Long ago, I spent 7 years practicing karate.
Before taking karate, I had lots of movie-inspired images of how a fight might go if I was ever in one. Getting live feedback from the knuckles of my fellow students and my instructor cured me of these delusions.
These days, I’m something of a teacher, myself. But I haven’t forgotten the wisdom of the knuckles.
And there are lots of other teachers out there.
But..
There is only one Teacher.
And the Teacher educates you less through talk, and largely through interaction with the world. This interaction can be very painful.
Me and all the other teachers out there… at our very best… can only point you to the Teacher and speed up your journey a bit. Hopefully we help you to minimize the pain.
But who or what is the Teacher?
The True Teacher is God.
Or Nature.
Or the Universe.
Or Life.
Whatever you like to call that which allows us to be here.
Part of the brilliance of Stoicism is the recognition that we only get better to the degree we align with nature.
We sometimes refer to it as experience.
Another way to look at this: Whatever you learn, find a way to get it into the field and get feedback as quickly as possible. You only truly learn through experience. Whatever you read or hear is debatable. When you have actually done it, you get an understanding that leaves much less need for guessing and theorizing.
In karate, you get hit some of the time.
But over time, you learn to avoid some of the punches. And you learn to roll with some of the punches.
It is wise to recognize there is a great deal of suffering in life. But it also wise to suffer no more than necessary.
Another way to say this:
Sometimes you’re gonna get hit…
But you should avoid the punches you can, and roll with the punches you can’t.
Keep your sword sharp, Stoic.
Ben