It sounds like one of those Zen koans, where a lesson is hidden in a seemingly impossible, contradictory sentence, where the wise old teacher tells the koan to the students, and then smiles at their confused faces.

About 15 years ago I first heard this quote from my karate teacher. I was at college and I decided that, as a young woman, learning a little self-defense wouldn't be such a bad idea. So I joined a karate class to see what self-defense and what martial arts were all about. Although there were many words of wisdom that passed from our teacher and senior students to us beginners, and of all the techniques and philosophy that I learned, there is thing that still sticks in my mind. A simple quote: "In order to become strong, you must first become weak". What a strange quote. Being curious and not quite understanding what these words mean, I asked my teacher what that quote meant, he just smiled and told me that I would have to find my own answer. Did that answer mean he didn't know the answer either? Maybe. But I got the feeling that he himself had experienced the same confusion when he first heard the quote and knew that there is no better way to explain something then by telling the student they'd have to experience the answer. But that was not the answer I was expecting, and I really didn't like getting a vague answer. That's not what I was used to. In school, if you had a question, looking in a book, doing an equation or experiment, or asking a teacher would get you a solid answer. But that was not the case in this class. So my question went unanswered, and the quote stayed in the back of my head.

Over the years (and after many years of school) we become almost complacent in our abilities, our store of knowledge. We've been in school, learning since we were kids. And then suddenly, one day our school days are over. We made it through the seemingly endless hours and days of lecture, and now we've graduated. Learning, according to society, has finished! Then, without realizing it, we forget how to learn. The role of student seems foreign to us. For people with advance training or advanced degrees, this inability to learn is especially tough to overcome. For so long they have been at the top in school, business, or even in relationships with friends and family. It becomes obvious when they again find themselves in a learning situation, where they are they student, after so many years out of school. "I should know how to do this" or "I already know how to do this- I don't need to be taught", "I have enough knowledge", "This is stupid; I don't need to learn this, anyway" are prevailing thoughts. They already know enough - they don't need to be taught.

Over the 15 years since I first heard that quote, I think I have begun to understand the meaning of that quote and have found an answer for myself. Every week I come to class expecting to learn, expecting to come home with new knowledge that I can immediately apply. But what I sometimes forget is I am the one who is asking to be taught, so the responsibility for learning ultimately is up to me. All the students in our class are asking to be taught. That's why they come to class every week. But are we learning? Do we remember what it means to be a student? We have no problem questioning the content and the methods of our teachers and people that we ask advice. If that is the case, have you committed yourself to being taught? If you already think you know something (or everything!), how can anyone teach you? How can you learn? In this point of my martial arts journey and during moments since that first encounter with the quote, it has popped into my thoughts, reminding me that learning is a constant dynamic process and there really isn't a goal or specific path in sight. It reminds me that it's up to me whether I learn from my teachers, whomever they be, or move further away from the wonderful experience of learning. And the hardest part for me, and perhaps for most people is that you have to trust in the experience of learning, and trust that the answers will come. Even when you are being taught something that seems simple, to truly learn, you must trust the teacher, trust the way the lesson is being taught, and keep the mind open. Like a child who is beginning to experience the world. Take it all in, without any preconceived ideas, and trust the experiences in learning.