30 June 2007
Teaching
For me the ugliest part of any human institution is the inevitable power struggles within that institution. Politics are for the spiritually vacuous. The fundamental principle/axiom/truth of our taichi (heartwork really) is that when together in the right spirit of cooperation the correct path forward reveals itself in a way it never does (never can) when alone. The truth of taichi is the good work you do with another. The work you do alone is simply preparation for the time you spend together – getting your energy into some sort of shape so that the time together is better spent. When working with another there should not be the slightest vestige of wanting to get an advantage. Your attention is fully directed to helping that other person improve. The path of improvement is painful because it means facing fears that one has been carefully sweeping under the carpet for some time. So a really good training partner will certainly be making life very difficult for you, in the same way that they expect (demand) that you make their life difficult in turn. Each of us is required to be a teacher, which means putting the student first and not resting until that student at least has a glimmer of where you are trying to take them. If the student is willing then this process generally takes care of itself. If the student is unwilling – which in the final analysis we all are – none of us wants that final leap into the abyss – then the teacher needs to be pure and compassionate so that the grace of the third heart can encourage both to take that leap together. As one of my teachers said to me recently – you must stop thinking in terms of me and start thinking in terms of we. This in a sense is the key to successful connexion of any sort.
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Yes! The scourge of politics. Policy: 'what will get me the most advantage, show me in the best light, show them how I am right and he is wrong' - this has no place in a heart exchange, or in any communication. Politics is a shabby means of exchange that devalues all that passes through it. It can only exist in dualities such as 'me' and 'we'.
As students we are all deluded and wrongheaded in our various ways, it is humbly recognising this that leads us toward good teaching. Once there however, grace, correct work, connection and good old fashioned goodwill between student and teacher are the real currencies. Advantage and power are phantoms that drain precious energy from anyone engaged in their pursuit. (Just look at Blair's ashen face after 10 years' power). Everywhere we see lip-service to 'investing in loss'. During teaching / learning / loving (is there a difference?)there is no counting of cost, weighing up of benefit. Precisely to the extent that we struggle in any way to triumph over another, in whatever convoluted internal way we may wish to describe it, we are still the miser trying unsuccessfully to enter the kingdom of heaven. Instead, perhaps we could let the heart long for connection so deep that there is 'no room for trust, or lack of trust.' (Rumi)
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