Creativity is a concept that lies close to responsibility. I know what you ask yourself now or would like to ask me: Oh, why? Because learning Tai Chi and come to understand what it is, well, this is a bit like putting together a puzzle where there’s a whole lot of pieces missing. Tai Chi is a cultural phenomenon, something that has grown for centuries to become what it is today. It’s from another culture and another history. The terminology and concepts come from another kind of thinking, often abstract, often very different from ours. Thus, to understand Tai Chi, and to develop it as your own property, of your own knowledge, you really need a creative approach. You need to turn around the puzzle pieces, examine them from different directions. You need to put all of the pieces together to form a comprehensible picture. And where pieces are missing, you need to create them by yourself to make the pieces match together. It’s quite a hard work, both mentally and physically to learn how to understand the art. But it’s also a lot of fun and a highly creative process.
"as it [Tai Chi] is usually practiced and taught today, it has also inherited the worst of the common Chinese teaching system.
Frankly and completely honestly said – the Chinese teaching and learning system today, as it is seen in schools and institutions ... is based on learning but not on thinking. Everything is about doing what the teachers do and listen to what a teacher says, not about creating. This is all too present in the whole Chinese society and whenever it comes to teaching and learning."
greytowhite wrote:A lot of the "golden generation" had esoteric empowerments and transmissions - until you do what they did and have someone pour a higher level into you it is much more difficult to achieve.
origami_itto wrote:So tell me, Fistians, how do you approach it?
everything wrote:greytowhite wrote:A lot of the "golden generation" had esoteric empowerments and transmissions - until you do what they did and have someone pour a higher level into you it is much more difficult to achieve.
That's a problem because if various conditions were right for that generation to be at the peak, then for many reasons the state of the arts declined in subsequent generations, who will "pour that level / transmission" to us? Perhaps some aspects could be lost forever.
Appledog wrote:origami_itto wrote:So tell me, Fistians, how do you approach it?
My teacher comments on this frequently. It is a museum until it becomes a laboratory. The student must aim to emulate the teacher and not change anything for a very long time. Only once they finally understand it can they make changes. But it is a very difficult thing to know when this time comes, you must be very careful with your pride. Sometimes a change that makes sense can have negative consequences. That's why practice and understanding (going through a 'Museum stage') is important. To give you the knowledge and skill you need to make changes if you need to.everything wrote:greytowhite wrote:A lot of the "golden generation" had esoteric empowerments and transmissions - until you do what they did and have someone pour a higher level into you it is much more difficult to achieve.
That's a problem because if various conditions were right for that generation to be at the peak, then for many reasons the state of the arts declined in subsequent generations, who will "pour that level / transmission" to us? Perhaps some aspects could be lost forever.
You could ask me. But I have found that in most cases the problem is that the teacher has somehow decided the student is not ready to be taught beyond a certain level (for whatever reason). This is so much more common than you think. Masters test people before they teach them important skills. Sometimes masters will shape their teaching to help you get on the right track first. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZUCLzmqtAs
Doc Stier wrote:everything wrote:greytowhite wrote:A lot of the "golden generation" had esoteric empowerments and transmissions - until you do what they did and have someone pour a higher level into you it is much more difficult to achieve.
That's a problem because if various conditions were right for that generation to be at the peak, then for many reasons the state of the arts declined in subsequent generations, who will "pour that level / transmission" to us? Perhaps some aspects could be lost forever.Appledog wrote:You could ask me. But I have found that in most cases the problem is that the teacher has somehow decided the student is not ready to be taught beyond a certain level (for whatever reason). This is so much more common than you think. Masters test people before they teach them important skills. Sometimes masters will shape their teaching to help you get on the right track first. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZUCLzmqtAs
So, are you an IMA master? Would we recognize you as such by your real world name? With all due respect, Appledog doesn't ring any bells for me, but I am always open to receiving a higher level transmission of these arts than I already now have from anyone who is capable of doing so.
Appledog wrote:
So why not ask. Maybe you won't get the answer you expected, but there's no harm in talking with people and sharing knowledge. That's why, I presume, we are here
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