Chapter 88: Essence

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“The second step is to teach the imaginary person. Imagine a person standing in front of you and then teach this knowledge to the other party.”

“For example, if I imagine teaching the knowledge of the Divine Realm Light to Hort, then I will tell the imaginary Hort, ‘After the mysterious power of the Divine Realm passes through the hole in the barrier between the two worlds, it will produce a scene that can be seen by the meditation spiritual body. It is called the light of the Divine Realm.’”

“The third step is to judge the result. If I teach it very smoothly, it means that I have mastered this method. If I don’t teach it smoothly enough, and I stammer, then it means that I still don’t understand it. I will have to learn it again and then repeat the second step.”

“For example, if I feel that what I said is very smooth, I will move on to the next step.”

“The fourth step is to simplify the contents taught before. That is to make the content of the previous teaching more easily understood. The ‘more’ is the key.”

“For example, I will once again say to the imagined Hort, ‘The Divine Realm Light is like rain leaking into a thatched cottage on a rainy day. The sky is the Divine Realm, the heavy rain is the mysterious power, the roof is the barrier between the two worlds, and the water that leaks through is the Divine Realm Light.’”

“This process is very simple. It looks very similar to Carlos’ method. They both seem to be teaching others, but it seems that only the details are different, right?”

After Su Ye finished asking, many people nodded their heads in a daze.

Su Ye continued, “Then I’ll talk about the differences between our methods. Using Feynman’s technique is very simple, but to understand it in depth is very, very difficult. Because I only dare to say that I know how to use it, but I don’t dare to say that I completely understand it.”

“The first difference is the difference between a real person and a fake person. Obviously, my method can be used anytime and anywhere, but his isn’t. Even if I walked on the street, I could imagine that I was teaching someone. If Carlos is walking on the street and suddenly wanted to learn, he had to first find someone who seemed to be more patient. Let’s say that there is an old man who looked quite friendly and Carlos walks to him and raises his head proudly, saying, ‘Do you know what magic is? Magic is…’ Then, the old man will quickly interrupt him and say, “Hello, fifth-grade student Carlos. My name is Plato. Yes, I am the Plato that you are thinking of.”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Some teachers smiled and shook their heads. Su Ye’s mouth was indeed powerful.

Su Ye continued to smile and say, “This is a learning method, not a team competition. If a method requires a patient person to be effective, then I can invent countless methods. The first step of each method is to find a kind god to make me omnipotent.”

Everyone nodded and agreed with Su Ye’s statement.

Su Ye asked, “Why does he think that this method can only be used with real people? This is because he or the people who help him can only see that I was teaching Hort, and not the person I’m teaching in my imagination. There’s another particularly interesting point. Three years ago he might have used ‘teaching as learning’ to imagine teaching others, but this ‘teaching as learning’ method that he refined actually requires real people. I feel that he doesn’t believe what he did three years ago at all, nor does it seem like he’s refining his own method.”

Many people were deep in thought.

Carlos’ expression did not change.

Su Ye continued, “The second difference is with regards to making things ‘easier to understand’. Why does it have to be easier to understand?”

“Feynman is a wise man, and I don’t quite understand it. There are many reasons why it has to be easy to understand. I will only talk about the reasons that I understand.”

“The first is to verify, to verify whether we really understand it or not. The person who makes more delicious bread must be a better baker; the person who can explain it better must understand that knowledge better.”

“The second is for convenience of understanding. The third is for convenience of memory. Very clearly, rain leaking through a hut is easier to understand than the Divine Realm Light. It is also easier to remember.”

Su Ye turned his head to look at Hort and said, “In the process of teaching Hort, I often talked for half a day and everyone would have understood, but only he would not have understood.”

Many people let out friendly laughter. Hort scratched his head in embarrassment.

Su Ye spread his hands and said, “Whether he understands or not has nothing to do with me! As long as I understand it, it’s fine! Why? Feynman’s technique is a learning method, and the ‘learning’ part of ‘teaching as learning’ is the key! This is the third difference between Carlos and me.”

“Why did he add questioning and answering? Because the people who helped him saw me asking questions or answering Hort. The main reason I did that was to help Hort, and improving my own learning was secondary. Questions and answers aren’t the key to Feynman’s techniques. No matter how good Hort’s questions are, are they better than the difficult questions on a test paper? I believe this reasoning is very simple.”

Many students recorded this in their magic books, and even the three saint-level masters were pondering over Su Ye’s words.

Unlike ordinary students, the three masters didn’t directly judge whether or not this method was good or not. Instead, they first studied it, then continued to ponder over it, before finally coming to a conclusion.

On the other hand, many ordinary students, upon hearing this, felt that they were clear about it, understood it and thus completely comprehended it. They didn’t think too deeply about it.

After a long while, only when Su Ye saw that everyone understood it well enough that he slowly said, “Now, everyone, compare what Carlos and I said. Does Carlos’ method seem to describe the process of me teaching Hort? As for me, have I always been learning for myself?”

Including the teachers, many people inside and outside the meeting hall could not help but nod.

Regardless of whether they could understand Su Ye’s analysis or not, at least Su Ye was talking about something deeper, while Carlos was talking about something superficial.

“What do you say, Carlos?” Su Ye asked.

Carlos was calm and composed, as if he had already thought of a strategy. He said, “I still insist that you stole my method. However, there may be another possibility. Our methods may look similar, but there are also many differences.”

Su Ye stared into Carlos’ eyes and said slowly, “Let’s assume that our methods have nothing to do with each other and are independent of each other. Then, what will we do when we find out about this? Either we will carefully analyze it, or contact the other party, or ask the teacher to help us analyze it. The most extreme method is to ask the school to investigate it. Your reaction was very interesting. First, you spread rumors about me in school, and then you hurriedly tried to have me expelled from school. Why is that? The reason is very simple. You planned to expel me from the school from the very beginning. From the very beginning, you were sure that my method was the same as yours! Unfortunately, you underestimated Feynman’s technique, and you also underestimated me!”

“These are just your guesses, not evidence. Master Cromwell, he is slandering me,” Carlos remained calm. His hand lightly grabbed his robe and quickly loosened it.

“Su Ye, such groundless words are meaningless,” Cromwell said seriously.

Su Ye sighed and said, “In that case, I can only say the essence of Feynman’s technique.”

Carlos looked at Su Ye in surprise. Was what he just said not essential enough?

Cromwell narrowed his eyes and moved his lips slightly. He was about to open his mouth to interrupt, but he noticed from the corner of his eye that the armrest of the big chair was slowly raised.

Cromwell did not move.

“Carlos, what do you think is the essence of ‘teaching as learning’?”

Carlos smiled slightly and said, “I’ve already said it just now. The essence of learning through teaching is to continuously discover areas that you don’t know and force yourself to learn through teaching.”

Su Ye smiled and said, “If you say that forcing yourself to learn is ‘teaching as learning’, then isn’t holding a knife to your neck called ‘killing as learning’? Is what you’re doing now considered ‘framing as learning’?”