Know What Cannot Be Known
Listening to your intuition, to your heart, and to your subconscious mind is a powerful skill — one not easily cultivated or mastered. If one can give up the need to consciously know “The Answer,” however, he can reach a place of faith that is more powerful — perhaps, even, more certain — than what most people consider “knowledge.”
Many, if not most, of us feel like we live in our conscious minds almost all of the time. Two of my mentors, Matt Corlett and Katrina Starr, taught me that:
- There is far more processing that our brains do than what goes on in our conscious minds;
- Most of our “thinking” actually happens elsewhere; and
- We can learn to listen to these thoughts that happen outside the sphere of our conscious mind, thereby allowing ourselves to be informed, by our subconscious, in ways from which we otherwise would be closed off.
These realizations were powerful, because they opened my eyes to the realization that I knew myself better than my conscious mind knew me. I realized there were places on the inner journey that I still had never visited. I learned that these places held the promise of new growth (wonder), resilience (strength), and friendliness (charity).
As I explore these places, I’m learning to know what cannot be known. Beyond that, I am learning to welcome in my awareness, and be at ease with, the primary axiom of philosophy: “I do not know.”
This comfort with not-knowing is not complacency towards ignorance; rather it is liberation from neediness towards “The Answer” to any given question. It’s the freedom to be led by wonder (an aspect of love) rather than vigilance (an aspect of fear). In this way, I take a step towards childlike wonder and away from the fight-or-flight impulses that cause one to react, rather than intentionally and thoughtfully responding, to present circumstances.
© 2021 Noel Bagwell. All Rights Reserved.
