There is the story of a Zen Master pouring a potential disciple a cup of tea. The potential disciple approached the master and says, ‘teach me, I want to do as you do and be as you are.’ The master invites the person to have some tea. The master begins to pour tea into his cup;.
The master pours and continues to pour until the tea overflows and continues to overflow. ‘Stop!’ cries the potential student. ‘The cup is full.’ The Master replies, ‘When your cup is full you cannot add anything to it. Your cup must be empty. Go and empty your cup.’
He sends the potential student away. The point should be obvious. The master deems the student’s mind is filled with what they already know. It’s filled with many potential objections, beliefs and resistance to be ready to learn. It’s filled with knowledge.
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The student is not ready. The student is not truly open. The student desires to add to his knowledge so he’s sent away. When ready the teacher appears. I was not ready. Many times I have not been ready. As when gardening the soil needs to be prepared. It must be ready.
It must be receptive to the seeds. We need to recognize when we are listening only to speak and present our view instead. We need to see when we are filled with our beliefs instead of open to new ones. We need to recognize our cup is filled and needs to be emptied.
We ought to listen to gain understanding about things we don’t know about from anyone we are listening to. To often we listen to another person and then insert our objection to something they said instead of wondering how they have come to that conclusion.
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Instead of accepting it as a conclusion they came to that may be valid, or not, we counter, or correct, or add to it, but we don’t just accept where they are coming from without judgement or criticism. We think we need to render an opinion about what they said.
We need to recognize when we are closed to new ideas and unable to accept information. We need to see when we resist and stop ourselves from discovering something other than confirming what we already know. We need to recognize and not believe our own BS.
The way to be a good student is to recognize when we are not ready to learn and when we are ready to learn. Awareness is the key. We need to become aware of when we shut down the door to new ideas and when we open it up. This is an art and a knack and science.
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For most of us, this is a matter of ongoing management. The door is not always open. It is open and closed and open again. Then closed, and closed, then open. We need to discover when we close the door and open it to be available to new life-changing information.
If we only understand the new opportunity, the new knowledge and experience as an addition to what we already ‘think we know’ then it is just more information. Information alone won’t change us! Having more of the same, built on the same won’t transform us in any way.
We have to be open to a new way of understanding. What we learn then, we need to be willing to apply it. If we don’t use it we don’t and won’t know it. I ‘knew’ what to do! I was told what to do but I didn’t apply it so I didn’t get any benefit from ‘knowing’ the right things.
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Don’t do as I did. Instead, let go of the limitations of the old mindset and seek to empty your cup so you can discover the new and improved mindset. To do so you must be willing, open and committed to being teachable. Then new doors swing open.
It’s life-changing when we’re open and available. We change when we’re open and stop doing the old and embrace the new and use it. Then information, the lessons, can lead us to new ways of thinking and being. We no longer are the same old ‘some old.’ We change.
It’s in the application and mastery of the new knowledge where we learn the lessons. It’s the experience, the attempts, the defeats, the challenges we learn from. We learn from experience. ‘Be transformed by the renewing of the mind.’ Get it? More next time. Celebrate everything!” Rex Sikes
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