Precept 17-1, Be Competent: Look
17. BE COMPETENT.1
17-1. Look.
See what you see, not what someone tells you that you see.
What you observe is what you observe. Look at things and life and others directly, not through any cloud of prejudice, curtain of fear or the interpretation of another.
Instead of arguing with others, get them to look. The most flagrant lies can be punctured, the greatest pretenses can be exposed, the most intricate puzzles can resolve, the most remarkable revelations can occur simply by gently insisting that someone look.
When another finds things almost too confusing and difficult to bear, when his or her wits are going around and around, get the person to just stand back and look.
What they find is usually very obvious when they see it. Then they can go on and handle things. But if they don’t see it themselves, observe it for themselves, it may have little reality for them and all the directives and orders and punishment in the world will not resolve their muddle.
One can indicate what direction to look and suggest that they do look: the conclusions are up to them.
A child or adult sees what he himself sees and that is reality for him.
True competence is based on one’s own ability to observe. With that as reality, only then can one be deft and sure.
- 1. competent: able to do well those things one does; capable; skilled in doing what one does; measuring up to the demands of one’s activities.
- 2. incompetence: lacking adequate knowledge or skill or ability; unskilled; incapable; subject
to making big errors or mistakes; bungling. - 3. practice: to exercise or perform repeatedly in order to acquire or polish a skill.