On Teaching

In this post, we argue how two ways of interpreting perceived reality change the definition of teaching.

We have previously discussed that interpreting perceived reality as a cognitive bias (mithya), as a result of the cosmic force of maya[1], changes the definition of enlightenment[2]. In this post, we argue that this interpretation changes the definition of teaching as well. Teaching is defined as[3]:

Teaching is the practice implemented by a teacher aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience of an educational institution.

Now, when we analyze this definition, we observe that:

  1. There's a teacher, with more knowledge than the students.
  2. The teacher imparts knowledge to the students.

This definition assumes that the students have less knowledge than the teacher, and that knowledge is something external to the student that the teacher imparts. Now, when perceived reality is characterized as a cognitive bias, as we have argued for enlightenment, there's no external knowledge to be gained, only ignorance to be removed. So the definition of teaching becomes:

  1. There's a teacher whose job is to remove ignorance from the students.
  2. The teacher gives context to the students in order to make them realize that their true nature is free from ignorance.

This definition of teaching is different from the previous one because:

  1. It assumes that the source of knowledge is internal and not external[4].
  2. The teacher is more knowledgeable about their own self than the students, but in the absolute sense, the students and the teacher are equally knowledgeable[5].
  3. The entity that causes the teaching is not the teacher but Nature; the teacher merely provides the context for that entity to act[6].
  4. The role of the teacher is not to provide knowledge, but to remove ignorance.

Thus, we argue that teaching would be defined differently if perceived reality is characterized as a cognitive bias.

[1] https://m-chaturvedi.github.io/blog/040/
[2] https://m-chaturvedi.github.io/blog/063/
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teaching
[4] https://m-chaturvedi.github.io/blog/016/
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advaita_Vedanta#Etymology
[6] https://m-chaturvedi.github.io/blog/046/