Legacy Writings
学習 — Learning
A legacy reflection on the difference between receiving information, understanding it, and embodying it through practice.
This essay was originally published by Robert J. Hartung III on November 25, 2019.
The original essay introduced a saying about learning:
When you go to a house, you must first pass through the gate. Arriving at the gate shows that you have reached the house. Passing through the gate, you enter the house and meet the host. Learning is the gate, not the house. Learning is the gate to attaining the way.
Learning is not the same as understanding or attainment. Receiving a piece of new information does not mean that we understand it. In martial arts, it is easy to mistake the gate for the house—to confuse learning something with knowing it.
If the gate represents training and the study of an art, the house is the ability to understand and put what was learned into practice. Meeting the host would represent mastery of the art or the way. To meet the host, however, one must first pass through the gate and enter the house.
There are no shortcuts to mastery.
The dojo is an environment for learning. It is a place to make mistakes and to stand back up after falling. Learning takes time, and there is no reason to rush toward an imagined ending. How we respond to failure and error is one of the most important parts of training.
Keep improving. Over time, understanding may grow in the dojo and beyond it.
Original source: 学習 — Learning.