This is what I believe. It is not correct.
A young teacher insists on the work, and that anything aside from performing said work, points to a lack in prioritization.
This is the practice and spirit of teaching, as the young teacher sees it.
Forgive him, for he is young and free and wants for nothing but to write by this, live by this, define himself in the mirror of this.
He constructs well articulated Instagram posts, and equally articulate responses to your ill reception in the comments section of his latest “incendiary” thought.
Incendiary, because he believes it so and not actually because it is.
There is nothing incendiary about a movement practice nor those who “teach” it.
There is nothing incendiary about picking on ambassadors and fake teachers on the internet.
His thoughts, while clearly expressed on his part, were inaccurately received by you (how could you!) and maybe 10 others and as a great teacher, he will now go on to explain, expand upon and break down his intent so that you daft pupils don’t go on misunderstanding and disrupting his “practice”.
(This is a part of what makes a great teacher.)
After having completed this terribly difficult and unappreciated work of responding to Instagram comments, he will follow up with an Instagram Story.
Nothing crazy, just 3 meandering minutes or so, no cost to you. He’s generous and devoted to his students.
In this, he will remain calm and collected.
He will force a gentle smile.
He is NOT ANGRY.
How could you think such a thing?
He meditates a minimum of one hour each day.
He’s done this for years.
That’s what great teachers do.
He is committed to his practice.
He is not angry.
What does your meditation practice look like?
Huh. That’s what he thought.
The young teacher knows nothing about you or any of the supposed teachers he writes of.
He’s offended at your offense, and offended that you found his tone to be one of somebody who feels offended.
Adults don’t get offended on the internet, he says.
The young teacher is calling out these teachers for what they are:
Spokesmodels.
Charlatans.
Selfie-obsessed, alo-clad, empty-message slinging whores.
He’s not angry.
Can’t you hear it in his collection of words?
He’s pretty good with words.
He had the nasty habit in college of staying up too late reading philosophy and other such subjects you never took interest in. He’s working on it.
What was your bad habit in college?
Never mind, the young teacher is not interested.
He knows your bad habits.
He knows that you use your kids and your job and your boring life as excuse for your unwillingness to do what he thinks is right for you.
He is not quite 30 years old and has an answer for your pain, your weakness, your resistance to his message, your reluctance to commit.
You think you might be feeling that this young teacher is on to something.
For, he does clearly prove his commitment to the practice…
4+ hours on a Sunday?! Jeez-Louise!
And in this, he offers a miraculous demonstration of control of his bodily instrument.
He shapes his ideas with such beautiful, albeit challenging prose.
He points very clearly, and CONFIDENTLY to the marked distinction between what makes a teacher and what does not.
(Allocation of time to the process, in case you aren’t listening, or you non teachers out there are wondering.)
He’s so goddamn ripped, you wonder how he’s had any time to live at all.
You feel sad about your belly.
He lives in rural China, and that somehow ups the guru quotient for you.
You kinda wish you lived in someplace like rural China.
Maybe he’s on to something. Maybe this kid’s deep…
You think the young teacher might be legit. Maybe you’ll sign up for whatever it is he’s offering.
And I couldn’t disagree with you.
All the answers.
All the time in the world to train.
A devotional obsession and preoccupation with the practice of service and teaching…
His youthful audacity is sonic.
There’s something to admire in that. There is inspiration to be drawn from it. There is learning to be had.
The irony, is that in his purposely calculated and nuanced displays of what makes a teacher, teacherly, the young misfit has stripped himself bare.
We see the rather ordinary, typical, naive hubris. Something we possibly relate to from when we weren’t quite thirty and had all the answers and anger for anybody who would listen.
We feel great compassion for the young man.
We learn a great deal from him.
He’s a great teacher after all.