20) The wise man, after learning something new, is afraid to learn anything else until he has put his first lesson into practice.
After the last two posts, which I will admit were a little less on the academic side and perhaps a little more on the side of proselytizing, we return to some direct quotations – This quote comes from our favourite Taoist, Lao Tzu.
Admittedly I would have previously thought this would be more in line with Confucius’ ideals – but if you think about it, this may just be somewhat of a polite snipe from Lao Tzu to Confucius. Confucius espoused learning above all – as a matter of fact, one of his writings is called the Great Learning – which would require someone to continually study new information all the time. Lao Tzu focused more on an alignment with the Tao, or the Way of the universe – and this particular focus would not be inclined to a lot of book learning. In fact, it is more of an experiential worldview which would necessitate that everything learned be validated in experience as simply a philosophical understanding of something wouldn’t be worth as much as the experience of it.
Interestingly, the modern world inundates us with information and societal expectations have grown in leaps and bounds with regard to education and training compared to even a few decades ago. This higher level of expected education does reduce the available time to put this into practice, which can have an adverse impact on what we expect of subject matter experts – meaning a disproportionately high expectation to the available practical application of education and training.
All of this to say that it is best (at least according to Lao Tzu) to focus on what one is learning and put it into practice before learning something new than it is to learn a lot and later try to remember it when one has to apply it. This is why intermediate and higher kata is better taught in smaller chunks with appropriate techniques to root the ideas in the practitioner than in its entirety with techniques taught later. Apply what is taught as a conceptual framework by putting it into practice early and the lessons will be retained longer.
