Issue 51 - Tse Qigong Centre

10th Anniversary Special 10th Anniversary Special 10th Anniversary Special 10th Anniversary Special 10th Anniversary Special 10th Anniversary Special 10th Anniversary SpecialTheIncurableDisease“Some people just do notknow how to set aboutlearning the skills they sodesperately seek.”Qi Magazine 44People do the strangest things.Sometimes it is due to a lack of educationbut often it is due to an appreciation of whatis around them.Irecently witnessed an incident that set methinking and reinforced some thoughtsthat have been with me for some time.Basically a guy came to a class with theintention of finding out what was being taught.When he left, he went away having managed to offendthe teacher and disrupt the class, not to mentionembarrass himself. I find I am unable to condemn thisindividual because I honestly believe that he didn’t knowwhat he had done. The actual detail of what was saidand done are not the important thing here but what ismore important is the principle behind them. Of coursecoming to a class to find out what is going on is no badthing, in fact it is a wise thing to do. The problem is -some people just do not know how to set about learningthe skills they so desperately seek.These skills are ’Human Skills’, more importantly, theyare valuable skills and any good teacher will treat them assuch. So remember: just as you have a right to choose a teacher,the teacher has a right to choose his students. The onus is onyou to prove yourself not the other way round, because it isyou who wants to learn. Just because you have gone out ofyour way to find a good teacher does not mean that he willwant to teach you. The only way to learn is to show that youare trustworthy. I remember how long it took my Dad to trustme with his car. But now that he does trust me he will lend mehis new car with hardly a second thought. So to get the keysyou have to prove yourself. So how do you go about ’proving’yourself? When you first approach a teacher be humble, butdon’t mistake humility for submissiveness and spiritlessness.Be polite and more importantly be honest. Then if you make amistake everyone will know it was an honest mistake and howcan anyone hold an honest mistake against you. If you do makea mistake apologise first, but don’t demand an explanation, ortry to make excuses for yourself. Think about it for yourself. Ifeveryone else can see your mistakethen it can’t be that hard to see. Themore time you spend in that classthe more you will understand whatis acceptable and what is not.If you have studied elsewherethen inform the teacher ofthis and explain that you wish todevelop your skill further, but leavewhat you have learnt outside. Don’tpresume to make or ask forcomparisons and don’t make anyassumptions because then you willonly sound arrogant and insinuatethat you are an expert. You can