Table of Contents
This talk from Navajo Traditional Teachings presents a lesson about effort. The teacher says guidance can feel like an inner voice, yet knowledge still has to be sought. In this teaching, truth does not arrive by itself. A person learns by trying, often more than once. The teacher says older practice called for going four times or beyond that, not stopping after a single attempt. The same idea is applied to study. Before a skill makes sense, you take up its language so you can speak, read, write, and grasp it. The teacher also recalls practical lessons, including work on a wagon wheel that had to be done with care. A bicycle serves as another picture. You mount it, fall, and keep trying until riding becomes possible. Effort, the teacher says, should be honest and the best you can give. Only then are the holy people described as present to guide and point the way. The closing thanks viewers, but the lesson itself stays on practice, repetition, and directed effort.
Key points
- The teacher says real learning does not simply arrive and must be sought through trying.
- In this teaching, important attempts were repeated four times or more rather than finished in one pass.
- Study begins by learning the language of a subject so it can be spoken, read, written, and understood.
- Everyday work, such as greasing a wagon hub, is presented as something people had to learn with care.
- A bicycle is used to show that riding comes only after repeated tries and falls.
- Holy people are described as guiding those who make an honest and serious effort.
Short quotes
We have to learn to try to find truth.
Navajo Traditional Teachings, Navajo Teaching on the Power of Effort
The teacher says truth is something a person has to go looking for. Watch at 1:56
You have to learn how to do things.
Navajo Traditional Teachings, Navajo Teaching on the Power of Effort
The lesson is that skill comes from learning the work, not from wishing. Watch at 4:04
And they say that once you learn it, you never forget.
Navajo Traditional Teachings, Navajo Teaching on the Power of Effort
He says that once the skill is actually learned, it stays. Watch at 6:17
Video by Navajo Traditional Teachings. Watch on YouTube.