Learning and Repentance

by Chris Upchurch, Suarez International Staff Instructor

"Any man too proud to learn is too arrogant to win a fight." - Gabe Suarez

This is one of my favorite quotes from Gabe because it encapsulates so much of the S.I. philosophy in a single sentence. I've been reminded of this quote quite a bit of late. So what does it mean to be 'too proud to learn'? After all, our learning should itself be a source of pride, so how can pride be an obstacle to learning? 

The answer is repentance. Repentance is usually a word we hear in the religious context, but it is fundamental to the process of learning. In order to learn something new and different, we first have to repent from our existing, mistaken, knowledge and beliefs. We must acknowledge, if only to ourselves, that we were wrong before we can embrace a better way.

True repentance is a painful process. In order to repent we must overcome our pride and acknowledge the error of our ways. I often see this in my students. They're not having any trouble understanding what I'm teaching, but they're having a hard time repenting of their old ways and accepting new knowledge. Part of the job of an instructor is to help a student overcome his pride and embrace new knowledge. Interestingly, it is the students with more shooting experience who often have the most difficulty with this. They have a justified pride in their existing knowledge; overcoming this and embracing what we have to teach can be difficult. Novices, on the other hand, are usually less invested in their existing knowledge, making it easier for them to accept something new (though you do run into the occasional student who has a much higher opinion of his skills than is really justified). 

If repentance is difficult for a knowledgeable student, it is doubly so for an instructor. Not only are we generally quite proud of what we teach, our repentance is inherently public. Change your opinion on one thing and sure enough a student will come up to you and say, "Last year you said X but now you're saying Y." The temptation to avoid repentance and remain consistent is enormous, but down that road lies stagnation and irrelevance. We're all familiar with trainers who are still teaching exactly what they taught ten or twenty years ago. Unless you have achieved absolute perfection there is no virtue in consistency. 

More than anything else, Suarez International is built around continual repentance. In years past we didn't point shoot, dropped mags on reloads, thought that red dot sights on pistols were only for gamers, and said, "keep that crap off my AK". No longer! Excessive certainty and pride in our existing knowledge has no place here. We are always, always seeking a better way.

Discuss Learning and Repentance on Warriortalk.

Comments

[TOR]

I don't believe in constantly changing guns and gear and training techniques to chase the newest trend or model. That is a waste of time, energy and money. On the other hand when something is proven to be better, and tested sufficiently to prove its utility I at least consider upgrading. If the new stuff is improved sufficiently to make changing worthwhile I will do so.

I have a hard time understanding why folks won't change their mind/ gear/ training when there is a compelling reason to do so. Simply because a Model T, a double barreled shotgun and a kerosene lantern were the standard in 1933 doesn't mean a jeep, a pump shotgun (or Siaga) and a surefire wouldn't be a significant trade up.