If we look at the subject of teaching, the first thing we'll notice is that all of us are teaching all the time.
Teaching about what? Teaching about who we are, about our life as example. Who we are at any given moment is our teaching. And since we're broadcasting who we are all the time, it follows that we're teaching all the time as well.
So then the question becomes: What are we broadcasting? What exactly is it that we're teaching?
Let's look at a few examples:
If we're trying to do good in the world by condemning something else that's "bad," what we're actually teaching is condemnation.
If we're yelling at our son or daughter to teach them something "for their own good," what we're actually teaching is anger.
If we're manipulating people to achieve some great end, what we're teaching is manipulation.
Since it's a certainty that we'll be teaching in everything that we say and do, we can ask ourselves, "What do we want to teach?
Do we want to teach judgment, anger, manipulation, etc. or something else?
Let's take another example: Suppose we condemn our spouse because he or she is "too sloppy." What we're teaching is not about sloppiness; what we're teaching is condemnation. Is that what we want to teach?
Suppose instead we just clean the bedroom—after all, we're the one with the problem—and ask ourselves instead what we love about this person and express that. Now we're teaching love; and as a side-benefit, in my experience, that person is now far more likely to be interested in what we want.
Or suppose we apply the principle of positive reinforcement, and wait patiently until—perhaps by accident—they clean up the dishes or the clothes on the floor or whatever, and then we tell them how much we appreciate that. Now we're teaching appreciation. And as a side-benefit, it also works much better.
So let's ask ourselves: What is it that we're teaching every day as we go about our business? If we're impatient with someone because they're too slow, do we really want to teach impatience?
Because it's the example we set that is always doing the actual teaching.
The Buddha didn't condemn anyone for being asleep. He just set about giving an example of a person aflame with light.
Mother Teresa didn't condemn filth, poverty, disease. She just set about caring for the sick in the poorest of conditions. Instead of teaching about condemnation, she taught us about true caring.
Jesus supposedly condemned the fig tree and the money-changers. But 99% of the time he taught about tolerance and love. "Judge not that ye be not judged," he said. "He who is without sin cast the first stone." "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
By his life, Jesus was teaching us about love and compassion. That's what he spent his life broadcasting through example.
Do you suppose those teachers and others like them have had an effect?
They impact us enormously. It's their example of light and love and caring that we really learn from. It's because of the example they set—the light that they broadcast—that we pay so much attention to them.
We, the human race, need a teacher. Will you be our teacher? What will you teach us?
What—by your example, by your words and deeds—will you teach us today? What would you like to teach us?
—jim sloman, for 6/7/01
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