What a Long Silence Between Teacher and Student Means
On periods where a teacher deliberately withdraws contact, and how students have learned to interpret that absence.
Some students, across traditions that pair a student closely with a single teacher, describe long stretches of deliberate silence from that teacher, sometimes lasting months.
The instinct, especially early in the relationship, is to interpret the silence as disapproval, abandonment, or failure on the student's part. Conversations with students further along in this kind of relationship suggest a different, more common interpretation among those who have lived through it.
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No notes yet. The first reflection can set the tone for the rest of the conversation.