Teaching Others
The obligation to pass knowledge to those ready to receive it.
Knowledge is not meant to be hoarded but passed on. Those who receive must eventually teach others, maintaining the chain of transmission that stretches back to the Dreaming and forward to future generations.
What you have received, you must give to others. That is how knowledge stays alive.
The obligation to teach ensures cultural continuity across generations.
Oral Tradition
Written about in
- What Aboriginal tradition says about elders and knowledge
Knowledge is not to be hoarded; receiving it obliges you to teach in turn. Note that this and progressive revelation pull against each other, and the tradition lives in the balance between them — teach, but only the ready, and only what they are ready for.
- What Aboriginal tradition says about what to leave unsaid
The counterweight to all this restriction: knowledge must not be hoarded. Whoever receives is obliged to teach in turn, or the chain breaks. Restriction and transmission are meant to work together, and the tradition does not pretend that balance is easy to hold.