive, and have his own mental “copy” of the material . There is an agreement with self to understand what was actually communicated by the author or the lecturer. The communicated media is written or spoken language. Language is composed of words governed by the language grammar. Words are composed of etymons— the smallest phonetic units that carry at least a bit of meaning of their own.
When a student, in reading a text or listening to a lecture, comes to a word that he does not understand, at least not in the given context, he must clear up for himself the meaning of the word in order to stay true to his own self agreement to understand what was communicated. If he continues on without clearing up the meaning of the not understood or misunderstood word then he has violated this agreement with self to make his own copy of the studied material. At some level the student knows this is wrong. How deep or shallow this level is depends on how honest the student is being with himself. He is in violation of his own self-agreement, which may be rather strong. The physical manifestation of continuing beyond a word that was not understood is a yawning or a desire to yawn. There is also a mental “blanking out” or inability to duplicate that begins right there at the not understood or misunderstood word. The desire to yawn will disappear, and the “blanked out” area immediately following it will reappear if the meaning of the word is clarified using a dictionary. Do not overlook the idea that clarification of the meaning of a word using a dictionary may also require the clarification of any other not understood or misunderstood word(s) encountered in the dictionary definition. So another barrier to successful study is the word that is not understood or misunderstood. It can be overcome by a student who is honest with himself.
The key part of this is self-honesty. It is really very simple. If the student clears up the meaning of the word he will be able to successfully and comfortable continue with his study and the door will remain open to successful application. If he does not clear it up he will have diverted himself off his purpose of making a duplicate of the study material and will be less successful in his study. He will feel less comfortable in continuing to study, and less able to face up to continuing it. His ability to apply the data that he has studied will be compromised, possibly severely.
The last barrier to study is a lack of the physical presence of the object or objects under study. A common manifestation of this is when the student is attempting to remedy this by holding or rubbing his head with his hands, or fiddling with or playing with some object. A better remedy, for the purpose of study, is through the use of photographs, diagrams, pictures or models of the object(s). The student can also create his own diagrams with pencil and paper or model using clay. Small objects can also be used by the student as representations of the real objects so that he can then show himself how these objects would interact with each other according with the theory under study. These last few actions listed of creation and demonstration are also a good cross-check to verify that the student is able to apply the knowledge studied so far. If he is not able to apply competently and comfortably then his study has gone astray somehow. A review of the study should then be done to see at what point this occurred, and any needed corrections should be made.
During the course of study the student should frequently refer to his own desire to apply what he is studying. Once he has made a duplication of a part of the study material he should then apply his own volition to it. All data are not of equal value—some are more basic than others. It is a good exercise to periodically make an alignment of the data studied into a hierarchy of most fundamental to most specific data. He should also make a point of bringing the new data into application. How could he apply it? How useful is it? Can he diagram it or “show” himself in some way how it would be used?
The barriers to study, then, are false data, skipped prerequisite, misunderstood or nonunderstood words, and lack of physical presence of the object under study. Each can be avoided or remedied. Be honest with yourself for best results.