Gaining a new skill comes with a price.
This price tag contains six aspects, or “six pays” (Five of them were taught by master Su Dong Chen).
1. Intention
2. Attention
3. Respect
4. Time
5. Effort
6. Money (usually, not always)
It is impossible to earn a skill without investing any or all of these “pays”. Explaining why it is so, is sort of stating the obvious.
Without attention - one cannot learn.
without intention – one cannot do.
without respect – respect the teacher, the class, the skill, the art, the other “pays” – yes, it is recursion.
Without time – putting no time in practice and the results will be the same, none.
Without effort – no pain no gain. Effort means one overcomes obstacles, one encounter problems, and becomes better through those trials.
Without money – usually one needs a teacher, so the teacher needs to get paid. Money for materials, money for equipment, logistics, etc.
The subliminal effect of WILLINGLY investing into skillset, is that one becomes connected with this skill. It becomes a part of, a manifestation of the practitioner.
Then one becomes attached to this skill, it becomes a part of the identity. Sometimes they become synonymous to each other.
The interesting part is, that this is not applied to skills alone. this is very true for human connections as well.
One can become connected to a thing by investing the “six pays” into it. For example, a car.
One buys a car (money), cleans it (time, effort), makes sure the car is mechanically in a good shape (attention, intention), keeps it unharmed (respect). In this scenario, the car owner loves his car, becomes in love with the car, become connected, becomes attached to an inanimate object.
The same is happening with live “objects”, such as pets and plants. a gardener starting taking care of a rose, by investing the “six pays” he becomes in love with the specific rose, just like in the “little prince”.
The gardener was not in love before the investment. Before, it was just another rose.
the same works in human-to-human connection.
By investing in someone, the INVESTING side, becomes connected. Attached.
The lesson here is, that if one WANTS to connect to someone specific, they should invest. However, one-sided investment will probably not make the connection mutual, since the other side must invest to become connected as well.
SO, let people the opportunity to invest in you, while you are investing in them.
P.S. Attachment and detachment. Buddhism teaches detachment, since attachment causes suffering, but detachment causes loneliness, and alienation of anything.
I’m no Buddhist, nor thinking of it as an absolute truth, so, I’m still working on figuring out the balance.
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