There is a popular saying that goes thus, “when the student is ready, the teacher appears”. It is traced to ancient Buddha in some spheres and disputed in others, however, it’s origin is somewhat obscure.
The saying is of great importance because it presupposes the right disposition to learning. Basically, teachers all over the world instill change by what they impart and try to ease their students into it. They can be seen as enzymes or catalysts of change if you please because they effectively facilitate change through the learning process they adopt but they themselves do not get consumed in the process.
The word ‘teacher’ in the proverb could be said to have been used in a metaphorical context. It includes but is not limited to a person, a thing, nature, experiences and opportunities put forward in life. Often times, when people struggle with lessons it may be for a wide range of reasons but opening oneself to the possibilities of learning from any of the above, is the aim of this proverb.
Which brings me to the point: learning is not one-sided. You see, students or pupils or servants have the greater work in assimilating, understanding and producing from what they have learned. Therefore for a student to entirely grasp everything he’s taught, he must come to a place called ‘ready’.We learn from reality when we are indeed ready to learn. In other words, if you are not learning something, it is because you do not want to. The mind has to come to terms with the purpose and reasons to learn.
Often times in certain periods of my life, it turns out that I could clearly see something for the first time despite the fact that it had always been there and most often than not the feeling is ecstatic.
The student must come to terms with reality and the need to drop the ego, pride, self-pity or surrounding circumstances and really start appreciating. Sometimes the key to the puzzle could be something that had always been but was never fully seen or it could be something new. The art of looking closely and opening one’s mind is the essence of the proverb.
It is kind of like the collateral beauty of life. There are so many painful experiences that life could throw at us leaving us bereft of hope but when you look closely between the lines, you would marvel at the collateral beauty in it all.
The human mind is predisposed to a whole lot of scenarios whether proper or not, the question is how these all settle in to form different parts of a whole enough for a person to act upon. The mind is the battlefield after all.
Moving on to a different scene, as a CEO the onus is on you to be receptive to learning new procedures or allowing yourself to finally see the life in the old ones. The market is a much bigger place and definitely not the place to appear indisposed to the new. No one is an island and no one can claim a monopoly of knowledge hence the constant reason to learn new things every day.
With time, the entire lesson shows up and a light bulb is lit up in your brain and then you see that situation or experience in a perfect light because then the lesson has been learned. We are all students and teachers of varying levels and fields. Everyone is a student and likewise a teacher. Therefore everyone has a capacity to teach as well as to learn. The goal, however, is to totally submit to be students so that we can make great teachers. In order to lead, you must follow likewise to be a great teacher, you must have had great tutelage.
So basically the summary of the saying goes thus:
1. Appreciate the new
2. Be more open and receptive to learn
3. A great student defines a teacher.
4. Learn from whatever is thrown at you.
5. Learn in order to teach.
A wise man once categorized people into two groups:
1. He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool and will remain so.
2. He who knows not and knows that he knows not is wise because there is always room for improvement.
• The moral here is that once you realize and accept why learning is a process and how it never ends then it will be easy to learn or impart knowledge.
