Psychic Spaces and Voice

When I am facilitating group meditation, there are times when I really find my own voice, and those are moments when I am holding the doctrine of Buddhism very lightly, rather than trying to clutch it for meaning. I don't know how to describe this, but it's probably something that people experience all the time in one form or another. In the beginning of a learning process, there is a typical amount of tension, as learners master the alphabet or the language of a particular skill or trade. It's only at a later point that one can start to add a particular voice or style that is uniquely their own to it. But if a person is only thinking of learning as an accumulation of knowledge, they will tend to become more tense. It's as though one has forgotten what they have already internalized.
   When I first got my job in the current place where I work, I remember feeling overwhelmed by what I had to learn. The young girl who was training me at that time asked me one simple question,a and that is: "What is it that you know right now?" This simple question allowed me to reflect on what I already was understanding about the process, which in turn clarified the things that I was missing in terms of experience or information. As soon as I had the felt sense of 'knowing something', I quickly began to calm down, and I was more comfortable with uncertainty. I believe that this 'turning back to what I have learned' and reiterating it in an expressive form was what helped me stay with what I didn't know, and build upon what I knew.
   Online learning environments might be a great place where children can express what they have learned and read, as well as translate and teach others what they have learned. It would be interesting to study how people find their voices in learning, and when learning becomes a significant place of self-discovery. Do children start to enjoy learning more when they can present it to others? Are there downsides to an overemphasis on presenting one's work, and might it lead to a competitive dynamic? What do the learners feel when they have the opportunity to share and celebrate what they have learned? And does that learning open more space to accept uncertainty with new learning? These are also interesting things to learn when connected with the anxieties of learning a new language.