Borrowing

How do you progress? A big question. Is all Dr Chi could say was “Somehow.” My teacher's advice to me was “Be different.” I remember once him yelling at me to get it right. “But how?” I implored. “That's easy,” he said, “just stop doing it wrong.” High standards indeed and something he is well capable of, always having had terrific spirit. Spirit empowers and makes you altogether capable. But if you're needing to learn something that you don't have within in order to progress then rousing spirit isn't really going to help – it's just going to make you more completely you : Self-yeast of spirit a dull dough sours. This is where the principles of Tai Chi come in. Remember the first lesson where your teacher explains yielding? “You can never guarantee to be stronger than your opponent, but you can always chose to be weaker.” Listening. Putting the other first. Borrowing. To be different you need inspiration from somewhere – you need to borrow energy. Your teacher is constantly trying to lend you some in the vain hope that you may make a little progress. The trouble is that most students abuse the energy – they quickly learn how to channel that good energy into aspects of themselves rather than allowing it to be the instrument and stimulus for change it was intended to be. This really is abuse, and it's dishonest, and extremely ugly to boot. It's not real borrowing because nothing is given in return, apart from the class fees which don't count – they just get you in the door. What you should return is honour and reverence – you should make every effort to assimilate and become the borrowed energy – become more like your teacher. All teachers have experience of good students. You only need one in a class to make that class work. The student is so interested and willing to learn and change that they stimulate the teaching to express itself and as a teacher you quickly find stuff coming out that you didn't even know you knew. This is a natural process – a healthy energy circuit - and unfortunately it tends to happen more readily with beginners than with old hands who feel they've heard it all before and on some level cut off. (If your teacher tells you something again then it's because you haven't heard and accepted the first time, not because they are forgetful or have a limited repertoire.) The important thing here is that the honour and reverence you need to show the teaching and the teacher you must in fact show everything: your life can only effectively contain one message, and you can only effectively be, and be in the process of becoming, one thing. If you manage this then you can borrow energy from everything – nothing is beneath you – you are becoming all the time. This is openness and connectedness. The heart has a front and a back door – you can receive into one and give from the other and become a channel for heart and soul. This is what life should be – a powerful thrust rather than a series of static compartments. There is nothing more exhausting and ageing than having to constantly switch from one mode to another. If people can't take you the way you need to be then leave them behind.