Zen and the Art of Getting A's

[thefortressiserlohn]

No: HPFGUIDX 37846

This will prolly be my last post for a while, but first...

While making dinner tonight an interesting thought came to my head: 
What if magic in the wizarding world was one of the Zen arts?  This 
would certainly explain a number of things in the books, especially 
with the development of students in their classes.  (Sorry if this 
has been covered in another post, I searched the archives and found 
nothing similar to this)

For those who are unaware of what I am talking about, check the 
book "Zen and the Art of Archery" by Eugene Herigel (I think I 
spelled that right...)  It is the story of a man learning Japanese 
stile archery through Zen.

So how does this relate to Potter?

The way I see it, some of the professors in the Potterverse aren't 
really teachers so much as Zen Masters.  They provide an example of 
what to do and occasionally coach the students, but when push comes 
to shove they can't do it all.

For an example of this, let us look in PS/SS at the class on 
Halloween when everyone is learning Wingardium Leviosa.  This is the 
first time that the class is performing a true charm.  We've got 
about two months of action before this happens.  What happens in 
ZATAOA is that before Herrigel began learning how to shoot properly, 
he first has to learn things like how to draw an arrow, how to 
breathe, and most importantly how to wait and not get frustrated when 
his shots miss.

In Charms, (as well as Transfiguration probably) I would imagine that 
a similar approach is taken.  First the students are probably taught 
how to handle their wands.  Secondly they learn how to relax when 
holding them, and probably an introductory lesson about the counter-
effects of frustration on the Wizard in question.

Finally it is time for the students to perform.  While Flitwick has 
no doubt repeatedly shown them how to perform the Wingardium Leviosa 
spell himself, he can not do the spell for them.  Those who have 
learned how to relax and get into the feeling (like Hermione) will 
succeed.  Those who get frustrated (like Ron) or are scared of 
failing (like Neville) will not be able to perform the charm.  
Everybody works at a different pace in this sort of environment 
(similar to archery), hence the reason some students can pick up on 
this sort of thing quickly while others tend to lag.  I would not be 
surprised to see Neville still have problems with first year Charms 
if he is still unable to get into the mindset of Zen.  The charm will 
only work when it freely leaves the wand, much like the arrow must 
loose itself from the bow.

The same thing holds true for Transfiguration, as well as probably 
for Divination.  They both require the ability to let the spell 
(probably a misnomer...) come to you and release itself rather than 
the Wizard bringing it forth on their own.  More than likely, first 
year Charms and Transfiguration were more about getting into the 
proper magic-producing mindset than actually learning actual charms 
or transfiguring techniques (has Harry need a new transfiguration 
book yet?).  After all, it took Herrigel six years to learn Archery, 
magic must be at least that complicated, but for the sake of this a)
being fiction and b)children who learn much faster than 50 year olds, 
1 year seems about accurate.

Potions and Astronomy as we know them are exempt from this - those 
closely resemble traditional Muggle subjects.

I hope someone has been able to make sense out of this.

*back to delurking for a LONG period of time*

--jc