“The beginning of knowing is recognizing what you don’t know”
We really want to know stuff. It seems this desire is encoded into the human genome. Those readers with children or having raised children know that one of the most commonly uttered words by a child is “why?”. And, the second most common after you attempt to answer “why” is… “but why?”. This fierce impulse has been very important to our evolution and has led to significant breakthroughs and understanding. As important as this drive is, it’s equally important to embrace the ever-present concept of “not knowing”.
“Why?” you ask, I hypothesize that by doing so you increase your odds of ultimately knowing. How’s that again? By admitting you don’t know, it places you into the proper space to receive the information you seek. You see, all too often we get locked into a place of believing we know something and holding on tight to that belief despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This can become the proverbial millstone around our neck, making progress and advancement seemingly impossible. The acceptance of not knowing in my experience can open portals of understanding previously sealed by our own belligerence.
I can think of numerous times in my life when I was clinging to things that I would defend ferociously, because “I knew”. Mercifully, life often has a way of fraying the threads of our wrongheadedness. Our absolutes dissolve, our truths develop cracks, our chosen path gets altered, and always when one would least expect. It’s as if something is whispering… “see you really don’t know”. In hindsight though, and with some erosion of the ego, we find refreshing empowerment and clarity when we accept this fact. A sacred surrender that brings us closer to the divine rhythm underlying all of existence.
When we step into the primal flow coursing through the veins of our individual and collective journeys, we begin to tap into what James Hillman, in his book “The Souls Code”, referred to as the daimon. Some might recognize this primal flow as a call. There have been numerous terms used for this such as your genius, guardian angel, or ka. Basically, it is that thing we have frequently postponed, avoided, or intermittently missed that does not go away; we were born with it.
What I am suggesting is that in releasing the block we often acquire during our earthly trek of insisting “we know” and instead stay open to “not knowing” we begin to find that what is needed in any given moment starts to show up. It is in this letting go that we receive. If you have ever watched a professional athlete who is in a “slump”, it is referred to as pressing, or overthinking it. Once this condition is released, the ensuing state is often called “in the zone”. This is what we should strive you in our lives, to be in this zone, and to recognize “we don’t know” but there is something bigger than us that does. If we quiet our knowingness enough, I promise you will hear its voice.
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