Monday, April 23, 2007

On Teaching

Then said a teacher, "Speak to us of Teaching."

And he said:
No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of our knowledge.
The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.
If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.
The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.
The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.
And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither.
For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.
And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth.

... The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for leading us to the "threshold of our own minds" with "your faith and lovingness"


It is a wonderful journey!

TheHoopoe said...

Salam,

Thank you for your kind words. May Allah have mercy on us all.

Posted this entry to just share my teaching philisophy - hence notice that I always take from what you give, and I merely raise the discussion in class "one notch higher".

For after all, the students makes the teacher :-)

All Praises be to Allah!

Anonymous said...

Dear Hoopoe,

You are a very special gift from Allah to us.

You connect your cerebral discourse to our souls.

And your words speak to our hearts.