A Deathworlder who is a student in a human-run Dojo finds their Sensei in a classroom working on homework and is surprised. The human is more than old enough to have graduated from most classes and was advanced in years. So...
"Sensei? Why are you here? Surely there's little you need to brush up on now?"
The human turns and smiles in a kind, almost grandparent-like, smile upon their student and offers them a seat. "My dear student, remember our first lesson? They who stop trying to learn something new each day stagnates on this wonderful journey we call life." -- Teachers
The first lesson had almost been forgotten. Perz recalled it now in vivid clarity. They had all been kneeling while Sensei Twii waited for all of them to pay attention. "You have come to me to learn, so I say now. Learn even after you believe you have learned everything. Those who believe they know everything are the biggest fools of all. There is always more to discover, always more surprises, and always more wonders to find. Look for them."
It hadn't even seemed like a lesson, but it was the first thing Master Twii taught. Perz must have heard it said to new students a thousand times. Only now did ze see it in a new light. "I think I finally understand why I have been so slow to learn from you, Master."
Another twinkle of an indulgent parental smile. "If that is your clarity, so be it," they allowed. "I am called the Immortal Master, and many believe I know everything... but the fields of knowledge are infinite, and cannot be mapped so easily."
Too many fools went about the world stalwartly defending what they had learned in the earliest stages of their schooling, as if that were the only truth there was to know. Perz was feeling a little bit foolish hirself. "What part of the field are you exploring now?"
"I am looking into the realms of programming, with an aim to create a system that cannot fall prey to cyber-attacks. So far, I am in the foothills of a very vast mountain range." Twii turned the datareader around, exhibiting an exercise for beginners that involved programming a ball to bounce according to a sliding scale of gravity.
The error indicators were all over Twii's attempt at code, and a friendly explosion told Twii that the program would crash and burn.
"Oof," said Perz appreciatively. "At least you have the centuries to learn everything there could be to learn."
"I have had centuries, yes, but there is always more knowledge to learn. Consider the Archivaas, in their pursuit of tracking down and documenting all information available. They are historians and heroes of historians, but they cannot ever have everything."
Perz did consider them, and their frantic quest to piece together all of Human history from documentation, to preserve every format of knowledge recording known to civilisation. "They cannot have the knowledge that existed before recording it was an option. They can have fragments, they can have theories... but they cannot have the whole of the picture."
"That is a truth, but they also persist in learning. True to their creed, they also persist in teaching, and that is where one learns the most. If you know that you don't know it all."
It was almost a koan. To consider learning from a place of teaching. Perz thanked the Master for their time and returned to hir daily business. The next time ze came to the Dojo to learn, ze would begin with a more open and accepting mind.
There are things unknown to all. Mysteries that may never be solved, questions that may never be answered. And in that knowledge is true wisdom.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / sipaphoto]
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