Chuck Clark

I have been both learning and teaching for a long time now. I started out teaching at first because my teacher moved and I was the senior student. That continued at several different locations over the years that I was the senior student. Fortunately, my teachers had started me on the path learning how to learn from practicing and, in time, to become my own teacher. I have heard sayings that "half of learning is teaching"... I confess I don't know the origin of that. I do know that after over 55 years of practice now, I am learning many lessons from my students and my practice is still improving. The reason I teach now is mostly that I feel that it is an obligation I will always have to my teachers and their teachers to do my best to pass on what they gave me. We must have both the courage and humility to do our best at the time while learning from our mistakes. My practice/teaching is like an experiment in a laboratory/dojo where we are always expanding our experience and knowledge by being willing to stay on the outer edge of our abilities and knowledge and learn from our experiences. What I teach is basic fundamentals and tools and how to practice with these tools so that we all become investigators that share with each other in learning. My responsibility is to be an example, and hopefully, an inspiration to my juniors, of someone that is trying to do their best each instant while being aware of and responsible for the results.

Sorry for the rant, but I think I understand John M.'s post and really disagree with it. We all learn things by doing it wrong, paying attention, and trying to do it better. Teachers especially.