Eastern Techniques (II)

Teaching Techniques

WILLIAM FOSTER

THE COMMON DENOMINATOR which I have again and again

noted during over forty years of living among and studying the

beliefs of people of the East (particularly India, the Khyber,

Kashmir and Turkey) has been one which probably effectively

prevents the European from studying efficiently under such a

person. There are exceptions, of course, but the concept is so

strange that I can only call it 'Inconsistency'. The typical

Murshid (Sufis) Guru (Hindus), even Eastern Orthodox

monkish preceptor will seem to be, at different times, impatient,

vacillatory, inconsistent, lacking in foresight. His Western

disciples will regularly try to ignore or explain away these

techniques (for techniques they undoubtedly are) and in doing

so will miss the intended point. In the West, we cannot bear

untidiness, lack of answers to questions, absence of a system

which we try to find and to cause to work. These things work

admirably in ordinary organisation, but according to the observed

workings of mystical schools, they are a hindrance. There is an

additional barrier. If the alternation of mood, change in circumstances

and so on applied by the mentor so powerfully affects

the learner that in his ordinary life he ceases to be efficient, he

has failed.

From the psychological point of view it might be

said that the indolent or confusing behaviour of the teachers is

a means of testing; but it would seem to me that it is intended

to reflect the habits of mind of the students, so that they may

learn from them, as much as anything else. There is no doubt

in my mind that it works; for I have not yet met a distinguished

teacher in this field who has not been through the hands of

one or more of such teachers. Another outstanding characteristic

of Eastern teaching strange to us is the habit of teachers from

one persuasion passing disciples on to representatives of another.

There is little sign of the conflict or exclusiveness that we have

learned to expect in Europe from the followers of mystical cults.

The policy of suspending studies, so that the tyro is for long or

short periods without any stimulus from the school, is another

which rarely fails to annoy, and generally shed, the Westerntrained

would-be student.

WILLIAM FOSTER has made a special study of

the secret training system of the descendants of

Mohammed the Arabian Prophet. An extract from his

researches, carried out through his friendships with

various Saiyeds of this clan, was published under the 
title of The Family of Hashim. He is currently working 
on a full-scale study of teachership as actually
practiced in the East.