invitation to the pain of learning

One of my professors gave me this thought provoking article (title of this post). It was written in 1941 by Mortimer J. Adler, and if his views were correct then, they are exactly on today. I find it interesting that I read this article now when I've been thinking about this and talked to Lisa about just working for the grade but not actually learning. I'll quote a few parts that I like because they are powerful statements of truth.

"Heaven forbid that learning should ever take on the character of a serious occupation - just as serious as earning money, and perhaps, much more laborious and painful."

"We do not try to deny the fact that taking care of a household or holding down a job is necessarily burdensome, but we somehow still believe that the goods to be obtained, the worldly goods of wealth and comfort, are worth the effort. In any case, we know they cannot be obtained without effort. But we try to shut our eyes to the fact that improving one's mind or enlarging one's spirit is, if anything, more difficult than solving the problems of subsistence; or, maybe, we just do not believe that knowledge and wisdom are worth the effort."

"Anyone who has done any thinking, even a little bit, knows that it is painful. It is hard work - in fact the very hardest that human beings are ever called upon to do. It is fatiguing, not refreshing. If allowed to follow the path of least resistance, no one would ever think."

"Whoever passes by what is over his head condemns his head to its present low altitude; for nothing can elevate a mind except what is over its head; and that elevation is not accomplished by capillary attraction, but only by the hard work of climbing up the ropes, with sore hands and aching muscles."

Education applies to secular and spiritual subjects. I thought about how Satan is using distractions as a way to stop us from learning and progressing. He distracts us with entertainment; it usually lures us into a drug-like complacency and wastes our time. As society seeks to improve methods of enjoying more entertainment, Satan is slowly lacing it with more sin. He has a captive audience "follow[ing] the path of least resistance..."

Today I wonder: Am I following the path of least resistance in certain aspects of my life?

D&C 130:19 And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.