Philosophies

Why Some Instructions Are Given Only Once

On teachers who refuse to repeat themselves, and the discipline that refusal forces on the listener.

OriginTeachingPracticeIntegration
By Kabir Sen6 min readmetered
Why Some Instructions Are Given Only Once

Some teachers, across various traditions, are known for giving an instruction exactly once and declining to repeat it, regardless of how many times a student asks.

This can appear as stubbornness or even unkindness. Understood differently, it is a deliberate technique for forcing a specific kind of listening: the kind that assumes there will be no second chance, and therefore does not permit the mind to drift, planning to catch it the next time around.

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